Superior Hiking Trail – Day 7
Friday September 29, 2017
Starting Point: Fox Farm Pond Campsite
Ending Point: Stewart River Campsite
Trail Miles Hiked: 19.9
Woke up to a sunny day this morning. A refreshing change after all the rain. Today is my longest day yet and I get an early start. The trail travels through the woods and beside several beaver ponds. Shortly after crossing the Fox Farm Road parking lot the trail crosses and then follows the Knife River for several miles, crossing it several more times before coming to Big Bend campsite. I take a quick break there and continue on the trail. After several more miles the trail opens up to an area 
named 12 Mile View. The trees had grown up since this was named and I could just barely see Lake Superior 12 miles away through the trees.
After the Rossini Road trailhead the trail is supposed to cross McCarthy Creek 4 times on bridges. I decided I would stop for lunch when i came to the 4th bridge. However, i only came across 3 bridges and ended up finally stopping at McCarthy Creek Campsite to eat lunch. Today my feet were really sore and the blisters 
from my feet being constantly wet were getting worse. I spent about an hour at McCarthy Creek campsite drying my feet and nursing my blisters.
Starting up again was painful, but after about a mile my feet had numbed and I continued on along the creek. The trail crosses a creek right below Ferguson campsite and I took the opportunity to refill my water and rest my feet again. I still had 5 miles to go to make it to camp for the night so I continued down the 
trail. About a mile before camp I came to the Stewart river and walked along beside the river the rest of the way to camp.
I got into camp about 5:00, set up my tent on a high spot overlooking the river, and started getting my dinner ready. Right before dark a family group from the Twin Cities area showed up to share the campsite. Since I was tired,I had decided not to start a campfire tonight, but the new arrivals made quick work of gathering firewood and getting a nice campfire going. 
After dinner, we sat around the campfire and talked about various hikes we had done and I was amazed at the fortitude of people in the North. It seemed nothing to them to go camping at 10 degrees or below and enjoy a night snow camping in February. Burrrrr! Too cold for me.