Skipped over to the western terminus and hiked the St. Croix Falls segment plus its preceding Connecting Route (road walk) on Sept 27, then the Gandy Dancer segment plus a bit of the Trade River segment on Sept 28. Total miles: 30.3 with a few small ups and downs on the St. Croix Falls segment.

A friend is hiking some planned segments with me next week, so I skipped over to the western terminus and did the rest of what I need to do solo. I don’t mind not finishing the IAT at the western terminus.

The St. Croix segment has a bunch of small ups and downs and has some ledgy goodness, which is rare for the IAT. There were some nice views of the St. Croix National Scenic River, and even a water crossing that I needed to tackle upstream to avoid wet feet. Interstate Park at the western terminus had some tourists, plus I ran into a thruhiker, Just Mike, finishing his fifth National Scenic Trail. The day was only 14 miles long, but I felt exhausted by the end of it. Weird.

Gandy Dancer is a flat and wide rail trail, and you’re on it for 14 miles. It wasn’t as boring as I thought it might be given the bordering tall trees in their fall colors. The bit of the Trade River segment I did was gorgeous, with tall pines, farmer fields, and mixed woods. An Amish woman with two kids happily waved at me from their horse and buggy as they passed the parking lot where I began my day.

Felt exhausted after that day too. Don’t know why. Maybe my body is fighting off something. 16 flat miles does not usually exhaust me.

Got my iPhone’s battery replaced the following day, and now I am waiting for replacement parts for my iPhone’s camera to arrive since Best Buy killed the lenses when they replaced the battery. Irritating.