Camping in Wisconsin.......

This past weekend we went for our last camping trip of the year. We decided to go to Perrot State Park in Trempealeau WI. It is across the river from Winona MN. It is a beautiful state park. We were there from Saturday until Tuesday morning. It was pretty full when we got there on Saturday but cleared out a lot by Sunday night.

We did a lot of hiking. On Sunday morning we took the dogs for what we thought would be  a short walk. It turned out to be a lot longer and harder then we thought it would be. We went on the Brady's Bluff trail.

                                          It was worth the hike up to see the beautiful view.

                                                         This was the trail near the top

The dogs did really good on the way up the trail. On the way down we had to go down some rock steps and poor Otis got scared. He did not want anything to do with them. I had to pick him up and carry him down. Once we got past the stairs he was ready to go again.

I could tell the dogs were tired when we got back because they both went in the kennel. That never happens!

This picture is out of order....On Monday morning Rick went fishing with his brother Ryan who lives near the park. They had a lot of fun and got a bunch of bass.

After our hike on Sunday morning we got on the bikes and went for a ride on the Great River bike trail.

As we biked through the town of Trempealeau we came across this junk yard right in town. It was pretty funny how the cars were just lined up along the road. I could not believe that the town would allow it.....

After our bike ride we went to Rick's brothers house for supper. It was great to see them on a day other than a holiday.

It was time for another hike on Monday morning. I decided that we would leave the dogs behind this time.

             We decided to head up to the Perrot Ridge Trail and see Reeds Peak.

They were not kidding when they said it was difficult at times! It was a lot harder trail then we took on Sunday morning. I thought I was in pretty good shape until I got to the steep part. It kicked my butt!

But once again it was all worth it when we got to the top. The view again was beautiful. We would love to go back in a couple weeks when the leafs have turned.

Monday evening Rick did a little fishing as the sun was setting.

                                              Morgan is always on the hunt for squirrels

                            Otis on the other had just wants to lay down and soak up the sun

                                                        Otis has developed a lazy ear :)

                                                                              The sunset

Here is a couple a pictures of our campsite. We forgot to take them until we were almost packed up to go home on Tuesday morning. The site was very big, shady and pretty private.

We really liked the park and would love to go back to it. It is a nice area to be in


We have had a great year of camping trips this year. We managed to go on eight trips starting in April in Yankton South Dakota and ending this past weekend in Trempealeau Wisconsin. We went to four new Minnesota State parks, Myre Big Island, Lake Shetek, Forestville Mystery Cave and Camden State Park. We also went to one MN county park, Perch Lake County Park. And lastly we went camping at my sister's house in near Bemidji.

We have been very lucky to be able to go on all of these trips and to be able to enjoy ourselves on all of them.

I'm going to get sappy here so you can skip this part if you want....My favorite part of everyone of these trips is the time I get to spend with Rick. I can't express how much I love spending time with him discovering new places together and have adventures. I love that we can pretty much count on the fact that we are going to get lost at least once while hiking or biking. We are so lucky that we have found each other.....

So we have the camper all unpacked for the year. We have not winterised it yet. We still have a little hope that we will be able to get on more trip in. I am back working weekends until the end of October so we are thinking if Rick is slow at work we might be able to take off for three days during the week. If it does not happen then I guess we will have to start planning our trip to Vegas.....

Later Sharon

Camden State Park......

This past weekend Rick and I went to Camden State Park. It is 10 miles from Marshell MN. When I told people we were going there the wanted to know why in the world I would want to go to Marshell. Well the answer is the great state park. The park has over 15 miles of bike/hiking/horse trails. It also has a natural springs swimming pond, a lake for fishing, two campgrounds and a nice playgrounds for kids.

We spend most of Friday on our bikes. We had a ton of fun biking the trails. The went through the woods and out into the prairies. It was a great mix for biking and hiking. The only bad thing was a couple of the trails were closed and the park did not have them marked very good. We followed a narrow mountain bike trail down a huge, steep hill only to find out that it was closed at the bottom.  We had to push our bike back up the hill. It was not fun! We backtracked and then went to the next trail only to find out that it was closed too, again at the bottom of a hill. At least this hill was not so steep and the trail was wide  so we were able to bike back up it. Other than that the trails were great

                                           Rick on one of the trails on the prairie

We also walked/hiked a lot of the trails that you can't take your bikes on. There was lots of beautiful things to see along the trail.

                                                  The dogs got to join in the hiking fun too.

This is the natural springs swimming pond. You can't see it in the picture but they have a really nice sand beach on one side. On the other side is a diving dock.

Morgan loved the water. As soon as we got near the river she was trying to get in it. One time it dropped off really fast and she was surprised to find herself swimming instead of walking.

Here is a picture of our campsite. We were in site #41. It was a nice site but a little tight to get our camper in. We checked out the rest of the sites and picked out a couple longer ones for next time we go there.

We saw a few deer while biking. Rick managed to get a picture of this one as it ran away.

                                Rick, Morgan and Otis had the relaxing thing down.

All packed up and on our way home on Sunday morning. We would definitely go back to Camden State Park. We would love to go back when the leafs have turned. It would be really pretty. It is a nice quite park with lots to do.


Sharon