Birchwood fire smoke snakes through yellow aspens. Rain spits in the forest and I can hear the gurgle of river rushing over rock shelf in the woods behind me. I am listening to an audiobook and tending a fire in the rain. I am setting up a tarp over a picnic table and arranging camp cooking gear. Eventually the fire lights in earnest, all crackle and pop as the damp logs smoke.
The air is filled with the clean smell of burning birch and wet ground and the rich smell of autumn—spiced earth, I think it was Mary Oliver who wrote.
The fire burns from midday through when people arrive and we gather under the tarp in the woods and laugh. By dark, which comes so early it surprises me, we’ve lit all of our colorful little camp lamps. There are no stars as it drizzles throughout the night but with the shimmering camp lights like fairy fires, our own little blaze, and the good company the rain doesn’t matter so much.
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Fall camping in the rain
I had my women’s rock climbing event last weekend, which meant I got up early on Friday and drove up to the North Shore to snag a first-come, first-serve campsite for the group.
The Lake Superior region this time of year is nothing short of magical. Mushrooms in bright red and deep purple poke up through the fallen leaves. Fog hangs in the valleys and mist over the rivers, and the forest is colorful and crisp and aromatic. If you’re lucky enough to hop in a kayak, you can see the pale orange blaze of the maple ridges in the distance as you paddle.
Fall is my favorite season. It’s also the most popular season up here, but I maintain that popular things are often so for good reason.
Many of my favorite trips up here are from the fall, and this weekend’s trip brought all of those memories right to the surface again. Isle Royale in late September, backpacking on the North Country Trail when Andy and I first met. Living in Grand Marais three years ago, when Em and I would spend every single afternoon on a different hiking trail soaking up every single second of boreal autumn.
Last year up in Ely, then solo hiking through the Porcupine Mountains. It’s simply the best and coziest time of year to camp. If you set it up right, the cold and rain isn’t so bad. You just need to make your peace with the damp.
This past weekend’s rock climbing event was my last group trip of the year and it felt sort of bittersweet— it always does. The rock climbing trips I organize with Climb Forged are probably the most causal trip I run. I don’t guide them, just set up the camping and photograph and make friends, and it’s very unstructured and always just feels like hanging out with friends. I’ll grab hot dogs and veggie brats to cook over a fire, but other than that everyone makes their own oatmeal and takes care of themselves.
It’s a really nice change of pace for me after guiding overnight sea kayak trips, where I tend to be grinding from five am until 11 pm— don’t get me wrong those are very fun for me still and my favorite place in the world is out in the islands on the water, but the sea kayaking trips are fun in an intense way for me, where the climbing trips are pretty stress-free and just… hanging out in the woods with friends if that makes sense. I always leave feeling refreshed rather than exhausted.
I don’t have 2026 group trip dates sorted out yet, but I do plan to run them! If you’re thinking about joining you’re in the right place. This newsletter is the first to know when I launch new trips :)
To be honest, I was dreading the rain. I sent out a really dramatic text to the fall climbing group chat along the lines of “hey it’s going to rain so come ready to be wet and cold”. Camping in the rain can really suck. Everything gets muddy and wet, especially when you’re backpacking or sea kayaking and have to set up and tear down in the rain, and it can be really hard to mitigate how wet everything gets, especially for people who haven’t had practice setting up in a downpour.
In actuality though it only truly poured a few times and mostly just spat and drizzled and it made for really cozy camping. We were definietly damp, but not in the way where you’re so uncomfortable it’s hard to think of much else.
Fall color report
Fall color on the North Shore is probably peaking this weekend along the maple ridges around Lutsen and Tofte, but the aspens and yellows probably have a while yet to cook. If you’re headed out right now I would check out some of the hiking in the Tettegouche Highlands area— the Superior Hiking Trail near Tettegouche State Park, Palisade Valley, and Fantasia Overlook.
READ: Best Things to do Tettegouche State Park
This is the view from Britton Peak on Friday, Sept 19. The view from Carlton Peak (the peak across the way in the image) is probably fully cooked right about now. The nearshore color always takes the longest though with the lake keeping things toasty—water cools slower than land and whatnot.
I’ve seen a few posts online that the Wisconsin Northwoods should be peaking this weekend as well and that is not remotely true. We are still 90% green in northwestern Wisconsin through the western Upper Peninsula for the most part as of Thursday (when I’m writing this) and my long drive last night through the ridges to check it out. Likely we’ll be closer to peak around next weekend with the best fall colors hitting the south shore the second week of October.
READ: Best Midwest Fall Destinations
Rock Climbing a cliff over Lake Superior
My favorite part of the rock climbing trips is the opportunity to photograph Lake Superior and the Midwest from a whole new perspective, and Shovel Point in Tettegouche State Park is easily my favorite spot to do that from.
This photo (above) was my favorite shot of the trip. Here, you’re looking straight down the basalt rock of Shovel Point to the rocky and foggy Lake Superior shore with two climbers who had to rappel down. The climbers— Elena and Cheyenne— really give perspective on just how tall the cliff is.
The only thing it’s missing is some sea kayakers below… next year perhaps I’ll pull that shot off. Wish me luck.
Good links :)
Mason at Climb Forged has been helping me run these rock climbing meet ups for two years now and he does private guiding as well. Contact him to set up your own private trip or run a group!
Looking to hone your rough water sea kayaking skills? There’s still time to sign up for the Gales Storm Gathering this November!
If you’re currently into YA fantasy like I am and books that are just plain fun to read, the audiobook I’ve been killing on my walks (and when building campfires in the rain) is The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. It was slow in the beginning but the payoff for wading through the world-building is some really interesting and unique characters and a highly political book with light romance. Very fun listen.
Relieved there’s still time to catch the colors up north!