SHT DAY 7: TRAVEL TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH

Then, it rained again last night. Almost all night, and it was very hard around 5:30 am I used my Garmin to get the weather forecast, and said that the rain should end at 8:00 am with that knowledge and relief, I went back to sleep hard.

The squirrels were taking me away to wake up after daylight. I said through two squirrel alarms, and finally I stirred after the third. First I packed my things inside the store, I went for breakfast, then I left a handful of slugs and snails from my wet tent before packing it. The camp seems soaked, and I fear how unpleasant the path will be.

Splashing the mud and mud.

My body feels good when I start walking. Deliberately slowly on the first half mile to a mile just to let my body hot and enter pace. But, the path has other ideas. There will be no rhythm, since every step is in a wet muddy disaster or baby steps on a slippery wooden board. Today I wear one of these tables, but I can immerse only one foot in the mud. The only time I can walk in rhythm was during a 1.7 -mile road before entering Judge Magney State Park.

The spooky walk along the path of camp 20.

The walk through the park lasts several miles. You enter from the north of Camp 20 Road, a beautiful gravel road. You start walking along the Brule River, and then you see and smell a lot of tourists with a pleasant smell. Then there were the stairs. These were labeled in the guide as «too many stairs.» 😅

T-shirt

However, this park has a super great natural characteristic: Devil’s Kettle Falls. While the Brule river hastened through narrowing on the walls of the canyon on its way to the upper lake, it is divided into the middle. The water to the right continues downstream, while the water to the left is emptied in a hole, or «teapot», and disappears. The raw and magnificent power of water and the time carved a well in the river bed.

Only Ma Nature knows his incredible or horrible secrets. One can only imagine what everything has been eliminated in this natural «insinkerator». All kinds of objects, including ping pong balls, have been thrown into the cataracts to see if they reappear. They don’t. According to the Internet, scientists have used water volume measurements and dumping in the water to demonstrate that the water binds to the Brule River more downstream.

A waterfall more downstream in the area of ​​the hell of the devil.

Seeing the water disappearing in the tool of the devil reminds me of the book a trip to the center of the earth through Jules Verne. Let us conveniently forget science for a second and simply pretend that Hans, Harry and his uncle have discovered the portal in the center of the earth.

After nerve in the cataracts for a while, I walked towards the beginning of the path. During the last miles, my left knee has been bothering me. It reminds me of an injury that I suffered on a previous path a few years ago. I leave and lunch at the beginning of the path and use the privilege. I try to stretch and stay positive on my knee. If I’m going to go on the way, this would be the place to do it. There are many people around, and there is even a Wi -Fi access point that could use to send a transport message if necessary. However, I decide to continue, hoping to be able to leave it.

This turned out to be a bad idea. The knee continued to get worse. Each step became a scorching pain regardless of whether I was on the path, decline or inclination. The idea of ​​having another full day of paths before arriving in the city began to worry seriously. I am not in panic, but I am formulating plans B, C and D at this time.

The surprisingly crossed a private road that had not noticed on the map before. I checked Avenza and VI that led to highway 61, the main road along the upper lake. This could be my bail point. I would still have a few miles to walk along this way to get to the road, but I decided to do it. If I can’t even walk, then it makes no sense to continue.

I alleged the road. I had no service to call anyone, so the only option I had was to get my thumb and expect to get a hitch. I have never taken a walk in my life. In fact, I chose my refueling points to make this trip right on the way so that I do not have to hook me, or even use a transport service. I am not afraid of that, exactly, it is only that, as a solo hiker, I thought it would be safer not to hook. But here I am.

I only had my thumb for a few minutes before a truck stopped. The psychology of the hitch is a two -way street suspicion. The autoestopist expects the person (s) to stop will not be disgusting, and the person in the vehicle expects the autoestopist not to be disgusting. Luckily for both parties in my situation that no one was a specimener. In fact, I felt so lucky that the couple who stopped for me was the most pleasant people in history. They had just made a trip to Canada and had some their own problems. Some very pleasant people helped them, so the couple who stopped for me felt the need to pay it. I was at the receiver end!

Glacy offered to take me to Grand Marais, which was my first refueling city. However, they told me that they finally headed to Duluth, and I was welcome to ride all that way if I wanted. Knowing that my knee problem would probably not be solved overnight, or even in a couple of days, it didn’t take me for a long time to call it and return home. My vehicle is in Duluth, so I could start home immediately. The couple even went as far as to stop quickly in my refueling villages so that I could recover my drops of food.

I can’t say enough thanks to the sweet couple that risk me. Nor had they collected a autoestopist, so we were all putting ourselves there. If you are reading this, I know I am always grateful!

Rest

With a heavy heart, I drove home. I know the injuries are common along the way, but I never hope my body fails me. I have always expected my body to work at a high level, and most of the time it behaves admirably. Despite all my training, something went wrong. But I am no longer a young man, and I guess I need to submit a little to my expectations.

Back at home, I made an appointment to see an orthopedic knee. The radiographs showed normal knees, but the doctor suspected a bad case of IT band syndrome. We talk about possible physiotherapy, footwear templates and a multitude of other remedies. My job is now to filter the recommendations and do what I think is better to help me go back to the road. I plan to start rehabilitating at home, and also professionally scanned my feet and bought a couple of templates for my shoes. Leaving the path completely has barely gone through my head, since I intend to return before losing the weather window!

I feel very anxious with respect to my return to the north coast. We expect a quick recovery! Stay tuned!

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