Saturday, April 17, 2010

George Crosby Manitou Hiking Club Trail



I know I'm a big nerd. After the race earlier today Noelle and I decided to head up the north shore and do some hiking. Being pretty close to achieving my first Hiking Club award (25 miles) I decided that we should head over to George H. Crosby-Manitou State Park to hike the 4.2 miles of Hiking Club Trail. I had been to the park before, back in October to hike the loop described in 50 Hikes in Minnesota. This time Noelle would be there with me to experience this rugged little gem of a park.

We drove up the north shore with a short stop in Two Harbors for lunch at Culver's. After that we moved up past beautiful scenery on another beautiful spring day. It looks like the aspens are starting to leaf out a bit, which is quite exciting. We got to the park at around 1 o'clock and headed up the Humpback Trail. The hiking wasn't too difficult and we made pretty good time. Soon we were at the elusive Hiking Club Password sign. From the sign, the trail paralleled the Manitou River and we were treated to the sights and sounds of a cascading waterfall.
We stopped to rest for a bit, and then headed back to the car.

Leaving the park, a rough gravel road meanders through the flood plain of the Baptism River and we were treated to views of beaver dams and some loons! When we made it back to pavement we decided to head over to Tettegouche State Park for the obligatory stop to check out Shovel Point. I rested on the rocky beach there while Noelle looked for agates. Another great day in northern Minnesota!

2 comments:

Still Wandering said...

Did you find any agates?! I can't wait to come back and visit you guys so we can explore together!

Eric, Noelle and Sierra Grunwald said...

We found a lot of little ones, but being in the state park we threw them into the lake.