Myre-Big Island State Park

Winter camping – or very early spring camping – was something attempted only one other time and given that there wasn’t a blog post about it, you can guess how it went. This trip to Myre-Big Island was more successful, although I wouldn’t consider it an outright success. Just learning and practicing more skills to make winter camping more comfortable. One day, I will have a post on a winter camping trip that makes it look like a breeze.. today isn’t that day. 🙂

Part of the Minnesota State Parks System

~1 hr 30 min south of the Twin Cities

I won’t wax on about the weather that we experienced this past winter, but needless to say it was pretty up and down in temps and precipitation. On one of the weekends when the temps were up and limited precip, we decided to chance a winter camping trip. The highs for the weekend were supposed to be in the upper 30’s / low 40’s, comfortable enough for hiking and being comfortable while moving around camp. In recent years, we’ve invested in better camping gear as some of our cheaper things have worn out, like down sleeping bags and cots to keep us up off the ground.

Park map courtesy of MN DNR

The park isn’t far from the Twin Cities, so we headed down after work on a Friday having made reservations only the night before. There were only a few sites open in the park for reservations, so we ended up picking an electric spot. As we arrived at the park, the office was still open, so we stopped in to check in. The park ranger mentioned that not all of the sites had been plowed, so it might be best to go look at the sites before settling on one specific site. Thankful for their advice, we went down to the Big Island Campground and drove around, ultimately deciding that another site was better since there was no ice on the pull-in of the site.

Our site with our new Kelty tent!

The weather was on the milder side that night, so we got our site set up and then proceeded check out the rest of the campground and picnic area that was nearby. This seems like it would be a great park in the summer for water activities since the Big Island Campground is basically surrounded by water on all sides. The sites didn’t seem that private or separated by brush, although it’s hard to tell in winter with there being no greenery. For the rest of the night we had a fire and relaxed and made dinner. Since it was still very early spring and was still getting dark fairly early, we went to bed at probably close to 8pm because there is only so long you can stare at a fire.

Much of the trail on island is like this – through the woods with a leaf base

The next morning was pretty chilly and we didn’t want to get out of our warm sleeping bags to make breakfast or coffee! We had heated up water before going to bed and put them in our water bottles to keep us warm through the night and we were both able to stay nice and toasty. After we finally got up, we made a fire and our hot coffees so we could relax a little bit before venturing out to hike. We started out our hike on Big Island Trail, which as its name implies goes around the Big Island. There were portions of the trail that went right down to the water and others that stayed more elevated, almost all of which was in the woods. It was a nice trail, but I could see it being pretty buggy in the summer.

The still frozen lake view

As we were eating lunch, we started to notice the wind picking up. The weather was supposed to stay mild through the night and into Sunday, but the wind got me concerned. After checking my weather app, we decided to call it a weekend and head home. The temps were supposed to drop in the night and with increased wind we didn’t want to chance getting too cold during the night and push the limits of our sleeping bags.

A favorite tree of the woodpeckers

Although it was a very quick trip, we enjoyed getting out and being in the woods with not another soul around. We plan to come back to this park in warmer weather to explore more of what the park has to offer and to see what the park looks like with plants that are alive!

‘Til next time!

 

 

Perrot State Park

The last camping trip of 2018! Woah, it has taken a while for me to work through that backlog! Perrot was a great final camping trip of 2018, a great park with great hiking and my family came up to visit while we were there! Excuse all the greats, but can I say it was great?

Part of the Wisconsin State Park system

Located ~30 mins from Winona, MN

Map of Perrot State Park, courtesy of WI DNR

It was the first weekend of October, so just as the weather was starting to turn cooler with hints of winter on its way. I love camping during this time of year, I get to wear all the cozy warm clothing without freezing too much, like I have during attempts at winter camping. Anyway, we came down from the Twin Cities on a Friday after work. This park is a good option for those sort of trips because it’s about 2 1/2 hrs away from the TC, so definitely something you can drive to on a Friday after work. As I mentioned earlier, our family came to see us during this trip, but they weren’t stopping up until Saturday, so that gave us plenty of time to get set up and relax.

The campsite with a view, the BF getting the fire going

We had a great site in the only campground in the park, there are plenty of options, but we got a site on the bay where you can see Trempealeau Mountain. Some sites are more private than others, but given how many sites are in the campground I don’t imagine it feels too busy there unless the campground is completely full. There are plenty of miles of trail within the park, but some of the most notable trails are the ones scale the bluffs within the park.

Riverview trail

Saturday morning we got up fairly early since we knew we were going to have company we didn’t want to laze about camp like we tend to do. We got up, made our breakfast, got camp tidied up, and went to get more firewood before the fam started showing up. They were only up for the day, but we wanted to do at least a few miles of hiking, particularly one of the Brady’s Bluff trails. We hung out for a while and shot the breeze before heading out on our hike.

Interesting rock outcroppings along the Riverview trail

First we hiked along the Riverview trail, which is 2.5 miles long and heads basically along the length of the park. We used this trail as a way to get from the campground to the Brady’s Bluff West trail. The Riverview trail is nice, as the name suggests, it follows the Bay and Mississippi River. We then took a quick detour and walked along the Black Walnut nature trail, which is a short 1/2 mile trail that includes signs about the trees / plants of the forest. We then doubled back and continued on the Riverview trail until we got to Brady’s Bluff West.

Heading up Brady’s bluff on Brady’s Bluff West trail

Hiking in the midwest is usually a pretty easy affair, flat to rolling hills and not much in the way of rocks. The hikes to get to the top of the bluffs in Perrot are not those hikes. They are difficult for a couple reasons, rapid ascent with significant elevation gain and if you’re afraid of heights, it usually involves narrow stairs. So be warned, but the views are 100% worth the work! As mentioned, we huffed and puffed to the top Brady’s Bluff. Boy, were we rewarded with a view when we got up there. Pictures do not do it justice.

View of the river valley from the top of Brady’s Bluff

We hung out at the top for a while, just enjoying the view and keeping an eye on the kiddos. We don’t need to be the feature of one of those tragic hiking stories you read online. Once we headed back down we took the Riverview trail back to the campsite and had lunch, which included a thermos of hot chocolate. See? Nice and cozy!

After lunch we went over to the Nature Center to see what they had to offer for the kids. Given the time of year, there wasn’t a ranger there or anything, but they had some nice exhibits in the building on the people that originally lived in this region of Wisconsin. There is a small trail by the Nature Center that talks about some of the plants in the area that was also interesting. Soon, the fam had to head out. Only my brother, the one from such adventures like Nerstrand, was staying the night.

Along the trail by the campground, still green & lush at this time!

Since we had company, we ended up going out for dinner that night and gave the camping food a rest. The next morning, after sufficient lazing about camp we packed up. Not quite ready to leave we walked the short trail that goes around the campground. It loops along the bay and to the backside of the campground. It was just enough walking to stretch out legs before the drive home.

I thoroughly enjoyed this trip. This is a great park within short driving distance of the Twin Cities. There are many more trails that we didn’t explore within the park. If we’re in the area again, I could definitely see us stopping to make another ascent up Brady’s Bluff.

‘Til next time!

That time of year.. again

It’s that time of year again where I start to get spring fever and with that the urge to get outside into nature comes alive. My boyfriend and I camp at least once a month during the warm months and hike as often as we can. When we go on vacation there is usually some hiking or nature involved somewhere along the line.

Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’
– Robin Williams

Here comes the birth of this blog – sharing the adventures of hiking, camping, and exploring in the midwest (along with anywhere else we travel to). To explain the name of the blog, I am by no means a “professional” outdoors woman and for budget reasons, we are often not using the most sophisticated equipment. I’m just someone trying to enjoy nature without spending an arm and a leg.

Hope you enjoy the ramblings of an average girl’s adventures! I plan to review the places we visit, whether it’s camping or hiking (or something completely different), giving the good, the bad, and the ugly as well as the cost for those that are budget minded.

Thanks for joining me on this journey!