Back for seconds — Lung Story Short...

Backtracking a little bit to back in Minnesota for our second camping trip up on the north shore. Basically we wanted to do as many things as we could before moving back to Colorado. The agenda was to to be outside as much as possible and be near water. Laima booked us for two nights at the Temperance state park camping ground at a spot as close as you can get to Lake Superior. Our first day we planned to drive up and dive straight into a hike before even going to the campground since we weren't able to check in until 4p.m. The hike we were going to do was one that we wanted to try last time but I was too sore from the first day of hiking and wasn't going to be able to do it. So this was our second attempt. It was at Tettegouche state park and was the hike that ended at a lake that you could canoe on.

Right away the trail started with a long gradual incline and then basically continued as an incline and then slight flat ground and then incline, decline, incline, decline for the whole 1.6 miles. My legs weren't quite ready for those just yet that morning but they eventually woke up. The trail ended at a little cluster of cabins right on the lake. There was literally only one person in sight cleaning one of them. We had the whole lake to ourselves. Peaceful, quiet and serene is what it was like out there.

I was just waiting for people to pollute the silence but they never came. It was definitely worth the hike. I was a little bummed the weather wasn't a tad warmer and a bit sunnier but beggars can't be choosers. We made our way across, sticking to the left side of the lake and then stopped for lunch near the far end. We had packed lunches so we could have a picnic in the canoe. I hadn't been in a canoe for a long time and had forgotten how wiggly they are and every movement had to be delicate unless you wanted to end up a moist pile of flailing clothes.

As we were paddling around, we noticed that some darker clouds in the distance headed our way. They were approaching fairly quickly, quicker than we anticipated. First it was the wind that came causing the water to become choppy like the ocean. Then there was rain...not just la de da rain but fast and painful rain, hail-like qualities. Oh, and it was freezing… This occurred while we started our journey back to the dock but unfortunately we on the opposite side of the lake. We had to battle the wind pretty hard just to move forward a foot. It was kind of surreal, like this would happen in a movie. I was yelling, she was yelling, I was laughing and she was paddling. my hands became numb and we both were getting pretty wet. Of course by the time we made it close to the dock the rain had stopped and the wind subsided. The storm had passed by and the sun came out to say hello.

After the hike back to the car we headed to the campground. Once we got to our campsite I put on some extra layers and then we got to work on setting up the tent and then dinner. Campfire nachos it was! Nice and cheesy because cheese is life. Our campsite was literally the closest you could get to the lake. Through the trees you could see part of the lake, but to get to it you had to go down a bunch of stairs and path surrounded by trees and vegetation.

It was still pretty early so we decided to go explore the lake front, which was all rocks. It was a pretty cool landscape and we enjoyed hopping across all the drops and tidal pools along the shore. The lake itself looked like the ocean because it was so vast and you couldn't see the other side. The water lapped the rocky shore as if it were the sea. We went our separate ways but eventually ended up in the same area looking at a rainbow and raincloud in the distance. When it started to get dark we headed back and got ready for bed but did a little star gazing before getting into our tent.

The next morning it was the day that I had planned out. There were two places I really wanted to check out. The first was Cascade falls and the second was Devils Kettle Falls up by Grand Marais. The hike at Cascade Falls was amazing and probably one of my favorites. I highly enjoy hikes with trails that are dirt and not wide like a road. Full of trees and vegetation, lush green ferns and moss scattered with mushrooms here and there. Inclines and declines with stairs made of rocks and logs. The Cascade river ran right along the the side of it but with nice long drop to get to the actual water. Definitely don't want to get too close to the edge, which Laima and I obviously did. We like to get the full experience of places and like to take the small side trails and also like to put ourselves onto the boulders in the river if we can. This river had a lot of waterfalls and I mean a lot. I don't remember how many there were but they were all beautiful.

The second hike of the day was about thirty minute drive up north at Judge C.R. Magney state park. This hike was also along side a river with and our destination being another waterfall. The lady at the entrance of the park said that it was going to be 200 stairs down to the waterfall. When she said that my eyes got a little wide but then I thought that alright since I've done over 400 stairs down to a waterfall before in costa rica and that was pre transplant when breathing was way more difficult.

The trail itself was nice. Surrounded by trees and greenery and a bit more inclined. My legs were a little tired by then since we had already done a hike earlier. There were two waterfalls that we stopped at, the first one we could get real close to and the second one was a double waterfall but could only see from a distance. Near the top of the second pair we were able to hop around some rocks in the middle of the river before heading back. As I was taking my time climbing the millions of stairs up, Laima had already made it to the top and was making her way down again to add as a “work out”… over achiever!

Somehow the next day I wasn't that sore which I was pleasantly surprised about and excited that I was able to do a hike on our last day! We woke up and got ready for the day and packed up our campsite. We wanted to get the hike done by 11a.m. so we could leave and make it to the pharmacy in time for my 3p.m. drugs. The hike we decided to do was right by Temperance state park called Superior hiking trail along the Temperance river. There were a lot of cool rock formations made along the river due to erosion from the water current. We of course went off the main trail at some point just so we could walk on the rocks right next to the river so we get get good views of the waterfalls. Near the end we were cutting it close for our timing to get back to the car. We wanted to make it to the far waterfall but of course my feet started to really hurt and so my pace became a sloths pace and so then we had to hurry back. There wasn't even enough time to kidnap the two golden retrievers we saw on the way back. Bummer I know!

An hour into our way back, my transplant coordinator called and changed the dose of the drug that were rushing back to grab from the pharmacy...so then we didn't actually end up needing to hurry. Our eyes both rolled since we could have taken our time that morning and even could have done a second hike. Oh well. Until next time!