Superior Hiking TrailThe Superior Hiking Trail is begging for your boots! Seriously! This fantastic hiking opportunity is named for the Great Lake it travels beside (Lake Superior), but also for the superior hiking trail that it is. You've heard of the Appalachian Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail. Why not a Midwestern "superior" trail? OK, I'm biased. I grew up in northern Michigan - extreme northern Michigan: the Upper Peninsula. I grew up playing in "the big lake", camping on its shores, taking a boat across its choppy waters to the fabulous national park called Isle Royale (that's where I learned a lot of my early backpacking skills). What's so great about this trail? Hmmm... where to start? Ah, good point! The Superior Hiking Trail begins in Minnesota, and winds for over 250 miles to the Canadian border. That's a long stretch of Minnesota hiking trails! So it offers you a lot of options for starting and stopping a lengthy hike. Here's another reason: there is no permit system for the 80 or so campsites, so there's no lottery that you have to win in order to be on this trail for multiple nights. And here's another reason I'm singing the praises of this trail: it's maintained by a hard core body of volunteers, true hiking aficionados who are dedicated to making sure YOU have access to this fabulous hiking opportunity. You can sign up for regular updates by visiting the link I provided above.
And if you need just one more reason to try this trail, let this reason push you over the edge: there is a free smartphone downloadable "app" (application) to make planning your "follow the shoreline" adventure even easier. Here's another jam packed resource to get you started with planning a hiking trip on this great trail, complete with trail descriptions, statistics, reviews, and lots of detailed resources. So if you're feeling a bit jaded about the more "famous" long trails mentioned above (too crowded, too hard to plan for, too strenuous), give this one a look. Lake Superior is a fantastic "inner fresh water ocean" smack dab in the middle of the upper Midwest. If you haven't given yourself the chance to stand on its shores and gaze over to Canada, or let the crisp breezes play over your face during sunrise, or explore the interplay between water and rock along its shores.... what are you waiting for?? |