Nerstrand Big Woods State Park - Camping

The non-reservable walk-in site at Big Woods is quite close to the “main” road. It has turned to gravel by the time you get to the turn in for the walk-in and group sites. But that doesn’t seem to slow people down. A lot of trucks use the route. I’m not sure why. Even with that, the site is still quiet peaceful. And the site itself is quite large and has a good distance between it and W-I #2. I liked that! There isn’t much space between W-I #2 and #3 so those worked well in the past when we were there with Nancy and she had #2 and we had #3. W-I #4 is, by the ranger’s report, the favorite. But it’s pretty close to #3 as well as the hiking trail. We’ll have to try it out one of these times. But #1 was actually great… and we didn’t have to pay that stupid $8.50 reservation fee. Don’t get me started on that one!

Lorrie and I got up early to go into Northfield so I could watch part of the the Tour de France stage around 8am. The connection didn’t work so I didn’t get to watch it live. Disappointing! We also went into Nerstrand to get some gas, ice, and water. While we were driving in, we saw a cyclist near the campground. Strange… the gravel and all. As we got closer to the main intersection, I saw a familiar yellow sign. The Red Ribbon Ride, which I had ridden last year, was in town. The rest stop is near the little gas station in town and my theory is that the rider we saw missed a turn. We did a quick scan to see if there was anyone we knew. There wasn’t. So off we went again. Made me realize that I need to do another ride this year. Even if it’s not as long as the ones I’ve done in the past.

Spent the rest of the day reading and relaxing… and stoking the fire. Packed up and headed home around 4pm, which is check out time. We were likely the last people leaving as it seemed pretty cleared out.

I’m starting to wish the State Parks Passport program was still in effect. I’d never thought about it before. But it would be a fun goal to camp at each of the parks. We’ve definitely got a good start!

The Kingdom 6... heretofore known as Queendom 6... was awesome! It was great having so much space. Emma Blue even seemed to sleep better in it. Though the temperature was also warmer than when we've camped earlier this year. It was just nice not stepping on stuff everytime we needed to walk around. It feels a little strange having such a huge tent but we're car camping and we do plenty of time in tiny backpacking and 2-person tents. So this feels like a reward for all that scrunching. My lower back gets a little achy trying to dress in a half bend. Though, I found myself doing the half bend this weekend anyway because that's what I'm used to. Then I'd look up and realize I could stand up straight! Sweet!! More foot room at the end of our sleeping pads as well so we have room to put our bags and such. It didn't rain, so I can't say how it handles that. But it handled beautiful weather and sunshine just fine! (=

Nerstrand Big Woods State Park - Camping

Well, good thing there was a park ranger going through trying to keep things in order. The Mayo people were SO loud until about 12:30am. So we finally fell asleep. We joked that we would get up around 6am and take Emma Blue over toward their site and get her to bark that shrill bark of hers. Joke was on us! They were up around 5:30am being noisy again. SO weird! Then about 6:30am or 7am, it was quiet again. Back to sleep we went, until about 9am. I said, “They’re so quiet, I wonder if they’ve left!” and we had a good chuckle. Lorrie went outside and gave me the good news… they actually were gone. All of them! I was pretty happy!

We relaxed and hung around camp most of the morning. Did some reading and played with the dogs. After lunch we went for a “little hike.” During which we got a little lost and ended up going on a “long hike.” That was okay too. Just not what we’d expected. I still don’t know exactly where we were. But we made it back soon enough and Emma Blue was good and tired. More relaxing, then dinner was a chicken and rice before we did some more relaxing. Funny thing is that I spend most of that “relaxing” time collecting kindling and such to burn. So I don’t end up sitting much. We had a nice quiet night around the fire without loud medical students disruptions.

Nerstrand Big Woods State Park - Camping

Five nights sleeping in a bed is enough! We decided to go camping for the weekend. We still haven’t checked out Lorrie’s newest new tent so it’s time to break that one in. I got her the REI Kingdom “Queendom” 4 for her birthday and we took that one out. But then we decided since it’s only for car camping that we could splurge and go bigger with the Kingdom 6. The best thing about this bigger one is that I can stand straight up in it! I haven’t had that since I was a kid camping in a big canvas monster tent!

As we were trying to decide where to go, Nancy from Minnesota Outdoor Women sent an email to the group saying she was going to be camping at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park. We decided to try and get the Non-reservable walk-in site there so that Lorrie wouldn’t have to drive far after work. If that site wasn’t available, our backup plan was to head down to Rice Lake State Park. I drove out to Nerstrand on Friday morning and the walk-in site was available! Yay! Back home to pack. It’s weird camping so close to home! Lol

It was quiet when I was there in the morning. When we got there around 5pm, it was packed. And noisy! The group site across from us was taken by a large group of, from what we heard, Mayo medical students. They were SO loud! But it was evening so no big deal. Not exactly the noises we want to hear when we’re camping but at least they weren’t playing obnoxious music!

Nancy was already there. So she came over to visit briefly while we were putting up our tent. She’s quite short so she had some interesting comments to make about how tall the tent is.

The rest of the evening was spent having burgers around the fire and just relaxing. Nancy came over a little later with Sadie, her little Yorkie. I made Mocha Au Lait for us… my first time so I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. It was scrumptious, if I do say so myself! They Mayo people were still pretty noisy so Lorrie went to the office to ask what happens if they are noisy at 2am when the park office is closed. Apparently there’s a ranger that goes through the park throughout the night to help keep things in order. We shall see...

Nerstand Big Woods State Park - Day 3

Day 3. The rain seems to have gone. I got up and out first. The fire pit was still a little warm under the ash so I started gathering tiny pieces of kindling. Didn't take much to get it going again. We had a little bit of dry wood left so that helped get it going even more. The wet wood would lay on the grate drying and then when it caught fire, it could go in and burn proper. I made some eggs for breakfast and toasted a ciabatta role over the fire for some toast. Pretty good breakfast. I also reheated Lorrie's coffee from Northfield for her. Nancy strolled over with her oatmeal. Of course, the dogs had their food. The fire ended up being extremely hot so none of us could make ourselves move from it. We sat there for several hours chatting.

I am hiking part of the Superior Hiking Trail this summer and had hoped to do some major hiking this weekend. I know that rain is no good reason not to hike... and I have hiked in lots of rainstorms. But this weekend, for some reason, was more about resting. Which is definitely okay too. I am coming to the end of an academic year and am, understandably, exhausted. So I'm not going to chastise myself too much. How often do any of us just sit around stoking a fire and learning about each other. My answer is .... not often enough!

Lunch was an easy organic mac&cheese. That seems to be a staple nowadays when camping. Nancy had the same but added broccoli to hers. Though she dropped some and that's what Emma Blue got for lunch! lol

Eventually we had to get up and out. Which we did. Funny how well everything fits in the car on the way there and how I have to cram it all in to fit it for going home! lol Rain must have expanded everything! But we got it all in and headed out around 3pm. Nancy left about the same time.

We got home pretty quickly and got everything unpacked. Then the task of laundry and much needed showers. My parents came for a quick visit and then it was time to relax and watch a movie!

We camped a lot in April and at the start of May. Weather was never really great. Since then, the weather on weekends has been incredible. We didn't camp. We waited until the rainy forecast to get out there. One nice thing about that was how few people were out. And though going into town was, for us, like going home while camping, Nancy said she enjoyed it because she had never been there before. So that was a good way to see it. We would have enjoyed it more in a new place as well. Ah, but the drive home was awesome... 15 minutes and we're there! (=

Next time I should hike in the rain!

Nerstrand Big Woods State Park - Day 2

Well, the weather forecasts were right! It started raining very early in the morning. And hasn't stopped yet! We woke up around 7am when everyone needed to use the outhouse. Then back into the tent for more snuggling. The pups were SO good. They just stayed snuggled up in their blankets. We stayed in the tent until about noon when the rain was slightly less a downpour. I went over to Nancy's site and she was putting a tarp over her tent... a leak! Arrgh! I helped her with the tarp and that seemed to take care of it. Then we decided to head to Northfield for lunch and to get out of the rain for a little while. We also decided to stop at Menards for rugs and rope. It's funny to go home in the middle of camping. I'm not sure I've ever done that before! lol

We headed back to camp around 4pm when the rain was mainly a drizzle with spots of actual rain. We were under a lot of trees so that seemed to protect us in one way from the heaviest of the rain. But then after it had stopped raining, the leaves were still hanging on to water so we got dripped on a little longer.

Everyone else on that side of the park had left! The people in the other 2 walk-in sites and all 3 group sites were all empty when we returned. Ha! Wusses!

Lorrie and Nancy went into their respective tents. And I tried my hand at hanging a tarp that we could sit under if it started raining harder again. I've never done it and I'm not the greatest at "mechanical" type things. But I make up for my lack of knowledge with patience and creativity! It was a little low... but it worked! Lorrie and I had a place to sit while eating our hot soup... that we'd also gotten in town.

I decided I would try to start another fire even though a lot of the kindling would be wet and even some of the wood was wet. Ah well, we just kept lighting our little orange firestarters and throwing them in until the kindling was dry and then burned. It turned into a great fire that lasted several hours. Lorrie sat by the fire holding Tori all cuddled up in a blanket like a little baby. Very cute... and a little weird! (= Emma Blue laid nearby on her little pad. She's not fond of the popping fire sounds so she gets only as close as she needs to feel some warmth.

It's amazing what people will talk about around a fire. There is just no limit to the topics... our lives, politics, movies, animals, parents, and on and on. And sometimes it was just quiet. I like that too!

Eventually Lorrie got tired enough that it was time for bed. So she took the dogs in... they will go in as soon as a person does! Emma Blue would have been in bed at 8pm if she'd had choice! So Nancy and I sat out for awhile until I started blinking away sleep. Tonight is VERY dark! Especially compared to how bright it was last night. Lorrie said she felt a little nervous walking over to the outhouse but was glad Emma was there to protect her. I thought I would do fine with my flashlight and headed over on my own. I got to the little roadway and realized, "Wow! I is *really* dark out here! Honestly, I got a little freaked out. So I went back and got Emma Blue... and some laughing from the others... and she came with me. It is definitely less frightening with a protective dog nearby!

And then there was one. Nancy stayed out for awhile... I can hear the fire poking and see the light of the flames through the tent walls. (= No reading tonight... just sleep.

Nerstrand Big Woods State Park - Day 1

My first organized group outing for the Minnesota Outdoor Women group. Lorrie and I headed out after work. I have everything pretty well organized so we can just throw it in and go. But our brains seemed to not be working very well this afternoon after work and it took us a little while longer to make sure we had everything. I hadn't rolled up the sleeping pads last night and I hadn't organized the food as well as usual. The food, I think, is what threw us the most. And making sure we had enough warm stuff for the dogs. Tori just got her hair totally buzzed and she has recently gone blind from cataracts, which we just found out is because she is diabetic. So we wanted to make sure was very comfortable.

Nerstrand Big Woods State Park is so close by that we got there at a reasonable time. Nancy had already been there and set up. But she wasn't around when we pulled in. So we got started with Lorrie's new tent and getting the pups settled. After we'd gotten the tent laid out, Nancy walked over so we could meet and chat for a minute. So, the "group" was the 3 of us! (= It's a start, right? We got the tent up without much ado and settled in. It's really an awesome tent, I have to say! I got a fire started so we could make some dinner. Originally hamburgers... but decided "organic grass fed free range beef" hot dogs were easier.

The rest of the night was spent sitting around the fire chatting. Gotta love that for a Friday night! Neither Lorrie nor I generally have much energy on Fridays so this was perfect. And the moon was, if not totally full, very close to full and very bright. When we did finally get into the tent, I thought we'd left a light on on the picnic table or something. Nope, just the moon.

So far, I am very happy with these walk-in sites! Nancy had WI02 and we had WI03. There is a lot of room and underbrush between them. 02 and 03 are probably the closest to each other so were good in this situation. We couldn't see the tent or people in 01 from our site. Nancy said she could hear but couldn't see the people in 04. 01, 02, and 03 are reservable and 04 is non-reservable.

Rain forecasted tomorrow!