Superior Hiking Trail 2006
Diary
Sept. 18, Monday.
We started hiking at 12:15 PM from the terminus of County Road 301, a little north of Two Harbors in on and off again light rain. Even though it was cold and windy, we both got quite warm. We finished the day at the Crow Valley Campground.
We walked through beautiful forests and stayed pretty dry under all the foliage. We crossed many many way cool bridges of all shapes and sizes.
There was a lot of maintenance done on these trails. We walked over a lot of tree logs that were put down so you wouldn’t have to walk in the mud. It’s very dry this year and there was little mud to walk in anyway.
We went up and down some STEEEP rocky areas. Actually I’m surprised I didn’t fall down some of them. I was using 1 trekking pole and got out the 2nd pole as at times it was fairly treacherous walking.
We saw some beautiful views of Lake Superior and the valley below. We hiked 7.4 miles today. Sore feet, sore knees, sore back, sore shoulders; otherwise good. It continues to rain intermittently as we are here in the tent.
We didn’t need to filter any water today because we brought along enough to sustain us for the day and the evening. Good thing because the streams are dry.
Sept. 19, Tuesday.
We started at the Crow Valley campground and hiked 10.6 miles today to Blueberry Campground. We left at 8:50 this morning and arrived at the campground at 4:30.
We passed a hiker today by the name of Tent Shaker and he was from Madison. He was going from North to South and started on the 8th and he should finish tomorrow. He stopped 3 times at different cities to spend the night in motels and to purchase food for his backpacking meals.
John found an owl pellet today and we heard some coyotes early in the evening. Yesterday and today we saw many grouse; and heard them from that loud sound they make with their wings.
We filtered water today at the Gooseberry River, right under a beaver dam so the water was flowing nicely. We got to see the 5th Falls waterfall and just beautiful rapids and gurgling water. The trail in general has been so well maintained but at Gooseberry Park it’s even better. There are steps and board walks everywhere. The trail was more wide open today; we could see more.
It was much easier hiking today. Plus it didn’t rain as much today so it wasn’t so slippery. We even saw sun today, rain, sun, rain, sun etc, etc, etc. It got to about 50 degrees today; very nice for hiking. The weather radio said that tomorrow there should be no rain. HAH! We’ll see.
Still have some blisters, sore legs, shoulders, hips – but not too bad.
We started at Blueberry Campsite and hiked 9.6miles ending at Chapin’s Ridge. We started at 9:07 and ended at 4 PM. And we woke up to frost. There are flat wooden benches, or boards for you to sit on, or use as tables at all these campsites. This morning when you would put any thing on them, a bowl, some food, it would just slip right off because of all the frost.
It was an incredibly scenic day. We walked along Split Rock River with all it’s waterfalls and cascades and rapids. We filtered water at one of those spots. Actually the bridge across the river went out from an ice dam in the spring and they put a new bridge up a quarter of a mile further down the trail. But we just went from rock to rock and crossed it where the old bridge had been. Even thought the scenery was spectacular it was very tough walking. Lot of ups and downs; some quite steep. I found it to be very hard. We were lucky because the last 3 – 4 miles were relatively flat.
Toward the end of out hike we wound up walking on a lot of long flat stretches of rock. And we saw lot of reindeer lichen – very beautiful green and blue green.
Our campsite here is really neat; lots of Xmas trees. And in the evening a little owl came out and sat in our tree for a while. We are expecting a freeze tonight. At least when we woke up this morning the sun was out and it warmed things up very nicely.
We started today at Chapin’s Ridge and hiked 8.3 miles, ending at South Beaver Bay site. We started at 8:45 and finished at 2:30 PM.
What really happened is that I was ready first and left first since John always catches up fast. But I went in the wrong direction (DUH). I couldn’t imagine why he didn’t catch up, plus I saw the same beautiful lichen and flat rocks as the day before. Then I looked at my compass and noticed I was going south instead of north. I probably went a quarter mile or a little more. I went back to the campsite and John was gone. He had left and went the correct direction and was surprised when he didn’t find me by a quarter of a mile. So he picked up the pace and walked as far as a mile and figured I wasn’t ahead of him and started coming back. We finally hooked up and then took off together.
It’s strange that as we were hiking today we met a lady, 45-55 years old who was out hiking by herself with no water, no map, no phone, no nothing. She was moving pretty fast and just said hi and that we were the first people she had seen and that she only had a couple miles to the end of the trail. Well John said it was a little more than that and she took off. As we were hiking we came to a spur trail – Cove Bay – and knew that’s what she had been looking for and obviously missed it. We kept thinking about her and wondering what would happen.
Everything on this hike is up and down. Usually fairly short up and short down. Sometimes they’re gradual, sometimes quite steep. There are also tons of bridges and boardwalks. They do an exceptional job of maintenance on this trail. So we wound up going on a fairly long up, but not too steep and we had lunch on a high ridge, over 1300 feet, with incredible views. We also saw a train go through, way down there.
Two day hikers past us while we were having lunch; both were on the short loop trail that started out at Cove Bay. And who should come by but our lady who was lost. She said she figured out she was going the wrong way because she was climbing so much. We were so glad to see her. John showed her our map, showed her which way to go and she took off again.
Our campsite here at the Beaver River is awesome. We are right at the river and can hear and see the waterfalls and go right up to them on the big river rocks. John filtered water, we washed clothes and washed out hair.
Remember that train that we saw up on the ridge?? It goes very near our campsite – we’ve heard it go by twice now. The engineer likes to blow his whistle; it must be about 2 blocks away.
And the bad news. I twisted my ankle while in camp. Not too bad, but it hurts and has swollen a little. I went down to the river and put a cold rag on it until I became hypothermic and then came up and put most all of my essential oils on it. I didn’t bring anything to cover sprains, but used what ever I had. We plan to hike slowly in the AM. We’ll see. It’s supposed to rain tonight, tomorrow (Friday) and into Saturday.
We went nowhere. I thought I should rest my ankle and it rained all day. Stopped a little and we went out to our little shelter that John had put up and we had a combined breakfast, lunch and snack. John filtered some more water. We went back in the tent and around 1 PM it poured and the wind blew like crazy.
Now, around 5 PM, two hikers have appeared and seem to be staying at this site. It continues to rain. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow too.
It did rain last night. I don’t think it stormed. Those two hikers were from Ohio - from the Buckeye Trail Club or whatever. About 10 to 12 of them are here hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail in small groups.
The one guy said that the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico is a good place to hike.
Today we packed up our stuff and hiked the 1 mile back to the road to the shuttle stop. The bus was supposed to arrive at 3:08 and he showed up at 3:06. We had to pay $60 to have him (Bill) take us to our car. Bill said that he had picked up maybe 4-8 hikers that had pulled out because of the rain.
This morning, while we were still at our campsite, there were about 5 volunteers who came through the site and mostly just took a bunch of the ashes out of the fire pit. And they just checked around to make sure everything looked ok.
We drove home and plan to return next week, ankle permitting.
After resting lots, I decided Wed. would be a good day to go back. We parked at Briton Peak Trailhead which is 2 plus miles north on the Sawbill Trail (County Road 2) right by Tofte. John started off by climbing Britton Peak and I just waited down at the bottom. It only took a short while. We then hiked on a fairly flat 1.6 miles to the Springdale Creek campsite. We brought in water, but there was water at the creek.
We had a nice drive up here, but 10 miles before Tofte, it started to rain. And it has been raining, sunny, raining, sunny etc. since we started hiking. Actually it is quite chilly and it may get down to 35 degrees tonight.
When we were back home, we stopped at REI and got some neat chairs. They’re lightweight and collapsible and are quite awesome. John also brought a bigger tarp; which he set up, so we should be good and have a place (other than the tent) to get out of the rain when we are in the campsite.
We hiked from the Springdale Creek site to the Onion River campsite, 3.8 miles. We are still taking it easy to give my ankle a chance to get back in shape. We left at 9:40 AM and arrived at noonish. On the way we took the spur trail up to Cedar Overlook to see some incredible scenery. Tried my cell phone up there and it didn’t work.
We hiked over Leveaux Creek and saw Leveaux Pond. We also saw deer prints and some moose prints. We took the spur trail up to Leveaux Mountain. It was quite beautiful. We passed many day hikers because this area is the best viewing spot for the fall colors. There were little kids, older kids, parents and grandparents, all enjoying the scenery and having a good time. From the top of the mountain you could look down at the tops of the trees; a solid mesh of red-orange-dark red. Just outstanding.
From there we came to the Onion River and our campsite. We went down to filter some water. I looked for agates while John filtered, and even found some. Then we walked up the river a ways stepping on all the rocks. When we got back to our campsite, there were 3 tents set up. They belonged to some more of the Buckeye Trail People; actually the president of the association, his wife and Russ. We talked with them (really they talked to us) for quite a while.
After dinner we went out on a snowmobile trail that paralleled the hiking trail in this area. It’s like a jeep trail, although the sign says “no vehicles, no 4-wheelers, foot traffic is fine.” It was dusk and we were looking for deer. We didn’t see any deer, but did see a beaver.
Last night we got up around 1 AM to go to the bathroom and the stars were out Amazing!! We got back in the tent, laid down and it started to rain.
We got up around 8 AM, had breakfast and around 9 or so decided to walk .5 mile to Oberg Trailhead (where we will get resupplied tomorrow). The Ohio people were leaving and we said goodbye to them.
The trailhead had a bathroom!! From there we walked up Oberg Mt. The trail took you to the summit and from there took you on a loop around the entire summit with about 8 different views. It was spectacular. Even with it always raining, the colors are just gorgeous. And everyone tells us that peak color viewing was last week.
Our entire trip today was only 3.5 miles and we did see 2 grouse. We’re still at our same campsite because we get resupplied tomorrow. We’ll meet the shuttle at the Oberg Trailhead and then begin hiking in earnest. My ankle seems to be quite good.
It was so cold this afternoon (and spritzing) that we built a fire. It felt great. It is not supposed to rain tomorrow (HAH), and it is to get up to 58 degrees. On Sunday and Monday into the 60’s. The temp lately has probably been in the hi 40’s, windy, cloudy, and light rain on and off. Not too nice.
We hiked from the Onion River campsite to Janvick campsite. We hiked 7 .5 miles. We left at 9:45, picked up our food packet and started hiking for real at 11:15 . We were finished for the day at 4 PM.
Our shuttle was a little late, but there was so much traffic. The lot at Oberg Mt. Trailhead was full (it probably had 40-50 cars). When the shuttle came, we jumped aboard and went ahead to the next trailhead (at $13 per person) and the shuttle dropped us off at Lutsen.
We passed many many hikers, some camping, but mostly day hikers. We even passed a group of 10 kids – teenagers who were all backpacking. We had lunch with a couple who have a home in Grand Marais. They brought a bottle of red wind for their lunch. We also passed at least 6 dogs out hiking, (with their masters). These weekends are tough if you like solitude.
For the most part the terrain was rolling hills, although we did run into some steep stuff. However at one spot they had a stair way up a very steep hill. Each step was a piece of a log spaced about 2-3 feet apart up the hill. There were 129 “steps”. That didn’t even count where they didn’t put logs because it was easy to walk where there were tree roots, or rocks. It was very steep, very tiring.
Our campsite is at a beaver pond and there is a boardwalk across the entire pond to take us to the other side John even saw the beaver.
I have to go out and look at the half moon. It’s like a miracle that it’s not raining. We even had sun today!
We left Janvic campsite at 9:15 and hiked 9.9 miles to Cut Log campsite, arriving at 4:15 PM. Actually the 9.9 miles included a .3 spur trip, one way, to see the Hidden Falls. A neat trip; the falls were definitely hidden. Had it been up to me, we never would have seen them, but John kept trudging on and we finally saw them.
Last night after I went out to see the full moon, John was on the boardwalk and all the beavers came out; the mama and papa beavers and the babies. He said that one zoomed right toward him, but then turned off. Then the big beaver came right for him. As John was backing up on the boardwalk, the beaver (the attack beaver) kept coming and got as close as 10-15 feet away from him. You could hear little mmm mmm sounds from the baby beavers and some other strange sounds.
It was cold last night. I almost froze. There was frost all over this morning.
As we were leaving today, we had to cross the boardwalk and the Big Beaver was out again. We just stood really still for about 10 minutes and he didn’t seem to care that we were there. He just swam around, even climbed up on his lodge once. When we left we inadvertently made a loud noise by stepping on one of the boards and he slapped his tail.
Right after we got started we passed 2 hunters in bright orange; they were looking for grouse. We have seen lots of grouse. The hunters were on a snowmobile trail, not on the hiking trail.
We hiked up to about 1550 feet and stayed at that level quite a while. Saw some beautiful views of Lake Superior. Then we hiked down to 1100 feet, back up to 1200 feet to Lookout Mt and then down to 750 feet to the Cascade River. It was funny because it was quite a nice day out and when we got to Lookout Mt. there was a little shelter there. We sat inside it for a minute and it started to rain! Only for about 5 minutes or so, enough to get everything wet. Then it stopped and didn’t rain anymore for the rest of the day.
The Cascade River is a beautiful river. John filtered some water, it was extremely clear. He had also filtered some water from Spruce Creek, about 2 miles after we took off.
From the Cascade River, we had a really tough climb (and ups and downs) for 2 miles or so, then we had to go way down to cross a lovely stream – with clear water and back up this mega hill to our campsite – which I didn’t see the sign for and walked right past. It was a neat campsite with a huge trunk of a tree laying there that they had cut a long time ago and they had carved a chair in it for anyone to rest on.
Oct. 2, Monday
We left the Cutlog campsite at 8:50 and hiked 7.2 miles to North Balley Creek campsite. We arrived there at 2 PM.
We passed 2 backpackers from Indianapolis and their 2 huskies. We got as high as 1760 feet today and there were no leaves on the trees. It was actually a little tricky to find the trail with so many leaves on the ground.
John hiked down to the Cascade River, down a steep bank out of one of the campsites that we passed by, to filter water. Then after we hiked a little ways there was a beautiful clear stream that we crossed that he could have gotten to much easier to filter some water.
The temperature got to about 75 degrees today. Hot. And the bugs came out. There are tiny little black bugs that are biting. We did see a downy woodpecker today and a grouse and many little squirrels.
When we got to our campsite John walked down to the beaver pond and filtered some water. There is a question as to whether or not our water filter is working correctly. It had been working with some difficulty to filter the water and then all of a sudden it began working very easily. Let’s hope it filtered the water. Tomorrow we will be in Grand Marais and we’ll be able to find a replacement part for our Sweetwater Filter.
Since it is an actual bond-fide sunny day today, we got our tent completely dried out. And tomorrow it is supposed to rain.
As we were preparing dinner tonight, John took out the nalgene which has the quart of water to use for cooking. And it looked black. He figured out that what happened is that he had filtered water into my platypus (100 oz) and then he filtered water into his camelback (100 oz) and then he filtered into the nalgene and that’s when it became so much easier. What had occurred is that the carbon all blew out from the filter into the nalgene water and that’s why it worked so easily. So yes, we have to get a new filter replacement.
We left N. Balley Creek at 7:53 am and reached Grand Marais at noon. We are staying at the Best Western and hiked 8.5 miles to get here. Our alarm went off at 6:15 and we got up in the dark. It was supposed to rain; we never did see the sun rise because of all the clouds, but the day turned out to be quite nice.
The first thing we came upon was a boardwalk across a beaver pong. There was a beaver, we heard his tail slap the water, but we were too busy concentrating on crossing the narrow boardwalk. It was a single board (8 inches across) and all the pieces of boards had chicken wire wrapped around them for stability of walking. (for the hikers, not for the beavers). It was an active beaver pond and the boards seemed a little tippy, but they were actually quite secure, just a little slanted. There were spots where water was running over the boardwalk and other places where great globs of mud was oozing over that we had to walk through. I thought it was a little scary but we made it.
After that it was smooth sailing. Most of the trail was fairly flat and we actually were walking slightly faster than 2 miles per hour, with breaks even. Once we got off the trail is was all downhill and unfortunately once we were walking on the side of the road, I sprained my ankle again – same ankle. So I am not going on; however John will go ahead and finish the hike. There will be a lady that picks us up tomorrow and takes John to the trailhead and me to the car.
John was not able to get a replacement part for our filter so he bought a new filter – a Katadyn Hiker, very similar to the old one.
We got up and ate breakfast and waited for Harriet to come and pick us up. She took me and John up to Pincushion Mt. where John would start his hike for the day. It was an absolutely gorgeous view of the Lake and of Grand Marais from up there. After that Harriet took me to Britton Peak where the geo was; however first she had to stop by her house for something and I got to meet her husband, and their macaw. I don’t remember it’s name, but he was beautiful.
I got to hear all about Harriet’s life on the way to the car and it was most interesting. The geo started without a problem and I got home without a problem.
John continued the rest of the hiking diary---
Oct. 4, Wednesday
Started at 8:30, finished at 3 PM and hiked 11.8 miles under pack, and another .25 or so without the pack on to explore Pincushion Mt.
Started at Pincushion Mt Trailhead and went to Kimball Creek campsite, just west of Hwy. 14. First few miles were flat and clear track. Did the first 3.25 miles in an hour. Took the next 2 hours to do 2.75. Had 6 miles in by lunch. Devil’s Track was a lot of steep ups and downs and was wet, muddy and slippery from last night’s rain.
I saw 2 grouse and many good views of Lake Superior. I missed my hiking buddy for many reasons but one for sure was I was running into all the spider webs without Pat leading the way. Passed a dozen or so teenagers and a couple adults going south. It must have been some kind of school outing. Met a couple that were day hiking. They recognized that Pat was not present. We chatted for awhile and I gave them the whole story. They are staying at a B & B in Grand Marais. They said they were going to do some of the Kadunce River section tomorrow. So I may see them again.
I humped in 8 plus pounds of water and passed a dozen flowing streams with clear water. I am going to start taking more chances with the water situation since I am alone. Everyone keeps saying that it is a low water year, but I am passing many filterable streams. Tomorrow will not be an issue since I will be stopping at Judge Magney State Park. I am now completely on map 4 for 4. Yeah!
Started at 8:30, finished at 2:30; hiked 12.9 miles per the map. Went from Kimball Creek to Judge Magney State Park. Fairly easy except for the “lake walk”. That was 1.5 miles right on the Lake Superior shore. I did about .3 miles and cut back to Hwy 61 and walked along the Highway until I reached the point where the trail cut back across the road. The problem with the Lake walk was all the loose stones. There was no solid footing. It was taking way too much energy with the pack so I bailed and took the road. (Highway 61).
All the water was shut off in the State Park so I filtered water from the Brule River. I filtered about 6 quarts so far with the new filter and it works fine. I saw a couple more grouse today but only two people on the trail day hiking to the south. I did not see the couple I met yesterday. I called Pat and she made it home okay. I need to call her again as I forgot to ask if she called Bill and cancelled the shuttle ride we had set up for the 10th.
There is a Lodge a couple blocks from the park that serves meals. I will see if I can get a steak from there for tonight!!. Looks like tomorrow will be uphill all day.
(I did not have change for the campsite fee when I checked in. The Ranger collected $11 Friday morning at my site.)
Another very nice sunny day but it was quite cold last night. Must have been near freezing. No ice on the drinking water in the morning however.
The bug bites I got a couple days ago are really starting to bother me especially at night. Go figure why it took so long to be an issue?
Started today at 8:45 and hiked 11.8 miles. Got into camp (South Carlson Pond Campsite) at 2:30 PM. It was partly sunny today but very windy. Storm may be brewing for tonight.
I had a 10 oz Ribeye steak, mashed potatoes, green beans and mushrooms for dinner last night. Perfect meal after a 13 mile day. Tonight I get, you guessed it, noodles.
I stopped at Devil’s Kettle waterfall which is about 1.25 miles north of Judge Magney campground and the Brule River. Really cool. The falls splits around a big rock formation and one side goes into a big hole in the rock (Kettle) never to be seen again. The other side fills and overflows a pocket. I took lots of pictures. I climbed down on the formation to get some close ups.
I saw 2 Osprey fishing along the Brule River. Lots of ups today. Started out at about 640 feet (Lake Superior level) and went up to about 1550 feet. Very nice campsite on a hill overlooking Carlson Pond which is a 200-300 acre pond created by the beavers damming up Carlson Creek. I guess there are supposed to be moose here so I will go scouting around at sunset. This site has a bear cable, i.e. a cable strung between two trees about 15 feet above the ground. It is very easy to hang your food. All you do is throw your rope over the cable and pull the food up and tie it off. No messing around having to string your own rope between two trees, etc.
One section of the hike today the trail was to follow an old logging road. In one of the low spots those cute beavers dammed up the creek and flooded about 100 feet of the road. Fortunately the Superior Hiking Trail worked out a detour to get around it without getting wet feet.
If there is a cloud cover perhaps it will not get as cold tonight. It was okay last night until about 3 AM and I woke up freezing and put on most of the clothes I have. There was a little frost on the tent at 5 AM when I got up to go to the bathroom but the drinking water was not frozen at 7:30 when I got up for the day.
I encountered the most unmaintained section of the trail to date. It was about 1.5 miles east of Camp 20 road parking lot. The trail was very narrow with brush overhanging from each side. Raspberries were over growing the trail which made it difficult with shorts on. Lots of wind falls and generally an ugly mile or so of trail.
Our little camp chairs are working out great. They are especially nice since you can move them around and follow the sun as it sets in the evening. Did not see anyone on the trail today. I heard a few gun shots in the forest so there must have been grouse hunters out but I did not see them on the trail either.
I had to filter some more water today. I am getting to like the new filter!
Two older men came in to the site about 5PM to stay for the night. One was nice and had done the AT (Appalachian Trail) a year or 2 ago. The other was okay but loud and somewhat obnoxious. (Had all the answers type). I went for a short walk after dinner looking for moose and went to bed as early as politely acceptable.
A little after dark I heard howling coming from two different places in the forest. One group sounded more like domesticated dogs. Tom’s Road which was near the camp is used year round for sled dog training. I am thinking the one group was sled dogs reacting to the other group which sounded more like coyotes. The howling went on for a few minutes and then was quiet for the night.
Started at 8:30 at Carlson Pond South and hiked 10.2 miles until 2:15PM and stopped at Jackson Creek. There were numerous ups and downs between 1400-1600 feet. Saw 4 grouse. Saw one weekend hiker, a couple with a dog and one day hiker with a dog. Lots of gun shots in the woods. Partly sunny day with light hazy clouds. Had a very nice warm night last night. It must have been about 45 degrees. No dew or condensation on the tent this morning!!!!
High point of the day was many great views of Lake Superior even though it was very hazy out on the water. Got my first glimpse of Isle Royale early in the day and a much better view from Hellacious Overlook. Some steep climbs and a couple very short spots of class 3 (climb) to get to the overlook. Well worth the effort. Passed numerous beaver ponds, marshes and small lakes with many many signs of moose, beaver and deer, but did not see any animals. Passed a very active beaver area at North Carlson Pond Campsite. Two very well used beaver slides crossed the trail to get into the pond. I took a couple pictures.
Trees are becoming very bare of leaves. Some sections of the trail are hard to follow because the forest floor is so deeply covered in leaves.
Filtering water out of Jackson Creek was kind of yucky because of all the leaves in the creek and the low flow. At about 5 PM a man and woman Canadian weekend campers stopped by the site but decided to bushwhack on a near by ridge with flatter ground.
Oct. 8, Sunday
Began hiking at 7:50 am from Jackson Creek campsite and hiked 7 miles to the trail end at Otter Lake Road, arriving there at 10:50 AM. It was a pleasant night again; not as warm as last night but still very nice. The sky was clear and there was a full or nearly full moon which made it very bright until about 4AM when clouds started to roll in and it got very humid. I woke at 6:45 AM to thunder off in the distance. I scurried around making breakfast and packing up just as it started raining. I had just started hiking with pack cover on and it rained quite hard for about 5 minutes. Just enough rain to make the leaves and trail very slippery. I had to climb about 200 feet to get to the highest point in the trail at 1829 feet. After the first mile or so the sun came out shortly so I took the pack cover off. A little while later it started to spritz again so I put the cover back on and left it on for the day. It spritzed a couple more times before I reached the end of the trail.
This last section of the trail was not too interesting except for the high point and a mouse skull (partial) that was laying alongside the trail. I took a few pictures. There was also some logging activity very near Otter Lake Road. All the machinery was idle. They must not work on Sundays.
I changed into some dry clothes and got the tent fly out to use to cover up with. The rain clouds were approaching. I got the camp chair out and made myself comfortable waiting for my ride to come.
Our daughter Tracey accompanied Pat to pick me up. They arrived about 12:30 pm. We stopped for lunch near Judge Magney State Park at the Naniboujou Lodge, the same place I had the steak earlier in the week. We also stopped to take a few minutes to look for agates in the same area where the SHT “Lake Walk” was. We were home for supper.