The weather people pushed off the really, really hot weather until this weekend and beyond. So we decided to sneak another hike into this weather window thus afforded us. Anything, frankly, than spending yet another day fixing yet another surprise! issue with the house. What could be more fun than a sewer pipe, eh? 😳 All this tinkering is taking its toll both emotionally and financially – and hiking is the most cost effective, most nerve-calming respite open to us at the moment. 😊
So we consulted our tattered 60 Hikes guide (Hike #36) and came up with a loop, a beach, and a river at Kinnickinnic State Park across the St. Croix River in Wisconsin. 🧀 This would be our second visit to Wisconsin this year but our first to this park. After paying for our $11.00 vehicle daily permit and getting a park map, we headed west on the Blue Trail. The trails here are identified with colored posts and there are maps posted at the major trail junctions. Only the Black Trail to the beach is paved.
We followed the Blue, Yellow, Orange, Purple, and Black Trails – mostly through a green tunnel – to the swimming beach on the St. Croix. The weather was still cool (~70℉ / ~20℃) but much more humid (85%) than when we hiked Lake Elmo two days ago. So a certain amount of pore-clearing sweating occurred as we walked along.
From the swimming beach, we had to go south a bit along the shore to reach the confluence of the St. Croix and the Kinnickinnic. Goldfinches foraged along the shoreline while bald eagles flew overhead and flocks of swallows perched in bare trees.
After picking-up some trash from the beach, we went back up the Black Trail and turned north on the Purple Trail and then the Yellow Trail to the Green Trail. Paradoxically, the Green Trail is not another green tunnel but rather circles a huge swath of restored prairie. 😀
This out-and-back hike came to 5.8 mi (9.3 km) with a surprising 320 feet (98 m) of gain – mostly in getting back up from the beach. It stayed humid but we were done before the day really started to warm. And the flying, biting bugs weren’t particularly enthusiastic today, so all was good. The river, the birds 🦅, and that huge prairie were this day’s favorites. We sought sustenance (and A/C) at the nearby Prescott Roadhouse (🌮🍺😋👍) before heading home. Or, to be real, to the home store first for some threaded thing… 🙄
BOOTS on the TRAIL 
You betcha! 😀
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I think trying to scare people about winter is a regional sport in the upper mid west 🙂
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Thanks! And, well, yes, the house has been more work than we expected (but since we waived inspection, we should have seen this coming 😒). But we’re winning (I think), one nail at a time. In the meantime, we are enjoying Minnesota’s summer. 😁 But the locals all seem to mention “winter is coming” every chance they get (usually with an eye roll 🙄), so we’ll see how we do once the leaves turn to snow. 🥶
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It seems like you are enjoying your new home territory (even if the home itself is work)
Enjoying your posts and photos- especially todays Eagles
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