Hiking Frontenac State Park

TRIP DETAILS

LENGTH 9 miles
DIFFICULTY Moderate
DATE  August 13, 2016
MAIN FEATURES  In Yan Teopa Rock, Birdwatching, Hill training

Saturday’s adventure took us to Frontenac State Park! The view of Lake Pepin is beautiful and the bird watching is one of the main features of the park, we saw 6 bald eagles! The lower trails near In Yan Teopa rock (the park’s main landmark) are less travelled, great training for SHT or other trips involving elevation and rocky terrain. We spent about 1/3 of the day in tree cover and the rest in wide open prairie. Made for a good mix and enough of a challenge to keep the boots dirty for this Saturday’s 26 mi endurance hike on the Superior Hiking Trail. Here we go!

Here’s the route we hiked.  Carefully planned by my amazing CureSearch Hiking Coach.  I pretty much just followed everybody around until it was time to go home.  It was nice to not have to plan much for this hike, and just enjoy the scenery.

A shelter overlooking Lake Pepin.  It was a hot one that day, and the iniji toe socks paired with compression socks kept the blisters away and the hikers rash manageable.  Hiking in the heat is not my favorite, but for views like this….totally worth it!

We hiked this trail as a taper hike in our training for the big 26 mile SHT hike.  It’s great because you can get some hills and the narrow, root covered trails are nice prep for the section we will be on next week.  It also has a lot of open prairie, so you can choose your own adventure and get some variety.  I was glad to finally get to hike the switchbacks leading up to In Yan Teopa.  When we were there in the spring, the trails were covered in ice and closed for our safety.

See my other post for a review in the Spring during the eagle migration.

Happy Trails!