Feeling classy

Day 15, 18 miles, Chequamegon national forest

Around 9pm a thunderstorm came rolling in. I wasn’t concerned about the thunder and lightning as much as I was worried about the dead trees next to our site. Luckily everything stayed up right and no damage was done.

In the morning the lake has a beautiful layer of mist on the water. It’s mesmerizing. My iPhone does a mediocre job at photographing it but I try anyways. A lone fishing boat makes for a dreamy silhouette.

We pack up looking forward to our next stop. The bait, tackle and camp store! I’m hoping for coffee, Little Bird is hoping for a pastry. The walk along the lake is very scenic and after about two miles we get our wish. Coffee!!! And also breakfast sandwiches we can heat in the microwave. There is nowhere to sit so we just sit down in a parking spot next to the building. Feeling classy once again.

Talk about class, when we went to the privy this morning one of us lightened their load with a loud PLUNK! in the murky waters down below. We can’t stop laughing about it.

After the store we continue on the road. I get the idea to make the most of our time and use the sun and breeze to dry out the rain fly. There is very little traffic so Little Bird holds one end of the fly and I hold the other. We feel like we’re walking in a parade holding a banner. Except there is nobody to cheer us on.

We pass fields of dandelions, barren ground, some cows and horses, and an abandoned snowmobile. Of course we have to pose with the snowmobile. We’re easily amused.

Next is the town of Bellinger which has a cemetery and Diane’s Back 40, a tavern. This is a perfect stop for an early lunch as it opens at 11 and we get there at 11:05. I packed a little light on dinners this section so order a whole pizza for myself and pack out the leftovers. The owner is super nice and gives me some aluminum foil to wrap it with. She also tells us the storm last night hit her with big hail stones, we count ourselves lucky to have only had rain. But now we’re worried about the storm predicted for tonight. Will it have hail too?

Continuing our road walk we see the dark sky approaching and we hope to make it to the woods before it hits us. We aren’t so lucky this time. But it’s not heavy yet and no thunder.

At the trailhead we are relieved to be done with the road and want to take a short break. I pull out my Nemo switchback to sit on but as soon as we stop we are surrounded by mosquitos! Yikes!

I hastily change from my Teva sandals to my Keen sandals with the closed toe. We pull out our trekking poles, stash our umbrellas and rain jackets and off we go! The mosquitos stay with us until it starts raining again and we have to take out the umbrellas and jackets again. We’re starting to get pretty annoyed with this on/off rain complicated by mosquitos and boggy trail sections. On top of that Little Bird’s feet hurt. We need a campsite stat!

We had only planned to go in about a mile to the next water source but don’t see a tent site there so move on. I’m getting a bit worried hearing rumbling in the distance and seeing Little Bird hurting. Where is the next good flat spot?

And then I spot it, a pine needle covered flat spot just big enough for the tent. Hurray!! We set up and are soon safe from the thunderstorms coming through.