2020 11 18 - State Park, Nerstrand Big Woods

We are between trips today and staying near southern MN so we decided to walk a park we haven't been to in years.

For a non-metro park, this place had a lot of cars in the parking lot. Unlike a lot of parks, this parks parking lot is within eyesight of the road.

We started out on the hiking club trail and right away noticed how muddy the trail was. I wear boots with deep tread that collect dirt even in the sand. Today those shoes began to look like snow shows they had so much mud sticking to them.

We kept walking until we came to a hill. We knew we could get down, gravity would take care of that. But then we would have to go up a hill somewhere. We decided to turn around. The picture above does not show it, but the trail is all mud.

Some of the above maps showed that there was a steep hill before the river, this one does not.

With our out and back we walked about an hour. Most all of it looking down and focusing on walking instead of enjoying the scenery and talking.

And after we got back I spent a while digging the dirt out of my shoes before getting into our van.

Not a park to walk when the trails are wet.