St Croix camping weekend (Minnstf-adjacent)

[dreamshark]

Many thanks to spiderplanet for organizing this not-an-official Minnstf event. The idea was that people interested in both wilderness and limited socializing would all arrange campsites in the same park for the same weekend, explore the park during the day, and gather in one of the park buildings in the evening for gaming and socializing. In the end there were 10 of us. Although we all described this as a "camping weekend" none of us technically "camped" (in the sense of sleeping in a tent). Three couples had RVs of one kind or another and two couples rented cabins. There were a few missteps and miscommunications, but as far as I could tell it was generally a huge success. 

Here are some park highlights that Richard and I particularly enjoyed. We are a little too old and creaky to handle long hikes, but there are a couple of very scenic trail options that fell within our limited scope.

This is an  arty shot from the River's Edge Trail, an aptly named trail that starts near the Historic Lodge. The trail head is a little hard to find and there are some stairs involved, but the trail itself is not too difficult. 

More River's Edge Trail.

And the steps back up. Also the steps down, but they didn't seem so daunting on the way down.

View from Kettle River Overlook, which we much enjoyed. We spent quite a while here, trying to hum in tune to the harmonics coming off the river water. It seems to be commonly believed that the sound of rushing water is white noise, but that is not really true. There are specific notes, which you can sometimes hear if you listen carefully. And if you hum different notes, some of them are dissonant with the water sound and others just fit right in. 

It's a long and rather harrowing drive to the Kettle River side of the park over corrugated dirt road, but once you get there the trail is dead easy. And beautiful, through what I assume are classic full-grown Minnesota Red Pines. 

And once you've driven all that way you might as well stop at the Historic Fire Tower, even if you aren't really in shape to climb 137 steps (we are not). 

Comments

[pameladean]

Your photos are so much better than mine. I am amused to see that we both took that same picture of the path where the two red pines make a kind of entrance. I suppose it's just irresistible.

P.

[bibliofile]

This looks like an awesome trip. I don't remember having heard about any of these particular parks before, either. Thanks!

[dreamshark]

This is all one park. It's called St. Croix State Park, although it is not located in or near the town of St. Croix. This park is near Hinckley (and it is MASSIVE.)

The park that IS near the town of St. Croix (well, St. Croix Falls) is called Interstate Park, and has bits in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. St. Croix Falls is in Wisconsin. On the other hand, there is also a town called Marine on St. Croix, which is in Minnesota and also has a state park. That park is called William O'Brien State Park. Confused yet?

There are (I think) FIVE Minnesota State Parks on the St. Croix River, which is a little confusing. At one point there was a movement afoot to rename one of them after Walter Mondale, which just would have made things about 100 times more confusing. They compromised by renaming buildings inside each park (and then not getting around to updating the websites and the park maps with the new names).

[maruad]

What a lovely destination, except for the Ranger's tower which induces vertigo just looking at it. Thanks for sharing.