Day in the Life of an Idiot

 
Image: My second stamp in my passport club booklet

When Mason was still very sleepy, but awake I asked him how he felt about a road trip today. He said, in a very Mason way: "I would not mind that."  And, so one espresso drink later we were on our way to Taylor's Falls and Interstate State Park. The weather has been kind of gross here, if I'm honest? And our car's air-conditioning has stopped fully functioning, so it was a HOT hour to the State Park. However, I stopped in at the ranger station and got myself my second passport stamp. Whoo!  Only 73 more left to go!

I had to laugh, however, when we found the trail head:

Image: Ah, my old enemy... STAIRS!

There were, in point of fact, a lot of stairs on this hike. Many of them were actually wooden. There were several boardwalks and bridges built-in along the trail, too, which I found quite lovely. A number of the scenic overlooks also had fully built-up decks with park benches.  That part was quite lovely, as the terrain was very reminiscent of Magnetic Rock.... lots of rock and uneven ups and downs.

The views were quite lovely, however.


Image: The view from one of the many overlooks on the official Minnesota Hiking Club trail at Interstate State Park.

For my non-local friends, Minnesota is under a heavy haze thanks to the wildfire just above us in Canada that is threatening the boundary waters as WELL as the Bootleg fire in Oregon (at least I'd be surprised if we're not, given the size of that fire.)  The view, despite the fire haze, was fairly spectacular. We are also in a drought, so the trail was dusty and, in places, a bit dreary. There's one long section (maybe 800 feet) where we walked directly alongside the highway.

In fact, I was rather surprised how much highway noise we could hear during the entire hike. 

I would say I was disappointed, but that wasn't at all true. Once we made it to the campground area, we were able to get closer to the river. We found a way down to the shoreline and did a bit of exploring. 


Image: Our big little Last Child in the Woods in the woods, looking for signs of life in the water (specifically crawdads.)

Mason never found crawdads, but he did spot an adorable baby turtle just in the water-side of the shoreline, which we watch scoot around for awhile. He also surprised a chipmunk on the trail. I didn't get to see her, but he did.  The riverbank was lovely, honestly. I stuck my hot feet in the water and we sat for a long time on the sand in the shade and watched a couple of raptors circling overhead.


Image: Minnesota Native wildflower, the Tall Bellflower, growing along the banks of the St. Croix.


Image: The Saint Croix from its banks.

I was able to log my miles on the official Minnesota Hiking Club booklet, and I got my passport stamp (and I wrote in the TRAVEL LOG!!) So, I would say that despite the sweaty heat, this was well worth it. If you are wondering why there are no pictures of the potholes, it's because this was our second trip to this state park and we already had seen all the funky cool geological features. (See: Our Road Trip to Michigan. If you follow this link to my previous DW entry, you will also get the Concrete Park of Wisconsin, which is... terrifying, but also awesome?)