{"id":3370,"date":"2021-02-13T18:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T18:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/2021\/02\/13\/superior-hiking-trail-2021-introduction\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T23:27:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T23:27:18","slug":"superior-hiking-trail-2021-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/2021\/02\/13\/superior-hiking-trail-2021-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Superior Hiking Trail 2021 Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SHTA-No-R.png\" style=\"margin-left: 1em;margin-right: 1em\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"228\" data-original-width=\"421\" height=\"269\" src=\"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SHTA-No-R.png\" width=\"497\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left\">Introduction&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>As the vaccine rollout in full swing, it is possible to plan a badly needed thru-hike.&nbsp; While I don&#8217;t have 150+ days to hike one of the major trails, there are some excellent trails a couple of hours away.&nbsp; My wife and I have been section hiking the Ice Age Trail for a number of years, and I would love to re-hike the Taylor County hike I did back in 2016, however this pent up time requires something a bit more significant.&nbsp; Not too far away is the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT) and it is perfect!<\/p>\n<p>There are two types of SHT thru-hikes according to the Superior Hiking Trail Association a traditional and a total thru-hike.&nbsp; The traditional hike is 260 miles with the southern terminus at the Martin Road Trailhead and a northern terminus at the 270 Degree Overlook near the Canadian Boarded.&nbsp; The total hike includes trails and road hikes through Duluth, extending the hike to about 300 miles.<\/p>\n<p>The primary issue with the extension is the lack of camping in the city.&nbsp; I would need to rent hotel rooms while I did this section, and I&#8217;m not interested in doing that, so this will be a traditional thru-hike.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left\">Footpath<\/h2>\n<div>The next major decision I have to make is which way to go.&nbsp; Like the PCT there is a north-bound and a south-bound trek.&nbsp; However, there is a hybrid method where one hikes north-bound to Grand Marais and take a shuttle near the 270 Degree Overlook and hike south.&nbsp; There are advantages to each.<\/div>\n<p>Mobile Phone service is extremely limited at the Northern Terminus and it is illegal to hitchhike in Minnesota, so travelling north-bound has some major challenges in the end.&nbsp; It is possible to pay for a shuttle to take you to the Northern Terminus and hike south.&nbsp; The major challenge is that the last section is the most rugged and I would not have any hiker legs to start.<\/p>\n<p>The hybrid of starting at the Southern Terminus and hiking north to Grand Marais and taking a shuttle to the Northern Terminus and hiking back to Grand Marais is the most appealing.&nbsp; It all depends upon transportation.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<div>I have some choices and I need to figure them out.&nbsp; In the meantime, I&#8217;m focusing on training.&nbsp; The only way to train to backpack is to put on a backpack, so that is what I&#8217;m doing.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction&nbsp; As the vaccine rollout in full swing, it is possible to plan a badly needed thru-hike.&nbsp; While I don&#8217;t have 150+ days to hike one of the major trails, there are some excellent trails a couple of hours away.&nbsp; My wife and I have been section hiking the Ice Age Trail for a number &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/2021\/02\/13\/superior-hiking-trail-2021-introduction\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Superior Hiking Trail 2021 Introduction<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sht2021"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3372,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370\/revisions\/3372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}