Potholes Trail

After taking the train ride on Wednesday, we decided that Thursday would be our rest day. We had been on the road for 7 full days and we were exhausted. I don't remember much about that day at all. I think it was filled with reading, blogging (me), video games (Matt and Elijah), and some board games (the three of us together, followed by dinner in front of the TV.

On Friday we headed to Interstate Park to do the pothole trail (yes, you read that right 😂). Our plan was to do the pothole trail in Wisconsin, then drive across the state line into Minnesota and see it's twin interstate park there. The difference being that the Minnesota side had more and bigger potholes. 

From the website: "The western terminus of the 1,200-mile National Scenic Ice Age Trail and the most geologically unique trail in the park. A short hike to scenic views of the Dalles of the St. Croix River gorge. Walk atop Old Man of the Dalles rock formation past world-famous potholes formed by glacial meltwaters. Gravel surfaced; stone stairs; uneven terrain; observation deck and bench."

However, it had rained the night before and the mosquitos were out for blood! It was a cooler, damp morning, which made it nice for the hike, but the mosquitos would not let up. They were biting through the repellent and through our clothes. We quickly walked the trail and took some pictures and then headed out. There was a waterfall we wanted to see there too, but decide to skip it.

From there we headed to St. Croix Falls. We should have been able to walk down 156 steps to get straight to the Cascade Falls, but they were closed for repairs. From their website: There are a few trails that lead off from here, if that's something you're interested in, but one of the main appeals of this amazing little spot is how easy it is - no hiking required. (they lie😂)You can go off and scramble up Eagle Bluff to get sweeping views of the St. Croix National Scenic Waterway, but you can also take it easy so that the only work you're doing that day is the set of stairs that leads you down into the glen and to Cascade Falls.

We had to do another hike and it was quite intense and time consuming. We were exhausted by the time we got to the falls, the mosquitos and other flying bugs were no better here than they had been at the potholes trail, plus the day was getting warm. Other people stopped us and asked us if we knew a better way to get back up to the road without having to rehike the whole trail back. Of course we didn't, but Matt walked up the side of a steep hill where an overpass was and found the road. This made Elijah very nervous, afraid we were going to get hit by a car or get in trouble for walking on the road, but it was SO much better than hiking the trail again (it was slippery and hard). We finally found our way back to where we parked and headed out to get lunch and go home. We did visit a few more Little Free Libraries and drop some books. We also bought a board game to play in the afternoon. We spent the rest of the day just vegging.

With the size of some of these potholes I would have loved to have seen the ones in Minnesota!!

 

The entrance to the falls features a big statue of Chief Osceola and markers detailing the history of Cascade Falls and the town of Osceola.

 

I had no idea there were so many Monopoly games out there!!!

 

A cute little Free Library!