At Split Rock

I think I might have already mentioned that on the last warm weekend of fall (and warm is probably an understatement . . . it was almost hot!)  we took a little trip up the North Shore.  I try to get up the North Shore at least once each fall.  This year we knew we would be getting a late start on Saturday, the only day that a driving trip would have been possible, so we did not go as far up the shore to see maple trees.  I was fine with that, because I was just happy to go at all.  Upon the excellent recommendations of a couple of friends this summer, we decided to try hiking the Split Rock River Loop.  It was a bit longer hike than we’ve probably ever attempted with kids, and I feel it went well.  There was some drama, but there were a lot of good things about this hike to outweigh some of the fussing involved.  My youngest kidlets continue to be much more excited about hiking than the elder kidlets, and it turns out they have a lot more endurance as well, because they have such a different attitude about the experience.

The hike was supposed to be 4.6 smiles, but two miles in felt like 20 miles.  I’m not sure why, other than there was a lot of up and down hiking on steep terrain in places.  So, at one point we could see the trail on the other side of the river, and decided to cross the water to take a short cut.  This probably cut off a mile at least, which was a good thing.  I didn’t take many pictures of the hike, and I’m not really sure why.  I think I was just preoccupied being a hiking cheerleader.  Also, I was on the lookout for snakes.  I saw one and screamed bloody murder!  The kidlets saw a few more, and snakes just make me nervous.  We never see snakes while hiking, so it must have just been the perfect conditions and habitat for them.  The trail followed the river, which had lots of small water falls and boulders and super neat rocks.  Eventually it climbed up a high hill on the north side, and led us to a fantastic view of the valley and lake.  

This little one was such a trooper!  Really, he did great.  He was a bit sad here because he couldn’t keep up with Mr. SP and be at the front of the family on the trail.  Dr. Peds was encouraging him, and telling him he could be the leader of “Mom’s Team” which is a slower hiking group, because I’m always stopping to take pictures of things and look at things.  Dr. Peds kept up with Mr. SP (grouching along) and The Banana (happily hiking her heart out).  Mr. TOF led me and YaYa, who assumed the role of caboose because she didn’t want to be ahead of me in case I might take her picture.  Instead, she did a fair share of fussing about the hike from the back.  Even though she would never admit it, I pretty sure there were a few parts of the hike she liked. 

When we finally got back to the car after four or more hours of hiking, everyone was hungry and thirsty.  Snacks!

We considered just driving home at this point, because everyone was pretty tired, but I really wanted to kayak at my favorite beach near the lighthouse, so Dr. Peds turned the car around and took us there.  After my glorious kayak ride, Mr. SP asked to borrow my kayak to check out the island off the beach.  Since the water was so calm and he does so well with the kayak, we nervously (OK, maybe I was the only one nervous) agreed.  Although he kayaks all around at Grandma Kathy’s cabin in the summer, we are very careful on Lake Superior because it’s so big, the waves can be unpredictable, and the water is so very cold that it is a lot more dangerous.  However, he did great and was so, so happy to be paddling out on his own.  Everything about Lake Superior is interesting in a kayak.

Everyone else played on the beach, and as the sun set, we started to drive home.  Since it was such a beautiful weekend, it seemed that everyone else had the same idea to go up the North Shore.  I have never seen traffic like that ever.  At one point the cars were backed up 12 miles north of Two Harbors, for no other reason than that they had to slow down to get through town.