We miscalculated the miles. Instead of what we thought was 18 miles, it was about 24. So I think this was our longest hike so far. And the last 4-5 miles really made sure we knew about it. I had a very cramped left leg, and Mom’s feet were feeling it, too.
Part of our hike was through what locals call the “Million Acre Swamp.” I guess it’s around 60,000 acres, but feels like millions. The snowmobile trail we were hiking runs the perimeter of the swamp, so it felt like forever to get through it. But we had fun searching for the perfect little pine tree. I think the largest tree we saw was around 6 or 7 feet tall across the entire swamp.
This is the cutest little pine tree I've ever seen!
We got to our camp at dark. We set up the tent, ate dinner, dad stopped out to visit and stoked the fire for us, and after our fire went out, we hit the hay. But we weren’t alone throughout the night. We had visitors. We could hear them walking around crunching in the snow. So we didn’t sleep as well as we’d hoped.
In the morning we had another unexpected visitor. It was Dad! Our trail angel!! With hot coffee! And as mom and I sat in our sleeping bags sipping our hot coffee, dad walked around the tent and noticed animal tracks. We suspect they were wolves – they looked bigger than coyote or fox tracks, anyway. AND… on top of that, since we set up at dark, in the morning we noticed we were about 40-50 feet away from what looked like a bear den! Whew – at least they’re hibernating!
We think this was a bear's den, but didn't want to get too close to find out for sure!
We grabbed a ride home with dad to take a nap, since we didn’t sleep well with the nightly critters. So we’re warming up, drying out, and then we’re going to hit the trail again. We’re going to shoot for about 13 miles.
…but we’re sleeping in our beds tonight. J
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