I just hiked this trail. I’m up near Ely, MN for an artist residency. Next week I’m going to hike a 50-mile section of the Superior Hiking Trail, solo. It will be just my fourth time to ever hike any trail alone, and my first time to go backpacking. So I decided to practice a bit before I go. I asked my friend Thea, who lives in Ely, what she recommended and she told me about the Bass Lake Trail. It’s about 6 miles north of Ely and is in the Superior National Forest.
I included a large part of the hike in this video.
GEAR
I took my trekking poles on this hike, but didn’t use them at all. The trail was pretty much flat the entire time and if there was any elevation it was very gradual. I used my Timp Trails for the first time since I had bought them. They were my fourth pair and I knew I wouldn’t blister, but I was still not sure I had the right size. They did great for me, so I’m keeping them for the upcoming section hike.
HIKING
This trail is managed by the Forest Service, and offers a few different loops, the longest one is 6 miles. I intended to combine the big loop with a smaller one and get 9 miles in.
It’s a really well groomed trail, but I’m gonna cry foul on the trail blazing… or my attention span. I missed the very first blaze and got so completely turned around and confused that now, for the first time, I’m a little worried about upcoming section hike…
I got there around 11am and headed out. I was immediately blown away by the beauty – it was truly the first time I’d ever been in a legit, goes for miles, forest. The hiking is really very easy. There’s almost no elevation, the trail is covered in red pine needles so it’s soft and quiet. It was a pretty busy trail – there were people at various points along the way, but for this first bit from the trailhead to the lake, I was alone.
It wasn’t until I reached Bass Lake that I realized something was wrong – I was supposed to be on the other side of the lake, somehow. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out where I went wrong, trying to find trail that would send me around the lake, backtracking, going forward on a bit of old trail (turns out I shouldn’t have been on it), bushwhacking a tiny bit… I was embarrassed for/at myself. I wound my way back to the lake after about 45 minutes of going in circles and decided to go back to where I started.
And from there I took a trail that sent me off in an entirely different direction. I found a beautiful pond for lunch, and then made it to Dry Lake.
All in all, I probably hiked, by accident, about 7 miles.
I’ll be going back to Ely next summer, and I’m looking forward to taking another run at this clearly very simple system.