Day 55: 

Sand Creek Segment (Part 2), Burnett and Polk Counties

Connecting Route, Polk County

Day 55: Friday April 16th, 2021

Total Miles covered for the day: 5.8

Location 1: All of Sand Creek Segment except for the 0.2 miles on the east end along 30th Ave. 
5.5 miles of trail covered

What a surprise!!

It really goes to show you that you can't tell what a segment will be like until you start hiking it, which we did on our sixth hiking day of our nine-day hiking vacation. 

Once again we woke up to a chilly morning, but at least there wasn't snow on the ground like there was two days ago. After a quick breakfast of same-old, same-old (hard boiled eggs, cold bagels and cold coffee) we dropped a vehicle back up at the large parking area on the east end of the Indian Creek Segment on 15th Street and brought our launch vehicle back to the corner of 30th Ave and 1 1/2 Street. 

We started hiking east to west at 9:30 am, temperature 41 degrees. The first thing you have to do is cross a plank bridge someone was kind enough to put across the ditch. The trail sign says 5.3 miles, but the official IAT map says 5.5. At our age, we're claiming the 5.5.

What we didn't know before we started - though could have seen if we had looked at satellite imagery first - is that the first three miles of the hike is spent along lovely logging road after lovely logging road, each as nice as the one before and the one after, winding casually through the forest, as though the people who plotted this segment were apologizing for making it 6 miles long and wanted to make it as easy as possible. 

I feel a little bad in that I don't have a better description of what we encountered during this three-mile stretch. The birds were fairly quiet this morning, although I do remember encountering a flock of small birds that I was unable to identify. They were something like the size of a sparrow, with the profile of a vireo, and they had white rumps and yellow tufts under they wings. These birds were curious about us, and traveled with us for a while as we hiked. 

I can also say that we felt like there weren't enough places to sit and take a break, or a have a snack, or just relax. There were plenty of blazes so you wouldn't get lost, but the roads just kept going with not even a downed log to sit on. Mr. Leopold would not be pleased.

Right before the trail crosses Sand Creek, at N 45 39.664, W 92 09.178, there is a short piece of trail that looks almost unpassable due to water, but if you walk on the west side of the trail between the trail and the very close creek, the ground is high and dry.

Then, at almost exactly the 3-mile mark, we crossed a very nice bridge over the top of Sand Creek, and came upon the sign that said, 'Welcome to Polk County'. We stopped for lunch in the sun and picked up our first batch of ticks. They were definitely out and about.

Here was where the trail took a sharp turn to the right, and left the logging/hunting roads for good. It started out as an ATV trail but that quickly devolved into a typical IAT single-track trail, which really wasn't bad at all. It was a little muddy in places, but by this time we were in Polk County, and that meant we had only three more miles between us and finishing the Segment, finishing map 5, finishing Polk County, and extending our 'touch the river' point all the way to Boyd Road. These may seem like small things, but it's those little rewards that keep us going. 

How did the rest of the hike go? It was ok. Not spectacular. There were no more bridges, and there were one or two hairy creek crossings that took more of a leap of faith than we like to use on muddy creek edges, but we made it through ok. The last 1.3 miles is a little more business-like, pointing almost due west and making its way with little heed for soil conservation. 

Really, we were disappointed by the choice of where the trail lay, at one point diving down a hill so steep they had to put in stairs. And then after crossing the creek, the trail went uphill. And more uphill. And then uphill some more. The trail went relentlessly uphill for nearly a mile, past some rather princely deer hunting stands and through some of the worst muddy spots on the whole segment, until finally peaking out almost within sight of the road. 

And then - literally 100 yards from the end of the trail - with the road in sight - for no discernable reason - there was a bench. No view. No creek. No purpose. Just a bench on the trail. The one we had been hoping to see for the last four miles. Right here at the end. We didn't even sit down.

We strolled out into the sunshine on the road at 3:15 pm, temperature 55 degrees, and touched the sign. The segment was over, but we still had 0.3 miles of connecting route to walk before we could close the gap, finish the county and metaphorically touch the St Croix River. 

Location 2: Connecting Route between the eastern trailhead of the Indian Creek Segment to the north and the western trailhead of the Sand Creek Segment to the South

0.3 miles of trail covered

Paved. Downhill. Easy walk. No traffic. We hiked south to north. Touched the sign. Polk County was done. So was map 5. 

Finished at 3:30 pm, 55 degrees

Running Total: 394.5 miles of trail covered; 36.8 miles ‘extra’ hiking/biking. End of Day 55.

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