The polar vortex that led to record freezing of the lakes and the significant snowfalls led the Superior Hiking Trail Association to post the following trail condition at the end of February:
February 27, 2014: The winter continues with lots of snow and very cold. Probably 36"- 50". There has been very little snowshoeing on the trail so much of the trail is not tracked. Unless you know for sure your ability to do a section through untracked snow, your best bet is to do an out-and-back hike so you know you can get safely back to your car.
In Grand Marais, this neat video shows how frozen the lake was on March 8. Check out the underwater/under-ice rocks from :35-1:15. As I watched the video, I was jealous of the experience of skating there but concerned by how all this cold was going to affect my start date.
The news floating around an email list for the trail isn't too hopeful, either, especially given that an April storm dumped more snow on the trail last year. There's speculation that it will take at least a month for the current snow to melt out, concern about the trail being really, really wet and muddy when everything does melt, and encouragement to keep tabs on the trail condition updates on the organization's website as the weeks go by.
One thing I do have going for me is that the annual meeting of the organization, including hikes at various locations, will happen the first weekend in May, so I'll have solid reports about trail conditions then and have a better feel for whether I'll be able to get on the trail as soon as I'm able to or need to wait for the trail to dry out some more...
No comments:
Post a Comment