Superior Hiking Trail
Map 1 - Section 4
Grand Portage Trailhead to 131st Ave. W. Trailhead
Date Hiked: April 26th, 2025
Other Sections Hiked That Day: Map 1 - Section 3, Map 1 - Section 5
After rugged and remote scenes taking over shortly after leaving Jay Cooke State Park, or at least the visitor's center area, the riverside stroll wasn't the only surprising sudden change, and not just realizing that I was still within the bounds of the massive aforementioned state park's grounds. The trailhead had groups of people heading in either direction, and the road nearby had somewhat regular traffic. To go from near isolation to seeing human congregation and vehicular consistency was the inverse of the journey into the wilderness from the previous post, and this is only the halfway point of a single hike.
No matter how many times I get reacquainted with the St. Louis River, one memory in particular will always resurface. A short-lived but nonetheless impactful relationship I had in 2018 gave me an unusual adventure where my special interest in trains combined with a love of kayaking, and I ended up with a hand-crafted wooden loon that still remains prominently displayed on my bookshelf to this day. That was the day I did the Choo-Choo Paddle, where an excursion train dropped us off six miles from the marina, and we paddled back on the St. Louis River by ourselves on a perfect day for weather and affection that would soon regrettably dissipate. Now, seven years later and being a completely different person in countless ways, the river and I caught up like old friends at a high school reunion. There was no animosity or frustration expressed over the duration between visits, but circumstances necessitated the encounter's brevity, and one bend in the trail later left me once again on a short overlook spur, hiking away from my lost contact before I even realized it was over. Such is the nature of a new trail, but lost connections can be such sweet sorrow.
The white pines were comforting, drifting in the wind with the recognition of someone encountering the steep inclines on which they've been rooted for generations. They were nice enough to provide me with the brief reprieve of a stone bridge before giving me the choice of ending at the 131st Ave. Trailhead or moving on to the Beck's Road stop a mere 2.4 miles farther. I opted for the latter, though I was halfway down the spur route to the trailhead before realizing my error.
Cell phone signal reconnections were brief and fleeting, but I did manage to alert the person gracious enough to provide me with transport as to where I'd need to be picked up. How much harder could a few miles be on such a glorious sunny Saturday after all? The previous weekend, I'd added 10+ miles after the initial 8.5 of this trail, it couldn't be that bad without having to double back, right?
Being too exhausted to bother looking for the nearby Geocaches answered that question for me. I once again reminded myself that I'd spent most of the winter hiking trails that were 6 miles or less.
Alas.
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