Another Long Walk: Day 3: The West-End Loop

December 23: During the night, it started raining on me. Which was something of a surprise because rain was not in the forecast... however, condensation turned out to be! I slept outside under an awning, but the awning wasn't very waterproof and the heavy condensation dripped down onto me. I moved closer to tent which provided more protection and made it through the night without anymore trouble. I was surprised the condensation was so heavy. It wasn't very heavy at all the previous night and it wasn't even very cold outside. Didn't it have to be cold for condensation to form?

This was what I called "Harbor #2" since it was on the back side of Two Harbors and away from the main part of the city.

I woke up at around sunrise, ate breakfast and got my day pack in order. I would camp here for two nights so I didn't need any overnight gear. Just a light day pack with snacks, water and my camera.

Courtney decided to take the day off and sleep in then explore Two Harbors. She was awake when I left and wished me a good hike. I had to complete about 13 miles and figured I'd probably be back before 3:00pm, but I'd try to keep her up-to-date on my progress if I could get a cell phone signal and was running late.

I hiked across Two Harbors to the other harbor, keeping an eye on three bison grazing in a nearby meadow. The trail through town was flat, but it climbed steeply as it left and easily surpassed a thousand feet. The morning started cool, but it didn't take long before I was sweating hard.

An hour or two into the hike, I caught up with a couple of other hikers who I recognized from the restaurant at Airport In the Sky and they asked me about my sister, Courtney. "She took the day off," I informed them. I hadn't really talked to them at the time except for the cursory greetings so I was surprised when they already knew that Courtney was my sister. Obviously, Courtney had more of a conversation with them while I was walking around exploring the natural and airport historical displays.

They introduced themselves as Mark and Jessie. I think his name was Mark. I'm writing this blog about three weeks later and I never wrote a journal so I'm depending on my memory. I remember her name was definitely Jessie, though, because it reminded me of Jessie's Girl, but Jessie was a boy in the song. I didn't have a clever way to remember his name, but I think it was Mark. I'll feel bad if I'm wrong and they read this, though. (I did tell them about this blog.)

We walked together for a bit, chatting about trails we've done and wanted to do and I enjoyed their company. They seemed content with me joining the group and we continued on for the next several miles together.

After the steep climb, the trail descended rapidly back to sea level at Parsons Landing. It was, perhaps, the steepest section of the entire trail, and we carefully and slowly waddled down the trail with tiny steps.

Parsons Landing is a beautiful, beach campsite. I had wanted to camp here when I first tried making reservations, but it was the one campsite on the island that was completely booked full. It had no running water, but apparently the powers-that-be will provide 2.5 gallons of clean water in large water bottles which you can access from lockers after picking up a key in Two Harbors. Day hikers like me would have no water, but that was okay. I was prepared for it and carried plenty to get me through the whole day.

Mark and Jessie did have a reservation for Parsons Landing, however, so this was where our trails would split. They worked on setting up camp and I sat down on a nearby bench for a short break. I ate some snacks, drank some water, admired the views, and pulled out my camera with the zoom lens and took lots and lots of photos of birds. I took photos of them flying, waddling across the beach, and just going for action shots in general. I wasn't in a rush.

Mark and Jessie pose at Parsons Landing. I was a little jealous that they'd be camping at such a beautiful campsite on the beach! I wanted to camp there too!

Just before leaving, the father and son pair that Courtney and I met yesterday reached the campground. They too had reservations for the campsite. I was envious. Were Courtney and I the only people on this island that couldn't get reservations here?! There were only 8 campsites, though, so supply was severely limited. All the other campsites on the island looked like they could support a hundred people if necessary, and those were the ones that were more than half empty.

I chatted with them for a few minutes before they went off to set up camp and I continued down the trail.

The rest of the trail to Two Harbors was completely and utterly flat and followed a dirt road along the coast with many beautiful views along the way. I passed numerous camps along the way, and they all looked closed for the season. Probably used as summer camps or something. They all had signs in front telling hikers on the road that the camps were off limits to everyone else. Well fine.... *rolling eyes* I didn't want to visit their stupid camps anyhow.

Well, maybe they shipwreck playground at the Boy Scout camp.... ;o)

This is the 'shipwreck' I referred to at the Boy Scout camp.

Although I followed a dirt road, only one vehicle drove by the few hours it took to walk back to Two Harbors. Glad I didn't have to hitch a ride. The one vehicle that did pass me was going the wrong way!

About a mile outside of Two Harbors, I got a cell phone signal and texted Courtney about my impending arrival, and she said she'd walk out to meet me and that's what we did.

We met up just outside of town and walked to the backside of Two Harbors, to the far harbor. Two of the bison were still grazing there and Courtney had seen pelicans diving into the water for fish but they had appeared to be done by the time I arrived.

We ended up watching the sunset from there where I filmed a series of videos for about an hour to create a timelapse. It was quite dark by the time we finished and headed back to camp where I started up the campfire.

We ate snacks out of our packs for dinner, and I told Courtney all four of the poems I had memorized--an epic feat of staying awake for her part, but she had insisted. It was our last night on the island and there wouldn't be anymore opportunities to hear them.

Courtney eventually went to sleep and I stayed up a bit longer minding the campfire before eventually settling off to sleep myself. I camped outside under the awning again, but closer to the tent so the condensation on the awning wouldn't rain down on me again during the night.

It was a good day!

The problem with photos is that you can't really appreciate just how steep the trail was here. You can kinda see Mark crab walking down because it's so steep, but the photo doesn't actually look very steep.

Restrooms at Parsons Landing

What a beautiful campground! The campsites are actually located on the beach!

Lots and lots of camps along this road. This one at Emerald Bay was definitely for the Boy Scouts. *nodding*

Lots of great views along the road walk! And look at how empty the bay was! Just one boat out of hundreds of places they could park! I bet in the summer months this place is packed with bumper-to-bumper boats!