Hike With Me - Vadnais-Snail Lake Regional Park

Vadnais-Snail Lake Regional Park

Vadnais Heights, Minnesota

Trail Hiked: Vadnais Lake Trail, Sucker Lake Loop

Distance Hiked: 10.15 miles

Elevation Gain: 282 ft. 

Duration: 3h 26m

This hike is not remarkable from a statistical or difficulty standpoint. That’s not why I’ve hiked in this park more times than any other, by a considerable margin. But it seemed appropriate for a birthday hike this year, and I won’t say what number birthday it was, but I’m writing this in blog form and I’m not on social media, so… I was born in a year with a 1 in front, that’s all you need to know.

The best part of this park is the narrow causeway between the lakes, and it’s not even close. I’ve been on that strip for sunrises and sunsets, spring and fall migration, standing on leaves and ice, smiling brightly and shedding tears. I’ve been there alone and with a partner, on a first date and a last, reconciliation and devastation. I’ve left enough emotional ink on this trail to compose my own symphony. 

It was much better to have a happy memory there than avoid it for remembering a bad breakup or when some family I didn’t even know decided on my worth as a person because I had the nerve to be birdwatching instead of yakking at top volume with strangers 

During the summer, one can park in the middle of the lake, and loon spottings are as common as the gavia immer itself. The winter still provides access between Vadnais and Sucker Lakes respectively. 

The other side of Vadnais is… fine. Mostly wooded, fewer scenic views, doesn’t loop back around, so that makes it an odd 3/4 out-and-back. 

Sucker Lake is… fine. After crossing the county road and railroad tracks, it’s at least a loop, but there isn’t much to see. There is a little strip north of the lake where swans are regular denizens, so unless you’re Jess Mariano, that’s a nice feature.

I hit all those spots for the camera, plus getting some extra miles in to compensate for not traveling far and doing an easy trail. Even picking this trail despite it being a gorgeous weather Saturday was a big deal for me, given that summer weekends mean I’m either getting out early or avoiding anywhere popular as much as possible. This day worked exactly how I needed it to, and was a comforting contrast to the unfortunate events of a Discord phone call a year prior. 

This is a place I go back to when I want to catch the best of spring migration. Before the leaves are back on the trees, after the yellow-rumped warblers are the only new ones for a while, hanging out by the small section where the causeway banks left is a fantastic spot, especially just as the sun is coming up and people haven't ruined it with their bluetooth speakers or obnoxiously loud conversations yet. The sunrises over this lake are phenomenal.

This is a great place to get Northwoods vibes without a three-hour drive, as despite its proximity to the 694, the noise pollution doesn't infect the atmosphere much.

Hike With Me - Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory

Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory

Duluth, Minnesota

Trail Hiked: Hawk Ridge

Distance Hiked: 4.31 miles

Elevation Gain: 272 ft. 

Duration: 1h 34m

This was not my intended destination for this hike. 

Wait, I don’t have those, I’ll rephrase.

I settled for Hawk Ridge because I’d wanted to head north to get some miles on the SHT with fall colors prevalent and summer nuisances, not so much. But, one nuisance that plagues this area from Memorial Day to Labor Day was having a revival tour. Damn. I hadn’t even seen that pop up on my Ticketmaster. I felt left out. 

But also, when the 61 was a standstill well short Two Harbors, I joined several others turning around in the median, now considerably less motivated despite my major milestone goal mere single digits from being achieved, and I wanted to do it somewhere special to me. 

Instead, I settled for Hawk Ridge. Plenty colorful, decent enough trail, and all the road dust you could ever hope to need an inhaler for. 

I feel like I’m giving the place an undeserved bad rap. It’s not wilderness with a vague throughway like Brewer, rather well developed with some great views of Duluth and Gitchee Gumee. It just wasn’t what I wanted that day, so I sleepwalked through it like a New Yorker finally going to the Empire State Building for the first time. “It’s great and all, but I’ve seen it a hundred times.”

All the same, I still hit 2000 miles for the year, and 41 days earlier than last. 

It’s hard to go wrong with a park in Duluth, don’t let my malaise convince you otherwise. Sometimes autists gonna autist, it just wasn’t what I wanted for such a milestone.

That said, I couldn’t ask for better fall colors on my camera. We in Minnesota only get them for about 9.87 seconds, so it’s good to appreciate the fleeting moments before they become soggy slippy dippy hazards compiled on hiking boot bottoms like they want to live vicariously through you to become a spontaneous hockey player.

Hey, it’s Minnesota, even the leaves are stereotypes sometimes.

Look, trying to pop the readers with silly hyperbole aside, I’ll say this: it would’ve been really easy to be bitter. Not just this day but the year and change preceding it, and I don’t think people would blame me if I had been. I still have moments, but they’re just as fleeting as the ennui for Hawk Ridge on this hike; when years prior, people would’ve been sick of dealing with its backwash. 

I hit 2000 miles 41 days earlier than last year as I said, but that’s just as much a hiking goal as it was personal validation for the work I’d done in therapy and pushing myself to be better… not just as a hiker, but as a person who no longer gets bogged down in sick cycle carousels and lingering resentment. 

I’m a year older and I’m not slowing down. I don’t need bitterness as fuel when radiant enthusiasm is a default. 

Only one more Proclaimers queue to go for my yearly goal!* 

(From that point, I’m significantly closer as of this writing.)

Hike With Me - St. Croix Crossing Trail Loop

 

St. Croix Crossing Trail Loop

Stillwater, Minnesota/Houlton, Wisconsin

Trail Hiked: St. Croix Crossing Loop Trail

Distance Hiked: 6.99 miles

Elevation Gain: 502 ft. 

Duration: 2h 10m

Despite my usual need to complete new trails for verified complete badges, and even with how insanely crowded this trail usually is, it was my 400th hike for 2026 and I just felt like filming something I hadn't before. 

Also, as no doubt the weather will show, anything else was not particularly ideal for the circumstances. 

I've written about this hike before. Hell, I used it for my Wisconsin portion of the Great Wander of 2026, although that decision was made out of far more distress than this one. Sometimes, something old and familiar with confidently assured miles and a decent level of elevation gain is all one needs, and though 

Stillwater is a beautiful town of old industry that has adapted to the insatiable need for repurposing and consumerism, and I'm not saying that's entirely a bad thing. Clearly it's working. Drive down up the 95 on any day between Memorial Day and Labor Day... if you can... and the parking lots will be almost as full as the crosswalks where folx feel the need to take selfies regardless of the light status. The hike itself is no flat old railway bed (see the nearby Browns Creek State Trail for that itch to scratch), but it's also not so difficult that entire hoards of families on a day with temperatures without any minus qualifiers to toddle along while being completely oblivious. For, in a tradition I imagine is even older than the town itself, gaggles of tourists can't help themselves but walk entirely side-by-side on a busy trail and somehow get offended if anyone else dares to not completely avoid their special bubble... even on a suspension bridge where one side is traffic and the other side is a funny little droppy drop to the river below. 

Hard to imagine why it is that I don't like finding crowded areas at the peak of the nine and a half minutes of perfect weather we get in Minnesota, isn't it? 

My utter disdain for trail tourists (and tourists in general for the most part) aside, on a good day this trail is scenic and picturesque, even if it takes five solid minutes to get one unobstructed. The lift bridge is iconic, regardless of its timely capacity, and the views are spectacular when you can get them. The lift bridge crossing is significantly better than the suspension bridge, mostly because the former isn't parallel to a busy highway with distorting noise pollution at the best of times. Conveniently though, the suspension bridge carves out several places off the trail to snap some of those elevated photographs, and sometimes the trail tourists even manage to find them instead of getting huffy because you dared to go around them while they were taking their 38th selfie in a row while holding up traffic both ways. How dare you, hypothetical person not engaging in this behavior. The 38th selfie was the bestofies, don't you know anything?!

The hike itself? It's fine. Paved, but fine. 

Hike With Me - Beaver Island Trail

 

Beaver Island Trail

St. Cloud, Minnesota

Trail Hiked: 

Distance Hiked: 12.11 miles

Elevation Gain: 358 ft.

Duration: 3h 58m

Look, not every hike is necessarily about maximizing elevation gain or finding spectacular vistas at the perfect time of day. Sometimes, it’s just “I want to get good distance without nuch in the way of resistance to get the numbers up.” This was one of those times. 

But also, having an Adventure Lab to do along the way certainly helps in terms of motivation and focus.

St. Cloud probably doesn’t crack my top 100 in terms of places I’m excited to go in Minnesota. I always feel like it’s a junction point on my way to more interesting places, and that’s no disrespect to anyone who lives there… Well, maybe some. CityNerd referred to a certain mindset as “self-identified rurality,” and when a city has 70 thousand people, no amount of Truck With Attitude, I’m an Outlaw Despite Having the Exact Same One as the Next Four Behind Me makes it rural.

Beaver Island Trail is… perfectly adequate. It’s not completely bereft of interesting scenery, like perhaps the Dairyland Trail, but it’s not one I’d revisit to take it in again specifically. Going under the bridge, the path goes through a neighborhood before turning into the university, and meeting one of the many dams along the Mississippi River. From there, it’s a great path for tree canopies, local parks, and plenty of road noise nearby. I’m glad it exists, but being serviceable is not much motivation to travel 90 minutes without the lure of Adventure Lab finds and adding another Verified Complete trail to my list. I’d be much happier with something like this if I stepped out of my apartment and jumped right on it, but if I’m already traveling this far, urban trails that weave through neighborhood sidewalks aren’t what I’d seek.

Conveniently, the trail was suitable for the practice of further learning how to use my GoPro on the fly. Regardless of how much of a technical fuddyduddy as it likely makes me seem, figuring out the little tricks of using that thing is far more suited for flat and relatively banal mileage than the slopes of Mt. Si (spoiler alert). Mostly what I learned from my GoPro 5 is that the 12 I decided to buy when the replacement batteries for the 5 didn’t work was infinitely better, so it wasn’t entirely a waste. 

I have no intention of making St. Cloud seem like a featureless wasteland, despite my mostly playful ribbing earlier. Not to worry, no one in St. Cloud has ever said an unkind word about the Twin Cities or anyone who lives there, so I apologize for this uncharacteristic diversion of my usual completely objective travelogue. It’s not like I dared to be annoyed by horseshit on the Fort Ridgely Hiking Club trail during a Polar Vortex and the deepest pit of the Sickness or anything. That would just be silly.

I got 12 miles out of it. There are worse ways to spend a Sunday. I’m from Northeast Ohio, I would know.

Hike With Me - Frontenac State Park

Frontenac State Park

Frontenac, Minnesota

Trail Hiked: Waconia Cliffs Trail, Sandstone Trail, Upper Bluffs Loop, 

Distance Hiked: 7.57 miles

Elevation Gain: 883 ft.

Duration: 2h 50m

Frontenac State Park is one of those places that I end up more often than intended. Not in a negative way necessarily, just that it's closer than the North Shore, less crowded than Barn Bluff, and good to get some elevation gain when I can't get out to a place with mountains; which, given that I live in Minnesota, is most of the time.

One particular thing I enjoy about (some of) these state parks is when I find a trail that I didn't know about, even after a dozen visits like Frontenac, and what a lovely time to discover them as when I'm coming back because "well, I've been there plenty of times, but never with my camera, so that's a new way to give these trails replay value." Doesn't always work (see future episode or previous entries for Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park), but this was a pleasant instance.

Typical traffic flow (if you can call it traffic most days) heads up the Hiking Club trail toward the bluffs. That is, unless they parked at the top and skipped the initial incline, but that's their prerogative. Most people I've seen are headed that way and end up on the bluffs trails, upper and lower. On other visits, I've taken the prairie loop on the front side, and there's also the oddly separate Rattlesnake area that's lovely... if you can find it on that road so remote it makes Lake Bronson State Park in the winter seem metropolitan. 

On this hike, I was headed the opposite way, intending to take the initial elevation gain up toward the campground, mostly to mix it up a little given the aforementioned frequent visits. But, at the point where I would've turned right to head up the grassy rise, I saw a small brown sign indicating a Waconia Cliffs trail. Not on AllTrails, and since that junction was usually where I turned toward the parking lot, I never noticed it before.

A wonderful world of hills and wildflowers awaited, followed by views of the same quality as the Hiking Club trail and other blufftop hotspots. At the vista point over the lakes below, another brown sign for the Sandstone Trail indicates another access point to these views, so I looped back to the initial junction and took that route. While easily the least maintained of the contiguous park trail, the name isn't false advertising. Journeying up the sandstone cliffs over which the vista peers, they aren't quite as towering as the climbing hotspots back in the other areas, but still rather nice all the same. I don't think I saw another person on either trail the entire time.

With those two completed (and submitted to AllTrails afterward as new routes, so expect to see them never,) I did a final loop around the more common areas. Still gotta get those miles and elevation gains up, after all. Those trails were predictably crowded on a beautiful August day, but at least I enjoyed solitude first.

Minnesota State Parks Revisited/Hike With Me - Beaver Creek Valley State Park

 

Beaver Creek Valley State Park

Caledonia, Minnesota

Trail Hiked: Beaver Creek Valley, Hole-in-Rock, West Rim, Short Loop, Campground

Distance Hiked: 7.09 miles

Elevation Gain: 814 ft.

Duration: 2h 45m

Beaver Creek Valley State Park (no matter how many times I accidentally write Beaver Valley Creek State Park)  is one of those places I've been intending to revisit so long that it was among the first I intended to write about when I started the Revisited series over a year ago. Somehow I always ended up going to Whitewater or Frontenac instead. 

I cannot emphasize how far out of the way this park is, especially coming from the metro. But whereas a place like Whitewater feels remote despite being 8 miles from St. Charles (not exactly a thriving metropolis but not desolate either), Beaver Creek Valley is so remote that signal disappears entirely before even entering the place. What's the nearest town of note? Houston? It's a three hour sojourn to the middle of the middle of nowhere, and I'd always lose my resolve before I made it. It's not like the North Shore where I've intended to continue on the SHT but end up revisiting sites closer to Duluth instead. Beaver Creek Valley is much more all or nothing, and despite how highly I ranked it, it took nearly two years before I finally did it again. 

Hey, this time the bridge is open so I didn't have to go down and back up! And I'm pretty sure the Hiking Club password wasn't in that spot the first time (maybe I missed it, or maybe it was in the closed section? I don't know, it was cold that day.) But holy hell, what a contrasting experience between the Hiking Club speedrun January traverse and this one in late summer.

The wildflowers are unbelievably plentiful in thr flat half of the trail, to the point that I wonder if they're more prevalent there than almost any orher park I've revisited in the months where people can breathe outdoors. But, so are the bugs. Goodness gracious, the bugs. It was only the third time since obtaining a head net that they bullied me into wearing one. The rainy, overcast conditions probably didn't help. Much like the winter hike though, I barely saw anyone there (those with camping spots notwithstanding) so that remained consistent,

The bluff portion of the hike was not nearly the difficult trek it was the first time, as I've hiked a lot more steep and challenging inclines since then. The lush greens made the views less vast and scenic, but were beautiful still in their own right. And that last little portion still felt like the Bridge of Khazad-Dum, but this time I remembered to download it in advance, because as ere stated, the signal at this park is mostly non-existent.

I don't think this park has much replay value for me, given the distance to get there, but also, there isn't much to hike beyond the Hiking Club trail, and if I'm going to do something I've already done, I'll stick to closer trails of comparable difficulty. But it is absolutely worth the trip at least once.

Hike With Me - Interstate State Park

Interstate State Park

Taylor's Falls, Minnesota/St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin

Trail Hiked: Interstate State Park Loop, Walter F. Mondale River Trail and Railroad Trail Loop, Lake of the Dalles Trail, Silverbrook Trail, Eagle Peak Trail

Distance Hiked: 9.94 miles

Elevation Gain: 906 ft. 

Duration: 3h 30m

Minnesota State Parks now have these tank-like chairs that allow folx with disabilities to traverse the often-rough terrain of their trails. I was fortunate to be joined by a very dear friend of mine for this exact purpose, and the delight it brought me to be able to hike with them is beyond description. Though the kindly gentleman up front seemed rather confused by the request, it ended up being a success. 

I'm not going to stop writing about hikes, goodness where would I be without that motivation to compose 500 words about each step of a wander? But, as hiking YouTube veers away from what I liked about it (like so many things I've enjoyed over the years), I'm taking the advice a creator once gave me about an entirely different media: "Find whatever it is you wish you were seeing and aren't, then make that." 

Now, does that mean channels doing what I am don't exist? Of course not, I'm not that naive. However, channels I used to binge, ones that talked about hikers, hiking culture, and adventures, or even hiking-related mysteries, they seem to have become over-produced, clickbaity, edited in a way that annoys me (and possibly only me, I'm willing to accept that), or they're entirely focused on gear. The latter of which, I'm not even saying is invalid or not necessary, I just can't find the energy to give even half of a shit to listen to someone talking about how cutting a toothbrush in half saves contributing weight. 

And, perhaps most importantly, I refuse to pretend I don't notice the voice inflection changing right before they start trying to sell me whichever possibly relevant product they're hawking this week. For the record, I do not begrudge the creators for doing this. I respect the game, but it sure does break my immersion into the story, location, or adventure. 

I'm new to a GoPro, figuring it out as I use it. The editing is minimalist, not because I can't edit video, but because I don't want it to be flashy or fancy or (again, may only be me that's annoyed by it) over-produced, speeding up with royalty-free music and missing the experience itself. 

That's what I'm going for. I want to share my experience as it happened, as much as time, space, and battery power allow. My unfamiliarity with GoPro was prevalent in this particular hike, as I'd unscrewed the camera from the frame to retrieve the SD card the previous evening, but when I put it back in the frame, I forgot to re-fasten it appropriately. I also had no idea the battery would drain so fast, so on my first attempt filming, it crapped out about halfway through a relatively short excursion. I'm quite proud of how this came out, especially with my camera only staying on my shoulder strap by sheer balance of will and hope. 

And, hey! A new excuse to return to places I've already hiked without getting bored! Bonus! 

The Great Wander of 2026 - Stats and Rankings

 Miles - 154.9

Elevation Gain - 11350

States - 17

Mountains - 7

Miles hiked in each state

PA - 30.2

ME - 19.4

WI - 17.9

VT - 16.6

MD - 15.8

MN - 13.8

RI - 5.8

NY - 5.6

CT - 5.3

OH - 4.8

VA - 4.8

MA - 4.4

NH - 3.0

IN - 2.2

IA - 1.8

MI - 1.8

WV - 1.7

Elevation gain per state

VT - 3763

PA - 1616

WI - 1559

MD - 1214

ME - 890

MN - 522

NH - 407

IA - 348

NY - 277

RI - 236

VA - 233

OH - 72

WV - 69

CT - 62

IN - 59

MA - 49

MI - 43

Verified completed trails

Annapolis Rock via Appalachian Trail - MD

Appalachian Trail: Boiling Springs to White Rocks - PA

Bicentennial, Hickory, and Birch Loop - WI

Big Rivers Regional Trail - MN

Burlington Bike Path - VT

Burnt Mountain via Westline Trail - NH

Burrows Trail - VT

Camel’s Hump via Forest City, Long, and Burrows Trails - VT

Confederate Flank Trail - VA

Cornfield Trail - MD

Crown Point Trail - NY

Fish Farm Mounds State Preserve - IA

Forest City Trail - VT

Fort Adams Bay Walk - RI

Fort Preble and Spring Point - ME

Fort Williams Park Loop - ME

Green Point via Quoddy Head Light - ME

Inland Trail - ME

Kent’s Ledge Trail - VT

Loon Lake Nature Preserve Trail - IN

Marshall Point Lighthouse Nature Trail - ME

Methuen Rail Trail from Hampshire Road - MA

Middlesex Township Park Trail - PA

Oak Trail to Hickory Trail to Bicentennial Trail Loop - WI

Owls Head Lighthouse - ME

Plym Park to Riverfront Park via River Valley Trail - MI

Quoddy Coast Guard Trail - ME

Snavely Ford Antietam National Battlefield Trail - MD

Stone Bridges Trail - CT

Third Winchester Battlefield Park - Red Bud Run Trail - VA

Two Lights State Park Loop - ME

Wainwright Recreation and Greenbelt Walkway - ME

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse Trail - ME

States ranked

#1 - Vermont

#2 - Maine

#3 - Pennsylvania

#4 - Maryland

#5 - Minnesota

#6 - Wisconsin

#7 - New York

#8 - Virginia

#9 - New Hampshire

#10 - Rhode Island

#11 - Connecticut

#12 - Massachusetts

#13 - Ohio

#14 - Indiana

#15 - Michigan

#16 - West Virginia

#17 - Iowa

Mountains/Bluffs

Camel’s Hump - 2536 ft. elev. gain - VT

Hixon Woods Bluff - 1152 ft. elev. gain - WI

Kent’s Ledge - 1040 ft. elev. gain - VT

Annapolis Rock - 837 ft. elev. gain - MD

Center Point Knob - 771 ft. elev. gain - PA

Burnt Mountain - 356 ft. elev. gain - NH

Fish Farm Mounds State Preserve - 348 ft. elev. gain - IA