Day 1 – Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area, Schoolcraft State Park and Scenic State Park
Leah and I decided to set out on a camping and hiking adventure in northern Minnesota. The trip was in part to explore some new state parks but also to celebrate what would have been our wedding weekend had there not been a global pandemic. We left on a Saturday morning, August 1st (the original date of our wedding). On the drive up, Leah got a call from her friend Jamie who wanted to wish us well on the postponed wedding date. Jamie also mentioned that we should find a place to pull over so we could watch a video that she organized that featured dancing, toasts, and well wishes from our entire wedding party. It was a really special moment and we both cried while sitting in a Highway 169 turn-off somewhere near Zimmerman, MN. We continued driving north, almost getting into a small fender bender at one point as traffic came to an abrupt stop in front of us.
We eventually got to our first destination, Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area. It’s a large park with multiple sections that all focus mainly on mountain biking. Most of the hills and lakes are remnants of when it used to be a mining site. The mining companies abandoned the area over 30 years ago and the land has been a state recreation area since 1993. Here’s Leah in front of a lake on the only tiny little hike we did.
Since the park is dedicated to mountain biking, we were really only there to get a stamp in our Minnesota State Parks passport book. We didn’t find the stamp in the main parking lot area but we did find a kids loop.
We headed back into town to see if the stamp was at the park office. Luckily it was and we were able to check off another stamp. We hit the road again, driving to Grand Rapids to stop for lunch. Leah found an organic cafe in Grand Rapids (beats Subway or Jimmy Johns) where we grabbed some paninis. Unfortunately, we couldn’t visit the Forest History Center (one of the Minnesota Historical Society sites that we’ve been wanting to go to) because it was closed due to COVID-19.
We headed on to Schoolcraft State Park, a cute little park along the Mississippi River. There were only about 2 miles of hiking trails total and we covered them all. I loved the smell of hot pine as we walked through the old growth forest. We found the hiking club password and made sure to get the passport book stamp there as well. There were a couple watercraft campsites along the river that looked pretty cool. There would definitely be more to explore at Schoolcraft State Park if we had a canoe or kayak to take out on the Mighty Mississippi.
Next we headed to Scenic State Park, the place where we would be camping for the next two nights. We got the stamp on the way in, found our campsite, and set up our tent. Here’s Leah posing with our brand new picnic table covering (thanks to Leah’s mom, Allison) with a bonus shot of our tent in the background.
We wanted to get in a hike before dinner so we set out on a loop past the fire tower. Unfortunately, the fire tower was closed to the public. We didn’t know if that was due to the pandemic or if that was how it always was. The hike started out fine, but as we got further into the forest the mosquitoes got really bad. We basically power-walked the rest of the hike. We kind of saw two backpack sites that were on a lake and maybe nice but it was too buggy to tell. The trail also wasn’t marked particularly well and there was a snowmobile trail that met up with and crisscrossed the hiking trail multiple times. We got slightly turned around a couple times but eventually finished the hike. On our way back to the campsite we stopped at the dock to sit and enjoy the water.
Once back at the campsite I made a fire and we drank some beers. We roasted veggie dogs for dinner and enjoyed the clear night sky. It started to get darker and we headed to the tent and fell asleep.
Day 2 – Scenic State Park
We woke up, had breakfast, and then set off on the hiking club trail at Scenic State Park. The first section we did was a loop on the forested side of the park and it was again very buggy. We had to power-walk that section as well. Then we crossed over the park road and started hiking on what ended up being the best trail in the park—the Chase Point Trail. It followed the ridge of a glacial esker and had beautiful views of the lakes on both sides.
Another bonus of this trail was that there were basically no bugs. Here’s another photo, this one of Leah walking through a sea of tall red pines.
Eventually we made it out to the point (and we also found the hiking club password along the way). Here’s a selfie of us from the end of the trail.
Next we found a picnic table back in the parking area and had lunch. Then we decided that we should hike an out-and-back trail that passed by the watercraft sites. It was pretty much the only section of trail that we hadn’t hiked in the park. It was, shockingly, very buggy and we power-walked again. We did find the watercraft sites along the trail but they were all occupied so I couldn’t do any snooping. From the trail they all looked very nice. Afterwards we headed back to the campsite and grabbed our camp chairs, snacks, and books and headed to the beach area. I was talking a big game about how I was going to go swimming in the lake. There seemed to always be children swimming in the beach area and I eventually chickened out and never got in the water. Leah took a couple micro naps and we both enjoyed the fresh afternoon air.
Then we headed back to the campsite, got a fire going, did some more reading, drank more beers, and had veggie dogs again for dinner. We turned in a little earlier as it had been a long day.
Day 3 – McCarthy Beach State Park, Iron Range Off-Highway Vehicle State Recreation Area, and Duluth
We woke up, ate breakfast, and packed up the campsite. Our next destination was McCarthy Beach State Park. We took a more “scenic” route to get there along a bunch of gravel country roads. Once we arrived at the park we got the stamp and then explored the campground. We found the main campground to feel very much like a resort. There appeared to be more long-term campers there and the lake next to the campground was full of boats and jet skis. We hiked a nice little trail along the lake and then crossed over to the other side of the park where there was a massive parking lot for a large beach and swimming area. It definitely had a summer vacation vibe, but as it was a Monday morning (and also a pandemic) there weren’t very many people out and about. Here’s a photo of the swimming area with a big floating dock thing with slides out in the lake.
Next we drove to a trail parking lot and had lunch. Then we headed out on the Pickerel Lake Trail and Big Hole Trail Loop (both making up the hiking club trail). The trails were beautiful and fairly quiet. Here’s Leah looking out over Pickerel Lake.
We did another loop trail out along some ridges that were covered with red and white pines and thick forest vegetation. These trails become cross-country skiing trails in the winter and we both agreed that they would be very pretty to ski on. There were also a lot of cool mushrooms along the hike. Here’s my favorite mushroom photo that I took.
We finished the hike and headed off to our next destination—Iron Range Off-Highway Vehicle State Recreation Area. The name is a mouthful, and there didn’t seem to be any hiking to do there, but I wanted to get the stamp. It was also barely out of the way on our drive to Duluth. When we arrived at Iron Range Off-Highway Vehicle State Recreation Area there was a truck just leaving and the man driving the truck kind of gestured to us. Then he turned his car around, parked behind us, and proceeded to ask us if he could help.
We finally realized that he was a DNR employee. He was staffing the state recreation area and was just about to leave for the day. His name was Carl and he told us that normally he leads tours of the Soudan Underground Mine but since it’s closed due to COVID-19 he was reassigned to this state recreation area. We chatted for a little bit and I eventually admitted that we were there to get the stamp (shocking, considering my Corolla clearly wasn’t hiding an “off-highway vehicle”). He very kindly went back into the park office to give us the stamp. Lucky for us we just barely caught Carl in time or else we wouldn’t have gotten the stamp.
Next we continued on to Duluth so we could get Fitger’s wild rice burgers for dinner. Also, the hotel at Fitger’s happened to be the place where we proposed to each other so there was a really cute tie in with it being our originally scheduled wedding weekend and all. We sat outside at Fitger’s and enjoyed our delicious burgers—a great meal to end the trip. I also talked us both into going to the Portland Malt Shop next door to get a malt. At least we only got one and shared it between the two of us. We ate the malt while looking out over Lake Superior. We both felt uncomfortably full (though obviously worth it) as we walked back to the car and drove back home. What a wonderful weekend.
Brian's Adventures 