When my brothers and I hiked the Sioux-Hustler Trail in late August 1970, the trailhead was farther west on the Echo Trail, just on the other side of the Little Sioux Indian River on Forest Road 1877.
When we registered at the office in Ely before heading out, the ranger asked us to report on the trail's status upon our return because, as far as he knew, no one else had hiked it that season. We didn't see anyone the three days we were on the trail and didn't see any recent evidence of trail use.
We lost the trail many times, as it was either covered by beaver ponds or ran over a rocky ridgetop. There were five of us, so when we lost the trail, we posted one at the last known point, and the other four fanned out ahead, looking for blazes on the trees or piles of rocks.
Of course, back at that time, there were no GPS devices; we only had paper maps. However, we kept an almost hourly log of our hike, which, combined with the map, enabled me to reconstruct our route on komoot.
A few years after our hike, the Sioux-Hustler wildfire destroyed the trail from Emerald to Meander Lake.
Here is a link to our hike back in 1970: .
I have uploaded two photos from our trip One is of of us standing at the old trailhead, and the other shows me wading across a stream flooded by a beaver dam.