Minnesota Hiking Club #10 - William O'Brien State Park

 

Minnesota Hiking Club

#10 - William O'Brien State Park

Date Hiked: March 14th, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Wild River State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 4.17

We're leaving together, but still it's farewell. 

The last hike of the Minnesota Hiking Club Trail. #67 of 67 (sequence, not ranking, obviously). The 73rd stamp (I had to come back the next day to finish my book with St. Croix Islands, because the office was closed. Of course it was closed). 16th Hiking Club trail in a week. 

Apparently my limit is 15.5.

I say once again that nobody made me do this. Nobody challenged me to do the entire Hiking Club in a single winter. Nobody told me that I had to finish before March 21st. I did that on my own. 

And maybe we'll come back to Earth, who can tell?

Most of these hikes, I did in weather that had negative number temperatures, or at least the wind chill made it feel as such. I was not prepared for 70+ degrees, but conversely, that's why I chose to get it done on this day. No good weather goes unpunished in Minnesota, and while it was 72 degrees as I was hiking this trail, by the next morning it would be half that, and I know because I hiked 8 more miles without planning to at this very state park after getting the aforementioned final stamp. 

I guess there is no one to blame, we're leaving ground, will things ever be the same again?

The final mile count of 191.7, which didn't seem high on the surface, as in October of 2024 I hiked 175 miles. But all of these trails were pre-determined, passwords were needed, and temperatures plummeted (not this day, but mostly). This was an accomplishment, even if nobody else knew or cared, and even if I'd never write about it (Ha.) I did the Hiking Club, start to finish, in 82 days. December 22nd, 2024 to March 14th, 2025. Nobody could ever take that away from me. 

But, holy shit this place was crowded, and holy shit I was not used to hiking in the heat. That's different than hiking in the cold, and I paid for it exceptionally.

William O'Brien State Park, the best of the St. Croix line; its Hiking Club trail covers everything from forested walks to crossing railroad tracks. While I'd never downrate the trail itself for being muddy... I've said many times: it's MARCH in MINNESOTA, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?! ... But the wooded areas of the trail were so incredibly muddy that I had to tiptoe through something even more slippery than the tulips. Even still, my pants were covered in mud up past the shin. 

I turned too early for the rise, and wound up bushwhacking instead of turning back around. By the time I reached the summit of the park, I was wiping sweat out of my eyes and too weak to hold my trekking poles. 

It's the Final Countdown!

I still finished. Barely, but I finished. Overheated, dehydrated, exhausted, I finished it. No shortcuts, no excuses. Certified complete, Billy Bries could not stop me.