Spending Mother's Day on the Trail

HIKE DETAILS
Date: May 13, 2018
Location: Banning State Park - Sandstone, MN
Length: 5.5 Miles
Difficulty: Easy - Difficult Depending on the Trail
Cumulative Hiking Club Miles: NA

I haven't been making much progress on my Hiking Club miles in an attempt to get my Mom caught up to me (I think there are only 4 Parks left that I have completed that she hasn't before we are on to new parks). Banning has been one of my favorite State Parks to date and since we also had my niece along this day decided there was no better place to bring a 10 year old - waterfalls, Old buildings - plenty of things to do. 

The goal was to hike the Hiking Club trail and also take the hike out to Wolf Creek Falls. The hike out to the waterfall is more on the difficult side but it would be a bummer to be in this park and not make the trek.

After the winter we had this year everyone couldn't have been more excited to spend the day outside. We enjoyed the hike, looking at all of the rock formations imagining what kind of animals live in the small caves they create. Carlie and I did a little rock climbing, at one point getting to the top where we were greeted with this explosion of fur - it was everywhere - some kind of kill site (my guess - wolf vs. deer). We made it to the waterfall - the trail out there can be difficult and hard to navigate in some spots - I am proud of my mom who wanted to quit but instead decided to trust me and made it all the way out there. On the way back towards the car we stopped by all the old quarry buildings - learning along the way.

​It was a great day to be outside!!!