Hey folks, it’s that time of the year where Minnesotans always have to have mosquito repellant with you and it takes a harsh reminder to jolt you into that reality. Our hike yesterday was just that jolt, a perfect setting, a great hike, and the only thing that wasn’t wonderful was the damn mosquitos. Lesson learned. We'll put the bug juice in the backpack from now on!
When talking about favorite places to hike for #travelnear, a neighbor reminded me of this wonderful day trip, Banning State Park near Sandstone, Minnesota. We’d been there once when our kids went to the nearby Audubon Center of the North Woods camp. (Great camp that we highly recommend BTW.) The park has a unique blend of rich history, beautiful scenery, and the wild Kettle River, one of the few Minnesota rivers designated as a “whitewater river” by the DNR.
Banning State Park straddles 10 miles of the Kettle River, which has carved out dramatic sandstone rock formations and potholes in the landscape. If you are an experienced kayaker who’s up for a challenge, you likely know of this river. The rapids in the park range in difficulty from Class II to IV and with names like Hell’s Gate and Dragon’s Tooth, this river means business.
The park has a self-guided interpretive trail, the Quarry Loop Trail, which takes you through the ruins of the abandoned sandstone quarry. The quarrying of Hinckley sandstone began in 1892 and supplied the reddish sandstone to buildings such as the Minneapolis City Hall building and other structures in St. Paul and Minneapolis. You can see the ruins of the gunpowder storage building, the quarry powerhouse, and the rock crusher building, as well as the impressive piles of enormous stone slabs. The quarry employed up to 500 people in its heyday.
The forest in Banning is a mixture of birch, aspen and pines and is an example of the resiliency of nature, as this area was logged and stripped bare at the turn of the century. Wildflowers, specifically trillium, was plentiful on the forest floor making for a lovely setting. There are 17 miles of hiking trails. We parked at the picnic area and covered the Quarry Trail, the High Bluff Trail, and Wolf Creek Trail—all south of the picnic area and totaled about 5.5 miles. Kevin and I would have been game for exploring the northern trails, but with kids that were a bit tired of battling mosquitos and we didn’t push it. Some days we’re just happy they get out of bed.
The trail leading to the Wolf Creek Falls navigates through and over giant boulders of the sandstone. The main attraction is a perfectly lovely shelf waterfall with a wonderfully mossy creek leading to it. If the mosquitos will let you, stay a moment to absorb the serenity and beauty of this place.
The Hell’s Gate Trail spur is a worthwhile short trek. We were in awe of the massive stone walls and enjoyed the water crossing challenge to get to the large rock formation island in the river.
Bottom line: We highly recommend a visit to this park, it’s an interesting place with the ruins, the beautiful wildflowers, dramatic sandstone formations, and the wild Kettle River. It makes for a great day trip from the Twin Cities.
Tips:
Check out traffic, as I-35 has some road construction that added 30 minutes to our trip north.
Bring insect repellant and if you keep moving, you will be fine.