Banning State Park

I think they were tired of me taking pictures.

This was an awesome camping trip! The best one we've been on yet with the boys. We went to Banning State Park which is an hour and half north of the Cities on I-35. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! The Kettle River runs through this park and they have some of the most challenging rapids in the state. We just enjoyed the views of the hikes that we did. They also had a ton of wildlife that was not scared at all of humans. Our first hike was Wolf Creek Trail to see the Wolf Creek Falls. Along this trail we ran into the hornet's nest which I thought was very cool and then the squirrel that sat there eating it's nut and didn't appear to be concerned at all about our appearance on the trail. They had chipmunks around the bathrooms that would come right up to you. We spent so much time around the bathrooms just watching the chipmunks running around. Tyler named them Tylermonk and Dekeymonk. We also saw a skunk running down the road, but we weren't going to get too close that one! The boys had a lot of fun playing in the campsite. This was the most I've seen them playing together. As you can see they had a lot of fun with buckets. They would put them on their heads and yell in them and were generally being cut-ups. The next day we did the Banning Quarry Trail which was a self-guided hike. Very interesting stuff about the Banning Quarry and some of the most amazing views. Tyler and I enjoyed going off the beaten path and getting as close as we could to the river. Joel couldn't follow as easily with Deke on his back. We explored old ruins along the way as well. They had huge boulders that Tyler really loved walking on. Such a fun trip. I can't wait till next year when we can go back!