St. Croix State Park – Hinckley, MN 08/02/2020

COVID-19 Perspective:  The park itself can be VERY busy but if you get there early and choose trails away from the bigger ticket sights, you can lose yourself in the woods and have the trail mostly to yourself.  That was our experience this time around.

Kid Perspective:

• Running Wild – Go for it!
• The Trail – We did a choose your own adventure type of hike and made our own loop through the woods and back along the Kettle River.  We encountered packed dirt, horse trails, a walk along the road and a small portion of overgrown trail near the river.
• Trail Conditions – A little overgrown on one portion but nothing terrible.
• Bugs and Pests – Bring the bug spray, this park can be pretty wicked sometimes.  Luckily this was not the case this time, after we loaded up with our spray.  Oh, and a fun bugger that stung me, more about that later.
• Plants – No issues.  We did see a ton of mushrooms though!
• Bathrooms – We did not encounter any along this portion of the trail.
• Cell Service – Once you get into the park a bit, service is pretty much non-existent and we end up turning our phones on “airplane mode”.

Trail Information:

• Length – 6.68 miles
• Moving Time – 02:44:51
• Elevation Gain – 118 ft.
• Difficulty – Moderate due to length

Highlights:

• Combo – Getting White Castle after! (you have to love this kid seriously)
• Biff – Being in charge of Minnie!
• Blaze – The peacefulness of the river.
• Ripper – Everything!  The trail itself was not particularly scenic except along the Kettle River but we had a fabulous time.  Everyone was in a great mood and Minnie was a little Rockstar!

We parked in the small pull off for the Kettle River High Banks trail.  We park here because the other Our beloved Black Lab, Minnie, was ecstatic to hit the trail with us and was pulling on her leash to get a move on guys!

 We took the road for a distance until we reached a horseback trail leading into the woods.  From here we continued on for 1.5 miles, discussing various ideas for our upcoming trip (snacks, restaurants, places to check out, etc.)  The kids found a really cool feather too!  Biff decided to take the lead with Minnie and this was spectacular to watch, he bounded on ahead happy as could be.  Of course, Combo wanted in on the action so we made a deal with them that they could switch at each trailhead.  This is where the bugs were the worst on the trail.

Combo was proud to take the reigns with Minnie when we reached the road which was shared with the Matthew Lourey Trail.  We followed the road for 1.6 miles, which was not our favorite as we would have liked to be on an actual trail but we made the best of it.  The weather was absolutely perfect – it was overcast and in the 60’s, perfect for hiking!  We began to notice more and more flowers and we even found another “Trident Plant” like the one we saw at Forestville.  The kids thought that was pretty cool.  We also discovered a MASSIVE Spider Web, which Combo compared to the webs you might find near Aragog from Harry Potter – gotta love her imagination!

Finally, we found the trail to Big Eddy and Biff was pumped to get ahold of Minnie again.  Minnie is getting on in years and cannot keep up with all of the hiking that we do but she was in her prime that day, bounding along the trail like a puppy, without a care in the world!  Suddenly I felt amazing pain in my right calf and heard a buzzing run through my hair and next to me ear – AHHH!  I am terrified of bees (working on getting over it) and getting stung really got my heart pumping.  I think I must have stepped on a ground nest or something because the little bugger came out of the ground and boy oh boy did it hurt like a word I cannot say here.  When we made it to the Big Eddy the kids frolicked for a few moments before we hit the trail again.  This area must be good for gathering mushrooms because we saw a small group with a plethora of mushrooms spread across the picnic table.

Along the Kettle River Highbanks Trail is the most scenic portion of this hike.  The river and rapids were impressive and we enjoyed taking a few spurs to get down to the water.  Minnie was grateful for the chance to sip some water, as she refused to drink the water I squirted from my hydration pack.  We usually pack a travelling water bowl but we decided to hit this trail at the last minute and had not planned on bringing her with – but when in Rome right?  Minnie decided that she had enough walking behind folks so she raced Biff for the lead.  It was funny to watch her weave back and forth trying to get ahead of him.  She really was terrific and did a great job keeping the kids motivated to continue on.  Seriously, they did not complain ONCE!  The further we went on the trail, the more mushrooms we noticed EVERYWHERE!  Some small, some huge, some brightly colored – so many varieties and very fun to spot on the trail. 

The Kettle River Highbanks Overlook alerted us to the fact that our journey was just about over, as it would be back to the car from here.  We enjoyed the views for another few minutes before hitting the trail, still a long drive home.

The last short portion of trail was a gorgeous walk through massive Red Pines!  Very impressive indeed! 

And that is a wrap folks!  It was another fantastic day on the trail and I hope you enjoyed following our adventure.  Please feel free to leave any comments or questions, we love hearing from you!  Until next time, Happy Hiking and Stay Safe!