Whitewater State Park

Whitewater State Park

—Altura, MN—

 The drive from Beaver Creek Valley State Park to Whitewater State Park was not very long and was very pretty.  The drive followed and cut through the bluffs.  It was hilly and curvy and pretty fun to travel through.  This is really just a super-cute part of the state.  When we got to Whitewater we quickly found the first set of coordinates right outside of the nature store.  It was already closed for the day and the park was pretty quiet.

By this time in the day Marcus was pretty antsy and was sick of being in the car.  He wanted to run and play!

When we entered coordinates for the next point it was across the street, and we saw a trail so we headed over.  The trail was full of steps – with a trail rating of "strenuous" – we hiked for a while and could not seem to get any closer... I was carrying Marcus, and he was getting heavy (this is why I don't have pictures of the hike!).  After hiking for a while, Luke and I saw a little path on the hillside that looked promising, but it also had some poison ivy, so it was up to me to explore.  Luke went back to the car to charge his GPS and look at the map to see if there was a better trail at the coordinates that followed the road along the bottom of the hill.  Marcus and I, still carrying Marcus, went onward... but pretty soon I stopped.  The trail was small—and kind of scary—and once again we were not getting any closer...
                                  I looked down the hill, and it looked like I could see a trail through the woods – it looked like that was where we were supposed to be.  Marcus and I went back down the trail we were on, the Dakota Trail, and went back out to the road.  The right trail was only about 150 feet down the road!

Now we were on the Meadow Trail – I like this name a bit more; with a rating of "easy" this seemed like the right place to be.

Marcus and I made our way to the trail, and after a short walk, we were already at the next location – Marcus found it quickly (he also tried to take the pins out and take it with us)...

We grabbed the information and continued our hike in the meadow.  

Marcus found a glow stick in the car and insisted on carrying it everywhere at the park.

We crossed over a really cute stream.  This was the middle branch of the Whitewater River.  The river and the bluffs are the focus of this state park.

"Picturesque limestone bluffs and deep ravines make Whitewater a very popular southeastern state park. The 2,700 acre park is an angler's paradise with brown, brook, and rainbow trout swimming in the spring-fed Whitewater River and Trout Run Creek..."
—Minnesota DNR website

Once we crossed the bridge we were in the middle of a beautiful meadow.  The wildflowers were blooming; the tall grass was blowing in the wind – if felt perfect.

It was not far until we found the final cache.  Marcus was excited to get his "bock bock" card.

Once we gathered our treasures (Marcus got a small piggy bank with 3 quarters in it), we headed back into the meadow to return to the car and reach Luke.  This was a fun cache, but I got a really good workout in carrying Marcus around!