William O'Brien State Park and the 25 Mile Patch

Hiking Club Trail #9

​HIKE DETAILS
Date: October 22, 2017
Location: Marine on St. Croix, MN
Length: 6.0 Miles (Hiking Club Trail)
Difficulty: Intermediate: (HCT) Steep hills, Wide Grassy Trails
Cumulative Hiking Club Miles: 26.2 of 197

We left knowing we would receive our first patch - 25 miles, I don't know if that is what made this hike so good or if it was the fact that it was a nice day towards the end of October and there was still a little color left out there.

But this hike was great! Somedays you just start out feeling better and that is the way you want to approach a planned 6 mile hike. 6 miles is not the furthest I've hiked by any means but it is still a pretty good distance. This time I left my mom at home (she said 6 miles was too much) - brought a friend and 2 of my dogs. 

Up until this point I have avoided bringing Winston along because he is little and old (13 Years) and I wasn't sure how well he'd do. But this time he begged so much when we were leaving that I gave in figuring if he got tired he would fit in my backpack. He did great and walked the whole 6 miles with ease... maybe I should bring him along more often.

The path is mostly wide and well packed it leads from the visitor center parking lot away from the river, out under a railroad bridge, into the woods, into the prairie to the highest point in the park, into the wetlands where you see a lot of beaver dens, then back to the prairie and into the parking lot. This trail has something for everybody. The trail does get pretty hilly through the prairie sections and some of them are quite steep.

We stopped in at the Ranger station to get our patches - Penny got one too - after all she is hiking all the miles as well! I am pretty proud of this accomplishment - now onto 50!

I love William O'Brien I highly recommend checking it out if you are in the area!

NOTE: Both dogs must have gotten into a deer ticks nest - luckily Winston is light colored cause they were easy to see (I must have found 9 ticks between the 2 of them - GROSS!) We told the ranger when we went in to get our patches and she said the ticks have a resurgence in the fall...

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