I just finished a 10 day span where I led 2 different guided efforts and visited 20 State Parks while hiking 70 miles in those parks. I have many stories to share and new parks to review from the effort so I'll be getting some writing time soon to put it all together. Below is a short synopsis of what my vacation entailed and what is to be expected.
Day 1: Kilen Woods (After work trip where I dodged rain drops and had some fun.)
Day 2: Blue Mounds (10 miles and 6 hours of awesome.), Split Rock Creek (Wind blown), Camden (Bridge out, alternative effort.)
Day 3: Frontenac Warbler Walk (Guiding effort for MOU sponsored event with Prothonotary awesomeness.)
Day 4: Lake Maria (Random humans), Charles Lindbergh (Pine Warbler agreement.), Crow Wing & Mille Lacs Kathio (Ice Palace)
Day 5: Banning & Moose Lake Redux (Flex day birding adds new trails and good fun.)
Day 5: Duluth bonus birding adds Whimbrel life birds.
Day 6: Gooseberry & Split Rock Lighthouse (Super hikes and waterfalls galore.)
Day 7: Tettegouche & George Crosby Manitou (An unfulfilled hunt, but amazing day.)
Day 8: Judge Magney, Grand Portage, and Cascade River (Waterfall overload.)
Day 9: Temperence River & Jay Cooke (Raven Cooperation and A hunt fulfilled.)
Day 10: Grey Cloud - Big Watch III (Missed it by that much.)
During this span I hiked 76 miles, visited 20 state parks, 2 SNAs, and a waste treatment facility. Yes, it was a glamorous affair. I climbed or descended around 2,000 stairs while visiting nearly a dozen waterfalls and seeing over 170 species of birds.
I looked upon Canada for the first time and generally tried to take myself to my physical limits without getting into trouble deep on a trail somewhere. By the end I had outrun migration to a degree and realized that several days were still needed before some warblers would be on territory in these most northern reaches, while others were in place and staking claims to their piece of the boreal forest.
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