Greetings and salutations.
I am E.A. Moon, the Wanderloon, and a hiker. This is the beginning of my first travel series on this page, detailing my unusual journey through the Minnesota Hiking Club.
What makes it unusual? Not only were they all done in the winter, but a single winter season.
What made me want to do this journey when most people in Minnesota don't even want to leave the house? Well...
1. I found out about the Minnesota Hiking Club in December of 2024.
2. I am autistic and tend to get hyperfocused on things, especially if I can document them. Conversely, I also did the Passport Club simultaneously.
3. Speaking of hyperfocus and documentation, I kept track of my progress using a map of the state parks, and I would highlight them as I completed the visit. Highlighting the newest trees was the first thing I would do upon coming back home.
4. I wanted to.
5. Most of the writing about the state parks, and the Hiking Club specifically, appears to be done over the summer (and reasonably so!) and multiple years. I am not taking anything away from them. But, the perspective of seeing and hiking these parks in the winter is different.
6. I did all 67 hiking trails in the span of 82 days. I think that's neat and I'm proud of it.
7. Do I need a 7th reason? Probably not, but now this list has 7 reasons.
8. Along the journey, I ranked all 67 parks. Mostly on the Hiking Club trail specifically, but also my experience of the park in the process of completing the Hiking Club trail. These rankings are entirely subjective, biased, and determined by nothing but my own personal experience of the hike at that particular time. As previously described, these were done in the winter as well, so these rankings bear nothing on what these parks and trails are like in the summer.
I am grateful every single one of these trails and parks exist. Nothing about my ranking should discourage you from visiting, whether you're participating in the Hiking Club/Passport Club or not. Based merely on the concept of a ranking system, one of them had to be the lowest, but that is not an insult. The rankings are based on my perception, what I was going through at the time, and how the hike itself went.
The Wanderloon Ranking System is based on 6 (mostly) subjective factors that I made up, each of them on a scale of 1-5, then averaging them out. These factors are:
-Trail Quality: on that day
-Views and Scenery: on that day, in the winter, what I wanted to see, and what I like
-Elevation Gain: hills, slopes, and climbs of all kinds
-Interesting Information: placards, displays, descriptions, cool stuff to learn about
-Vibe: cannot emphasize enough that these are subjective, personal rankings and based only on my experience
-Easy to Find: the park itself, Hiking Club trail
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