Monday, May 9, 2016

Koochiching State Forest: Tilson Bay Hiking Trail

Today Noelle, Sierra and I opted to stay close to home for our adventure. We made the short drive west on Highway 11 to hike the Tilson Bay Trail. I had hiked the trail shortly after arriving in town, but I thought I would head back to explore with my girls at a time when the flowers are starting to bloom and the leaves are starting to burst out on the trees.

We arrived at the parking lot, crossed the highway and checked out the fishing dock. We then headed up a flight of stairs to begin our hike.
There were some small trees with blossoms on them,
and wild strawberries blooming as well.
The trail climbs
to a nice overlook. There isn't a view of the lake, but a nice view of the surrounding forest.
The newly emerged aspen leaves gave the forest a nice, bright green glow. Occasionally, the trail traversed rock outcrops
and open areas where low-growing, shrubby bushes showed their flowers.
We found a geocache just off to the side of the trail and took a look inside.
It was filled with the usual trinkets and trash that one tends to find in those boxes.

After crossing a few wet areas on small bridges
and following some cairns over exposed rock,
we made our way down to County Road 137. The trail followed the road for a short distance, passing the "Little Free Library",
before heading back into the woods. Eventually a view opened up out to Tilson Bay.
We then made our way through an area that had recently been planted with pines.

The pines grew over the trail and tickled Sierra as she brushed up against them. We made our way back up to some rock outcroppings with scattered violets growing on them
before descending back to the highway and the car.

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