We had a stretch of cooler days, so decided to focus on non-water activities for a bit. Just down the road from our campsite, the Superior Hiking Trail crossed the road at Britton Peak. This trail head seemed to be a hub for a lot of activities: trails exclusively for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, a set of mountain bike trails and hiking. We thought we would take advantage of the biking and hiking; we only regret doing one of them! The mountain biking trails offered three levels of trails and we made sure that we were on the beginner path. That being said, I one again confirmed that I am much happier road biking. The path was (luckily) short and really well-maintained, but I just can’t feel comfortable going across narrow bridges and dealing with rocks, roots and branches on the trail. Mike handled it much better, but at the end we agreed that mountain biking is not good for either of our wrists.
We then headed out on the Superior Hiking Trail to make our way to Carlton Peak. It was a beautiful hike, mostly wooded and pretty level on the way in and out and a rocky peak to scramble around. We took advantage of the cell signal at the top while we at our lunch. On the route down, we attempted to use our mapping app to take us around the peak instead of back-tracking the whole way. We are learning to take the information on Gaia GPS with a grain of salt. It is usually accurate, but sometimes the information is outdated. We wound up having to make our way through a lot of untrammeled forest, but made it back to the main path. Near the trailhead, we found a nice patch of thimbleberries. It was a treat! They look like bright raspberries, but the textures is more velvety and the seeds are smaller. The best ones taste like a very sweet red currant. Absolutely delicious.
A couple of days later, we made our way to the Oberg and Leveaux Mountain trailhead. Oberg is the more popular destination, with several scenic overlooks around the peak, looking both inland and toward Lake Superior. The hike is only a little over two miles long and pretty easy. We enjoyed it, but liked the Leveaux hike even better. There were fewer people although the hike was just as beautiful. We had more of a climb and huge patches of thimbleberries to reward our work.
