OUTHIKING.com
The Superior Hiking Trail is now up to 296 miles with another 5.9 miles that will be added Natinal Trails Day in June. This means you can hike from the Canadian border down the north shore of Lake Superior through Duluth and Jay Cooke State Park to Highway 23. Trail still needs to be built to the Wisconsin border to connect to the as yet built section of the North Country National Scenic Trail. I am now the President of the Star of the North Chapter of the North Country Trail.  The longest trail in the National Park Service System at about 4600 miles of which about 2000 miles is yet to be built. We're currently waiting on Congress to approve of the rerouting of the trail up the Superior Hiking Trail instead of building in through a large section of boaring swamp land.

 If you're intested in hiking in the Sierras you should consider joining the John Muir Trail group.  When joining this link make sure to state something about you're interest in the trail or you might not get accepted. This is done to prevent people spamming the group.  If all you say is that a friend referred you to the group its unlikely that you'll be accepted. I'm one of the moderators for the group.

The above picture was taken Sept 2010 while helping put in the new Sucker River Bridge for the Superior Hiking Trail. After completion of the next section of trail in 2011 this part of the trail became a spur trail. The bridge floated a short distance and tipped over in the Duluth Floods in 2012. It couldn't float very far because all bridges are cabled to a tree at one end for just this reason. Volunteers dragged the bridge back into place. 

If you're looking for something to do with your free time how about volunteering to work on trails? The American Hiking Society has a list of volunteer construction projects in the United States.


Plantar Fasciitis

Got Plantar Fasciitis and worried that it might cause a problem while backpacking? Personal Experience tells me that you don't need to worry, and that it could be the best thing you could do for it. On my hike to Pictured Rocks National Seashore I met some people from an Ohio hiking club. One of them told me that on the 3rd day out at Isle Royal National Park that his Plantar Fasciitis stopped hurting much. On the fourth day of my hike I realized that my Plantar Fasciitis wasn't bothering me much either, and while it hasn't gone away since then, its much better than it had been. Recently I found that my shoes were part of the problem. They were worn a bit on the outside of the heal. Just a bit was enough.

More on Plantar Fasciitis - I recently pulled some old shoes out and after a few days my Plantar Faciitis started bothering me again. It turns out the heal was worn slightly on one side. I went through all my shoes and got rid of the old ones. I haven't had a problem since.

 updated March 2015

   BACKPACKING

 PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION TO AND AROUND THE SIERRAS

 FLYING WITH A BACKPACK

 ULTRALIGHT BACKPACKING

  ME

 KOREA

 DIGITAL CAMERAS

 WILDFLOWERS

  LINKS

 
(new email address)
Thats a zero before the @. In an effort to reduce all the spam I've gotten a new email address and I've made it an image that you will have to type in yourself. Its also one the best anti spam sites.

 

 Just click on the above icon to go to the Peak to Peak Webring. It has links to sites all over the world.