The Great Wander of 2026 - Day 2

The Great Wander of 2026

Day 2: May 25th, 2026

States Hiked: Wisconsin, Minnesota

Trail Hiked: St. Croix Loop

Distance Hiked: 5.6 miles

Elevation Gain: 351 ft. 

Cumulative Wander: 17.2 miles

Duration: 1h 37m

Day 1

Before you accuse me of being lazy for knocking off the second state this close to my home area, hear me out. 

Something sucked out my mind and replaced it with stupid on this day, and I did the best I could without completely losing it. 

My first true wander in years started off with buggering it up no less than five times just simply trying to find my way to saying goodbye to someone. I went to the wrong branch of the restaurant, then got off the wrong exit (twice) trying to get to their partners’ place (that I’ve driven to no less than seven times), missed the turn to get back on the 94, and parked in the wrong spot trying to use a gender neutral restroom on the way out. By the time I reached the last part of that series of shenanigans, I conceded my own mental state to hike through a tourist town on a holiday Sunday, put on my headphones and my “shit is way too fucking bright” sunglasses, and ignored everyone and everything until I completed it. 

Half of it is in Wisconsin, and I parked on the Houlton side, so it counts. I hiked in the second state on my list. I even stopped in Beloit to do an Adventure Lab for all of .3 miles later, so if this one doesn’t count, I’ll combine the both for the technicality of the checklist I completely made up. 

I’ve hiked the Stillwater loop more times than nearly any other trail in Minnesota, even before I really considered myself a hiker at all. It’s a lovely trail, albeit a heavily-touristed one, as it crosses two impressive bridges to complete the loop. Granted, one is the iconic lift bridge, so it’s vastly more appealing. The other is a beautiful suspension bridge that would be wonderful for hiking and the views as it ascends (or descends, depending on the direction of travel) over the St. Croix Valley into/out of Wisconsin, but what ruins it is not just the amount of traffic, but how loud said traffic is. Nothing quite says “escape into nature” like Dale and his souped up F-150 that’s like all his other friends’ souped up F-150s in order to showcase how he’s a rebel and a unique individual, floor it while crossing lanes and making sure to own the libs with that sick, sick obnoxiously loud engine designed to do nothing more than tell who he is as a person in enginicular form. 

But, after screwing up five times, which is five more times than I usually do while traveling (I wasn’t called the human GPS for my tendency to make navigational errors), I really didn’t care about anything but putting in a few miles and doing a hard reset on this Great Wander of 2026. Got it out of the way, headed to Chicago once again as my first resting point, and put some miles and a pushpin on the map.

The Great Wander of 2026 - Day 1

 

The Great Wander of 2026

Day 1: May 24th, 2026

State Hiked: Minnesota

Trail Hiked: Big Rivers Regional Trail

Distance Hiked: 11.6 miles

Elevation Gain: 499 ft. 

Duration: 3h 32m

I came to the conclusion that I needed to return to my roots. 

After traveling for so many years with the purpose of seeing another, or speeding somewhere else in the country for an emergency, I started to realize that while my frequent flier miles weren’t accumulating anymore, my travel budget had concurrently expanded rapidly. I’d limited my wandering to a confined area in the hopes of finding the everlasting, lost-to-me home through which I hoped my spirit would find solace and station. But, as it turned out, even with graduating DBT therapy, a proper diagnosis and the according medication, and the happiest and most stable state of being I’d ever experienced, the nomadic spirit does not dissipate. 

I have this deep deep feeling in my ribs again…

Therefore, with all the PTO I’ve managed to not use, I decided that I needed to wander like I once did in my youth, while leaving out the part of not having any gas money, or the mental stability to pay attention to where I was, or a fixed address, or any kind of support system, or any kind of impulse control. But in every other way, just like it used to be. 

I set an arbitrary goal for myself: 17 states/provinces in which I would hike (and Geocache.) Very little else was permanent and non-adjustable, as evidenced by bumping up the dates by two weeks when some friends invited me to AEW: Dynamite in Philadelphia, so returning to my alma mater and keeping a long held promise to be with them when they went to their first wrestling show, I was more than willing to accommodate that into my (lack of an) itinerary. That’s the great thing about wandering with no particular destination; never late, never early, always right where one needs to be.

I started off the wandering by knocking out the easiest state, the one where I live. I didn’t take the car, for during a holiday weekend in nice weather, it wasn’t even worth trying to find a place that wasn’t flooded with trail tourists, so I walked across the 494 and finally tried to get the Verified Complete badge that had eluded me several other times on the Big Rivers Regional Trail. Despite there being more bikes than mosquitos, and my personal distaste for the branch of the marked trail that requires crossing roads and meandering through suburban hell, I managed to finally achieve that squiggly circle on the fourth attempt. 

This trail is lovely, though I imagine it’s more fun on a bike. Running next to the rivers, looking down at Pike Island where they split, and also making a brief cameo in Mendota (no Heights), it’s adequate. I wasn’t hiking for the enjoyment of it, it was just to remove the need of hiking before I left the state and the real travel began the next day. 

I am my own arrow, I am my own home. It’s alright, it’s all I’ve ever known.

Superior Hiking Trail #3-7 - Silver Bay to Illgen City

 

Superior Hiking Trail

Map 3 - Section 7

Silver Bay to Illgen City

Date Hiked - November 15th, 2025

Miles - 11.4

Elevation Gain - 1696 ft. 

This was my favorite hike in all of 2025, and not because of the scenery, wonderfully difficult terrain, unseasonably beautiful day, or meeting the challenge of a long segment of the Superior Hiking Trail. It was the company.

Rarely do I get the chance to hike with anyone, and even more seldom is it with someone for whom I don't have to slow down or do less than I typically would. Which is also to say, I don't mind when I'm spending time with someone who doesn't do ridiculous miles or difficult hikes, just that it's exceedingly rare when I'm not accommodating. 

This is also the first time I hiked with two other people on the same level. And what a hike it was! 

AllTrails has its flaws and issues, but through several algorithmic accidents and non-user intuitive communication, I became friends with K. I wrote about our first hike at Afton, but various life difficulties and shenanigans beyond our control, we didn't get to go on our second until this day late in the year, and along with us was meeting my friend J for the first time. We knew the trek would be challenging, even by SHT standards, but the three of us set out with the terribly bright autumn sun reflecting off the Gitchee Gumee like even it was trying to talk us out of it. 

The Bean and Bear Lake loop only recently being restored, mercifully the Verified Complete badge would be attainable. Contrasting my normally silent treks through the remote wilderness, the three of us gabbed it up like we'd been friends all our lives, which is uncharacteristic for me in most settings, let alone trying to climb up steep elevation and rocks slicked with fallen leaves. Thank goodness for trekking poles, or I might've had a one-on-one conversation with a few, possibly getting up close and personal with my face at increased velocity. 

Seeing the difficulty level of this hike under ideal conditions, the Gales of November were like "naw bitch, we're gonna see your mission and raise you 'WANNA SEE A GREAT VIEW OVER THIS CLIFF, THE HARD WAY?!" This section of the SHT offers so many stunning views, a reward for climbing over rock steps that seem designed to taunt you with their steep angles, but these gusts were intense enough that slipping several hundred feet over the edge was a distinct possibility. 

The tracker said 11.4 miles, but taking nearly five hours to complete, it felt more like 20. Not in a bad way, completing this section was earned, but it was a true companionate adventure where three names on a hiking app actually became friends, completed a hike together, and mutually got to go full force without having to hold up. We all became friends that day, and I only hope 2026 is filled with more opportunities for these three Hiker Alphas (K's words) to go conquer something else on which we couldn't take anyone else in our lives.

Minnesota State Parks Revisited: Sakatah Lake State Park

 

Sakatah Lake State Park

Date Hiked: December 20th, 2025, December 23rd, 2025

Trail Hiked: Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail - SLSP to Morristown, SLSP to Halfway to Elysian Lake

Distance Hiked: 9.0 miles, 8.8 miles

Elevation Gain: 269 ft., 289 ft.

Duration: 3:21:28, 3:11:40

Funny enough, it was also winter when I revisited Sakatah Lake State Park. This time around though, it was covered with ice, snow, and cold, as opposed to the initial Hiking Club trek, which was only visited by the air raid siren in the fog. 

Does this really count as the longest trail in Sakatah Lake State Park? Technically I suppose, it does go through it, but with the Singing Hills Trail also being a Geocaching Power Trail, it became an adventure that also led to my first Hundred Percenting of a moderate distance trail (25 miles or more), with several others in the process as I hike and double back its segments. 

The fourth and fifth of ten installments of Hundred Percenting (technically twice, given the double back each time) led me to begin at Sakatah Hills State Park, and while it didn't fulfill the idea of seeing how different the park was during a season other than winter, it's my damn travelogue and I'll do what I want with it. 

The trees were great protection from the icy Arctic winds, but those quickly gave way to the prairie chill that anyone from the Upper Midwest knows quite well this time of year. During this entire ten-part series, I only encountered other hikers at each end. By the time I was finishing up, I saw more snowmobilers than walkers, which probably says more about me than it should. Any other time of year, I'd likely have cyclists blowing by me, so it worked out nicely to revisit this park during the winter. 

If one is looking for scenery, elevation gain, or epic views, this is not the first or hundredth trail I'd recommend. While with a ride and decent weather I could finish this trail in two days, the winter and ice added a level to it much like doing the Hiking Club in the cold months, plus the added solitude and lack of interruptions as I kept creeping into the trees to look for Geocaches. Those things can be tough to open in such temperatures, and the ones that aren't in a tree might as well not even be bothered with the snow going up to my thigh at points. But, I still hiked from Faribault to Mankato, and nobody can say I didn't. 

Sakatah Lake State Park is perfectly fine for what it is. Sitting in dense forest, near a lake, relatively close to the Twin Cities, and near several small towns that create a bit of infrastructure which even the SHT could learn from. It doesn't have the excitement of any of the crescent trails in the state, but it's a hike through several towns I'd likely never have heard of otherwise, a state park in the middle, and hundreds of potential Geocaching finds, even if a significant amount of them are too wet to sign. 

My perspective on this state park hasn't changed, which isn't even necessarily a bad thing. It is what it is. 

Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail - 100 Percent Completed

Hike 1

Date Hiked: November 24th, 2025

Distance Hiked: 5.5 miles

Trailhead to Wells Lake

Hike 2

Date Hiked: November 27th, 2025

Distance Hiked: 10.5 miles

Wells Lake to Warsaw

Hike 3

Date Hiked: December 17th, 2025

Distance Hiked: 6.1 miles

Warsaw to Morristown

Hike 4

See Above

Hike 5

See Above

Hike 6

Date Hiked: December 24th, 2025

Distance Hiked: 9.4 miles

Elysian Lake to Halfway Pt.

Hike 7

Date Hiked: December 26th, 2025

Distance Hiked: 7.9 miles

Elysian Lake to Halfway to Madison Lake

Hike 8

Date Hiked: January 2nd, 2026

Distance Hiked: 5.4 miles

Madison Lake to Halfway Pt.

Hike 9

Date Hiked: January 3rd, 2026

Distance Hiked: 9.6 miles

Eagle Lake to Madison Lake

Hike 10

Date Hiked: January 4th, 2026

Distance Hiked: 9.9 miles

Mankato to Eagle Lake

Minnesota State Parks Revisited: Glacial Lakes State Park

Glacial Lakes State Park

Date Hiked: February 3rd, 2026

Trail Hiked: Kettle Lakes Loop

Distance Hiked: 8.2 miles

Elevation Gain: 673 ft.

Duration: 3h 5m

The last time I visited Glacial Lakes State Park was revelatory, and not just because I got an excuse to drop a Kara Thrace reference. In those four seasons during one hike, I experienced a beacon of sunshine from within, where the true self for which I’d been searching finally started breaking through the stratus clouds of the soul. I heard the perfect song, “Fall in Love” by Lazer Club, and I danced along the ancient hills, ripping my shirt off and screaming to the vast horizon that I was finally there.

One year later, I yearned for a similar experience. 

It was only 16 degrees, and yet I didn’t need a coat. The trail was covered by snow and yet I didn’t need my spikes. The park was empty and yet I didn’t feel alone. Having wonderful new friends and a true sense of community despite living history in my city for the second time in six years, the disasters of 2025 were present but not overwhelming me with their aftershocks. It was time to put a capstone on my relationship with this park, as it knew what I needed once. Perhaps the muse lightning in its blissful, non-actual-electricness would strike a second, merciful time. 

Where the Hiking Club trail featured multiple types of terrain, the Kettle Lakes Loop traversed the vastness of the surrounding landscape. Rolling hills despite being in the prairie, ascents and descents with surprising intensity, it felt like the perfection of frozen solitude, the time loop allowing an encore to the prior hike but with a year’s worth of heartbreak and growth alike to fill the in-between. The spaces where routine and response once enlivened predictable yet anticipated mutuality, I now pushed along the vague sense of a trail underneath the drifts purely for my own fulfillment. Sometimes it’s okay to do what you need for no one’s benefit but your own, and I in no way whatsoever claim otherwise for this adventure. This was for me, and I needed something, but I wouldn’t know what until it happened. 

Then, it did.

I let the sax and sky drums of Lazer Club transmit the posthumous beams of a shattered past, with several names now etched into the tombstone of what once was. Then, it was up to the algorithm from the root of that song to find me in this peace. 

Never could I have predicted Bodine Monet’s voice to pierce my snow cocoon of solitude, and yet as I pushed up the steepest hill of the sojourn, there she was.

I wanna drive the highway through the night, I wanna take you somewhere no one finds, I wanna make mistakes that won’t feel right, I wanna chase the hate I’d give my life, for all the love you’d give me, I’m taking it far like a reckless car.

 

Glacial Lakes State Park, once again, was exactly where I needed to be, and that voice scored the soundtrack of my infinity. Thank you, Bodine Monet.

 

 

Superior Hiking Trail #3-2 - Castle Danger to Gooseberry Falls State Park

Happy 100th post to me, thanks for reading! 

Superior Hiking Trail

Map 3 - Section 2

Castle Danger to Gooseberry Falls State Park

Date Hiked - May 11th, 2025

Miles - 14.2

Elevation Gain - 925 ft. 

This marks the point where I stopped trying to Hundred Percent the trail in complete sequential order.

I made no attempts to hide my disappointment with the majority of Map 2. Three hours of driving, no ridesharing available, only to end up wandering through brown grass, ticks, swamps, and not much else, I was on the precipice of abandoning the concept entirely. Therefore, skipping ahead a bit (and returning to do 3-1 at a different time), this reinvigorated my enthusiasm for the trail itself, even if the lack of ridesharing outside of Duluth caused this to be a much longer hike than intended. This would lead me to traverse other sections of this trail with a few hiking friends, or at the very least, bring other people to the North Shore with me who could hang out in the city and then come get me at the appropriate time. Though, due to life circumstances and proximity issues, the continuation of my progress would come at a much later date, as if the series of hikes in Washington didn't already indicate as such. 

Immediately this section starts with climbing up some giant-ass rocks to a lovely aerial view of the Gitchee Gumee. This is what was missing from the majority of Map 2, as the name implies some proximity to the lake itself, but a snowmobile trail through the trees considerably off the shore didn't provide nearly as much. The view from Mike's Rock far exceeds the expectations of such a name. I'm sure Mike is lovely, but in my head, I picture some guy standing on a boulder claiming it as his because he touched it first. 

The descent into the area of the Gooseberry River is a challenge of its own. Even in mid-May, a lot of the dead leaves from the ere winter still carpet the majority of the trail, and can make for an unexpected, involuntary launch down a jagged Slip'N'Slide if one isn't careful. While I wasn't expecting to run into many people on Map 2, the weather, the rising temperatures, and the proximity to Memorial Day had me a little more (pleasantly) surprised at my trek of solitude as the trail wound its way toward one of the most popular parks in the state. Once the river starts to bend, one has a choice of continuing on the main trail or taking a rather comparatively lengthy spur toward Gooseberry Falls State Park. Given that Lyft wasn't pinging anything and there would still be the hike back to the car to consider, I opted to journey the three miles to the visitor's center. I thought maybe being near such a touristy area might change my fortune, but I suppose nobody's taking a Lyft to Gooseberry when it already doubles as a rest area. 

I didn't even know there was a Fifth Falls farther up (down?) the trail, and it's considerably wider than the more famous and visited lower sections. That alone was worth the return trip.

Minnesota State Parks Revisited - January 4th, 2025 Redux - Gooseberry, Split Rock, Tettegouche, Temperance River, Cascade River, -30 Degrees

 

Gooseberry Falls State Park, Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, Tettegouche State Park, Temperance River State Park, Cascade River State Park

Date Hiked: December 13-14th

Trail Hiked: Gitchi Gummi Trail, Day Hill Trail, Shovel Point, Lookout Mountain Loop, Carlton and Tofte Peaks

Distance Hiked: 10.8 miles, 8.2 miles

Elevation Gain: 1437 ft,, 1152 ft. 

Duration: 4h 21m, 3h 31m

If I have a trait that can be considered both a blessing and a curse, at least in a hiking context, it's the drive to immediately outdo something that I considered impressive until the moment it was done. 

Burying bad memories underneath new ones to compensate is probably a close second. 

I've merged all these hikes into one entry. Four on the Saturday, one on the Sunday, I consider them a collective because of what they represented in my head at the time. If you've read my Hiking Club reviews, you know that my January 4th trilogy of hikes when it was -30 outside set the bar for what I considered one of my biggest hiking accomplishments of the year. 

Unfortunately, those are laced with bad and redacted memories now, and when put in the position where the time and context are right, even something that stupid and dangerous needs to be outdone. I was at my favorite inn up north, the weather was nearly identical to January 4th, and instead of having to drive up there, I woke up right in the middle of all them already. -30 wind chills, overwhelming bright sun, sea smoke, Minnesota State Parks, but also, about 450 hikes in between created a capstone for a year that began with checking boxes and ended with returning to frozen roots/routes. 

Yes, two of these parks I did a few weeks before January 4th, but I didn't want to just outdo time and distance. Why continue highlighting a day with three state parks hiked when I could do four under the same dangerous circumstances? It made sense in my head at the time.

First, my old friend Gitchi Gummi, before I had the amazing thought that maybe ice spikes would be a good idea when walking on cliffs while they're covered in ice. This time, it was a breeze, and at times I could even feel my face for a few seconds. 

Second, Split Rock. With the snow at least ten inches deep, the daylight being limited, and at least two parks to go to complete my arbitrary quest, I opted for the Day Hill loop as opposed to the full Hiking Club route. While pursuing the Hiking Club would've made this a problem, I was doing this strictly because I felt like it, and perhaps also working on my Hiking Club Adventure Labs (4 done, 8 to go). 

Third, Tettegouche. It's still a point. With Shovels.

Fourth, and the official end of my ice spikes, Cascade River. My best-ranked Hiking Club state park, and that still stands after revisiting many of them when it's not Jupiter outside. 

Then on Sunday at Temperance River, I combined this ridiculous quest with my ongoing pursuit of hundred-percenting the Superior Hiking Trail, so I'll delve in more deeply on that entry. In January, all the hikes combined didn't match the distance or elevation gain from this one alone.

The view from Carlton Peak alone made it all worth it. 

Superior Hiking Trail Map #2 - All Sections

 

Superior Hiking Trail

Map 2 - All Sections

Dates Hiked: September 10. 2024, May 6th, 2025, May 10th, 2025

Miles Hiked: 6.0, 13.6, 19.2

Elevation Gain: 512 ft., 646 ft., 932 ft.

Rather than write about each section like I did within map 1, I think I need to encompass all of Map 2 with one essay, lest I end up writing "I hate Map 2 so freaking much" with a bunch of copy-pastes to match my usual word count. The Superior Hiking Trail doesn't deserve that, and especially thru-hikers will probably get a lot more out of it than I did. I just didn't get nearly as much out of Map 2 as I did Maps 1 or 3. 

The first time I ever got on the Superior Hiking Trail, starting at Reeves Road toward Lake 301, I made the mistake of... partaking in a particular leaf that makes a funny smell and causes mild differences in behavior. I was not ready for the consequences of that mistake. Deep within the isolation of the trail, which wasn't what I was expecting having grown up next to the Appalachian Trail, I found myself paranoid at the thickness of the trees and the potential disaster of encountering a bear. Thankfully the latter wouldn't happen until the following Halloween, but in my altered state, a ruffed grouse waited until I was mere feet away to suddenly panic and flutter out, and I'm pretty sure I'm still returning back to Earth Daffy Duck-style from that scare. How does one continue writing about individual sections when they got punked out by a goddamn tree chicken?

My next attempt came when I was a little more accustomed to the SHT's quirks of solitude and structure. But, after 14 sections of peaks, valleys, ascents, bluffs, and epic views of Lake Superior, early spring brownness, trail maintenance, construction crews, and swampfoot couldn't quite match up. Neither could the giant ticks I plucked off my pants after said adventures. 

Going from Ely's Peak to a snowmobile trail with no snow or mobile was a bit of a letdown by comparison. Most of these sections just looked redundant and uninteresting, and especially with the Fifth Falls and Split Rock off in the alluring distance of Map 3, it was really hard to get excited about them at all. I'm struggling to fill my 500-word quota encapsulating the entire thing, so imagine what a section breakdown would've looked like! Again, I'm not trying to discourage anyone from hiking this trail, sections or thru-hike, but I really, really hated my specific hikes at the time I did them. At least I got some damn good mileage out of them, even if the elevation gain also left something to be desired when compared to the rugged climbs of Map 1. 

The coolest thing I saw in any of these three hikes? A young woman passing me by, running on the trail, in short shorts. Maybe I was slightly bitter from an untrustworthy plank sinking into the swamp and thus making my hike that day a soggy mess, but I admired someone who could not only trail run, but invite ticks to dinner so brazenly.