Tag Archives: horseback riding

Lodging, Parks, Sights, Travel

Wild River State Park, Center City, MN

Wild River State Park, 39797 Park Trail, Center City, MN 55012

We decided to go camping, spur of the moment, and this is the park that had an opening.  It was the 3rd of July, the day was clear, and we were off on an adventure.

We packed our camping gear and headed northeast.  The park is right along the St. Croix River.  Do not use the GSP system to find the entrance.  It will lead you astray.

As we checked in we were told that there had been black bears seen in the park and that we would need to hang our food from a tree.  They gave us a safety sheet and sold us a rope.  Now if you are out camping and they tell you there are bears, black bears are the ones you want.  They generally avoid people, they scare easily, and they are not going to hunt you.  They will steal your food if they can.  We were armed with our information, our rope, and a can of bear spray.

We were told that we could pick up dead wood and us it for our camp fire.  We had a hand saw with us to cut up the wood which was super convenient.  I was glad that there was plenty of dead wood in the area because we had the last campsite on the trail.  This was a hiking campsite which all of the ones along the military trail were.

We parked as close as we could.  The road leads right up to the river with a perfect place to launch a boat into the St. Croix.  The trail was an old military road so it is nice and wide.  We marched our two full backpacks and the tent all the way to the end of the trail.  The trail itself seemed perfect for horses.  In fact everything about this park seemed ideal for horses.

Wild River July 055

There are stables right next to the entrance of the park for the avid rider who wants their horse close to a great riding trail.  There are horse camp sites.  Most have electricity.  Overall this place has a ton of campsites and most of them you can drive to and car camp.  There are even six cabins.  Some have electricity and some do not.

Even with all of the stuff that we brought the hike down to our campsite wasn’t terrible.  There was a picnic table at the perfect spot so that we could rest a moment before finishing the hike.  I didn’t get a lot of pictures along the way, but the campsite was amazing.

Wild River July 054

Wild River July 074

We were right on the St. Croix River.  You could watch boats travelling up and down the river.  The boaters were so joyous with the 4th being the next day.  There was a little tree that provided us some welcome shade.

Wild River July 081

The campsite had a fire pit with a grate for cooking.  There was a picnic table and a couple of spots to choose from for the tent.  We picked the spot under the tree.  The tent went up and then we were off to find firewood.

Wild River July 064

There were dead trees all over so picking out a few to drag back to the campsite was easy.  I cut up the firewood with my handsaw.  Some of the wood burned extremely fast.

The bathroom, the vault toilet, was just a little further down the path and had a privacy wall.  Don’t forget the bear spray and toilet paper because you might need them.

We made mac chili in a bag which was pretty good.  We brought snacks, but we only ate the cashew nuts for fear of drawing in the bears with our jerky.  All of the trash went into a plastic bag and that went into my sleeping bag carrying pouch along with the other food we brought so that we could hang it all from a tree.

We setup some music and enjoyed the view of the river and the fire and as it got dark the stars.  You never get to see the stars in the city.  We could hear fireworks going off all around us, but none of them were visible to us.  Instead we were treated to a show from the fireflies in the area.

Wild River July 071

As we finally settled in for the night all we could think about were the bears.  This was my second camping trip as an adult and lets just say I have yet to have a great night in a tent, ever.  Every rustle outside sounded like it could be the bear coming to get us.  Something kept eating grass really close to our tent and it was so loud.  All of the noises were probably squirrels, rabbits, or something else completely harmless, but we didn’t sleep and couldn’t just pack up and go home.

We got up the next day, completely fine.  Our food bag was still in the tree where we left it.  Nothing came into our tent and ate us.  I still have no idea what was eating grass near us.  We packed everything up and hiked back to our car so that we could go home and sleep.

Wild River July 109

If we could have slept instead of being paranoid and feeding off of each others paranoia I think the whole trip would have been great.  I loved the campsite.  The trail would have been better suited for a horse.  I have no idea how the rest of the trails are, but from what I saw I would only want to enjoy this one on horseback.

I wouldn’t necessary be opposed to camping here again, but then again I do not like worrying about bears.  I loved that the site was far from the next campsite.  We couldn’t even hear them.  I assume the bears have been seen near the other sites where more people would be cooking and possibly dropping food.  If I could have slept the camping experience would have been great.

If you do not fear black bears I highly recommend camping here.  If you have a horse I highly recommend riding through this park.  If you are looking for a good hike, go somewhere else.

Parks, Sights, Travel

Forestville Mystery Cave State Park, Preston, MN

1 Comment

Forestville Mystery Cave State Park, 21071 Co Hwy 118, Preston, MN 55965

Forestville has it all camping, hiking, horseback riding (bring your own, I think), and even a cave.

The park is in two sections.  One section has the main part of the park where you will find the majority of the trails, the fishing area, the old Meighen Store, and fishing.  This is a great place to catch a trout apparently.

Forestville State Park 40

The Meighen store is across the bridge that is out, pedestrians only these days.  Plenty of people try their had at fishing along the stream that runs under that bridge.  Take a look around.

Forestville State Park 51

There is a pretty good trail just across the bridge.  It will get your heart racing if you take it very far, but the view from the lookout is nice.  Most of the trails seem to be both hiking and horses so watch your step.

Forestville State Park 16

You can rent a cabin and stay in the park.  Take a few days and enjoy as much of the park as you can.  It is a rather large park.  We explored a good portion of two days.

Forestville State Park 64

When you have your fill of the main area of the park you can head over to the gem of the park Mystery Cave.  Yes, the cave has bats, but they are cute little bats that eat the mosquitoes in the area which is great.

Mystery Cave 7

I highly suggest checking out Mystery Cave.  Take a tour.  Reserve your spot.  Enjoy the dark and most importantly the trip through time.

Parks, Sights, Travel

Afton State Park

Afton State Park is fantastic for hiking and outdoor activities.  Website

Afton State Park has some of the best and most challenging hiking trails around the twin cities area.  They have wooded areas, prairie areas, riverside, and some paved.

The park is huge.  It will take you more than one day to walk the entire park.  Granted most people do not take advantage of the long trails away from the riverside trail, but for those of you adventurous enough to explore these trails have a lot to offer.

Trail map of Afton State Park

You will need a pass to get into the park.  If you plan on going more than a couple of times to any state parks in Minnesota get the yearly pass.

At the entrance there is a ton of parking.  There are picnic tables and open areas that you can put down a blanket and enjoy the day.  picnic tables at Afton Park

I have seen weddings held at this park, or at least the pictures.  The background is beautiful.  If you adventure down the steps (there is a handicap trail too I think) you can see a bridge and past that leads to the riverside eating area.

Afton State Park 21

A little bit further you can walk the trail that runs along the river.  To the right (north) the trail ends eventually.  To the right (south) the trail eventually goes up a very large hill and circles back around to the main area.  Most people just turn around at the bottom of the hill, but if you can walk up it the sights are nice.

The hill that leads up to the backpack camping is a brutal.  At the top past the camping area is a little building and some old farm equipment.

Shelter in Afton AlpsIf you head past that there is a single person trail through a heavily wooded area.  It is a bit precarious when the leaves have fallen.  it makes the downhill walk slick and hides rocks on the trail.  This leads back to the picnic area near the river.

Afton Park leaf covered trail

The trails in the Northwest section can be rather intense.  Both in difficulty and distance.  Although Prairie Loop trail is really easy and a little boring the trails off of it are the ones to watch out for and take the time to hike.  The northern portion of prairie loop that is just hiking is really fun.  It gets down to single person trails in this area.  I would say it is good hiking without being too intense.

Trout Brook Loop is a beast.  There are parts of it where they put in steps.  This might be my favorite hiking area in all of Afton State Park and the most likely to kill me.  The climb/walk up is intense.  The big hill down seems like it will go on forever.  When you get out you can stop and rest at the picnic table and stare at the last hill you will need to climb to get back.  Challenging, but rewarding in my book.

The hill that leads away from Trout Loop

There are some simple trails in the southern area.  You can avoid walking up the giant hill at the end of the river trail by approaching it from this direction.  Bench in Afton ParkYou will walk down instead of up and there is a bench at the bottom as your reward.  Then you can walk along the river trail and the only difficult part is the end with the steps to get back to the main area, but you can walk up some, rest and walk up the remaining ones.

Deer Valley Loop in the southwest part of the park is a real hiking trail.  It is a lot of single file hiking, but there are a lot of neat things to see in that area.  I suggest making sure you can handle this one before you try your hand at Trout Brook Loop.  On separate days of course.

A bridge in Afton State Park

Not sure how you take the tractor ride, but I did see some people on one when we finally made it out of Deer Valley Loop.

tractor giving a trail ride

The park also offers camping, cabins, and yurts to stay in so that you can get the full experience.  It is also nice to be able to just get up and go hiking.

Afton State Park campsite

In the winter there is snow shoe trails.  There are also horse trails for you equestrians.  Did I mention the birds.  Plenty of wildlife to see here.  Pretty blue birds and the occasional deer.  Afton State Park is definitely a place to check out if you want to experience the outdoors.