Superior Hero Tale: Lyndsie Standerwick

December 28th, 2023

In the decade since her first encounter with the Superior Hiking Trail, Lyndsie Standerwick has forged a connection with the North Shore that inspires her to give back to the trail today. 

“I have been wanting to come up for a while, but this made me excited to be working with other women who are adventurous,” Lyndsie said while volunteering at the all-women’s and non-binary trail-building weekend in July 2023. 

The group came together with the help of Unruly Women, a non-profit organization that aims to empower women seeking outdoor adventure. The group worked on the Springdale Creek Trail Renewal Project, which removed an unsafe bridge over the creek, replaced it with solid stone steps, and repaired tread.

A relatively new volunteer to the Superior Hiking Trail Association, Lyndsie jumped right in. Not only does she keep coming back for more trail projects, she also served as a cook for multi-day volunteer events in 2023.

Inspired by the novel and movie “Wild,” she took up backpacking and hiking while in graduate school in the Twin Cities. Lyndsie’s first expedition on the Superior Hiking Trail was a solo 75-mile trek in 2013. Starting north of Duluth and going all the way to Tettegouche, the elevation is what first surprised her about northern Minnesota. 

“Needless to say, I quickly learned what the Sawtooth Mountains are,” she said, “but I didn’t realize how majestic it truly was.” 

When Lyndsie isn’t spending her free time volunteering on and exploring the Trail, she is employed as a mental health therapist in the Twin Cities, where she lives.

“The energy of this trail is not like anywhere else, which is why it’s so worth it to give back if you have benefited from it,” she said. “There is so much effort that goes into this.”

By Peyton Haug, SHTA Intern