Sucker Creek

After a couple days of hiking on sidewalks around town, I returned to the Superior Hiking Trail today. I hiked from the Normanna Road trailhead to the Sucker River campsite which was 5.6 miles away. Oh, vey, I walked 11.2 miles today. My feet are dog tired. The first mile and the last mile were the worse. The mosquitoes were the worst at the beginning and end of the trail. Mosquitoes were so plentiful I could see eight if I looked down at my shoes. I had mosquitoes flying between my eyes and my glasses. I had mosquitoes in my ears. Mosquitoes invaded my personal space. I wish I had brought my head net. When I had to pause to ford a stream or climb over a tree trunk or plan a dry route around a trail puddle the mosquitoes would bombard me which did not make my walking any easier. The middle 4 miles of the trail had less mosquitoes because the land had been harvested for timber. Today I heard spring peepers and chorus frogs. I saw about 20 small toads hopping along the trail. I saw a garter snake. Holy smokes, I thought, that snake is a yard long. But that was the adrenaline measuring. When I looked back the snake was only two feet long. Later I saw another snake about 18 inches long. I heard oven birds, white crowned sparrows, a black and white warbler, pileated woodpeckers, veerys and, for the first time this year, a Eastern wood pewee. I heard some grouse drumming. At one point I looked down at my legs and stopped to pick off 15 wood ticks. In total I picked off about 40 wood ticks but only five had taken a bite out of me. I had liberally sprayed my shoes and legs and shirt and hat with Deep Woods Off but maybe I need to buy a fresh bottle of bug spray. Bah humbug, the bugs were brutal on this trip. About a mile before I returned to my car I met a woman hiking with her white shepard dog. She was wearing a bug net over her face. She asked if the campsite was ahead and I told her it was. I wished her a good trip. I was going home to 1. a shower, 2. a thorough wood tick check, 3. clean clothes, 4. a hot meal and 5. a comfortable bed. She was going to a campsite in the woods where she would have to pump and filter water out of a beaver pond. I felt like the luckier one between us. Now I have hiked 30.5 miles of the Superior Hiking Trail.