You are invited to a quick weekend hang 90 minutes south of the Twin Cities in the beautiful Mississippi River Valley. This event is also posed on the Midwest Backpackers FB group. The bluff top trail offers beautiful in land valley, Mississippi, and city view overlooks. The choices are actually pretty diverse. There are hard wood areas and large very nice pine stands the DNR planted 25-30 years ago. It will make some excellent hanging. I scouted the area on Easter and 90% of the snow was gone. Of course more snow has come and might still come, but its not the ice and hard snow pack.
A DNR road (closed to other motor vehicles) goes across the peak of the bluff and a 6.5 mile trail circles around the bluff slightly down the hills. The trails are relatively easy and could be mountain biked. We will likely camp only about a mile in the first night, so those that don't like long hikes can make it. It is a flat easy trail too.
Our plan is to meet at the Goodview City Park parking lot at 10 am on Friday and car pool into Winona and climb to the base of the Sugar Loaf rock formation Google it if you are unfamiliar). We will grab lunch and then head over to Enlightened Equipment where Stephan Escallier, group member and EE Customer Service Lead, will give us a behind the scenes tour of one of the best quilt and gear sellers out there. We will probably get done and head to the trail at about 3pm. Join us whenever your schedule allows. The plan is to camp until Sunday morning and head home. If you want, the National Eagle Center is only 20 minutes north in Wabasha and could be a nice visit on the way home.
Here is a link to the DNR PDF map and information of the trail.
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/st...s/fmu00002.pdf
If you are heading down Hwy 61 (beautiful drive). Take Winona County Highway 23 to the west (towards Stockton) for 2.5 miles (this is right after the speed limit lowers from 65 to 55 mph). There is a sign to turn off the highway and enter the trail. It is about .5 miles back and initially it feels like you are driving up someone's drive way. The road continues past the farm. There is a lower parking lot and gate. That gate is open and you can drive .65 miles up the hill to an upper parking lot. The road going up the hill has large speed humps and if muddy, it might be difficult for small cars. Some of us will have trucks and can shuttle you and your gear and water up if needed. There are no water sources on top of the bluff, so bring some extra water to cache in the vehicles.
This will be dispersed camping in a state forest which means its free and we can gather firewood and make fires. However it also means there are no formal campsites with toilets, fire rings or tables. There are some really gorgeous areas to camp though! Cell phone coverage on top of the bluff is good.
If you have any questions, let me know.
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Originally Posted by gbrugs
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