Hiking Club challenge complete - except for bears

Thursday morning, my friend Heidi and I completed the Minnesota Department of Natural Resource's Hiking Club Challenge, after finishing the designated trail of the Red River State Recreation Area in East Grand Forks. It was the last of the 68 official trails in state parks across the state. I calculate that we hiked 195.9 miles total. But who's counting?

We started this undertaking about two years ago. Local-ish parks were day trips, but we also took a number of multi-day trips to places like the Iron Range, the North Shore, the far western, and southeastern parts of the state.

While visiting the parks themselves was a great experience, getting to see parts of my adopted state of Minnesota was what I appreciated most. While I had heard about exotic locales like Baudette and Roseau, I'd never before had a reason to visit. Now I have. It's pretty easy as a suburbanite to forget about the vast rural areas of this state. I love the variety of terrains - from farm country to flat plains to rolling hills to ocean-like lake coasts - and to be reminded of my own rural heritage. The people (despite their Trump 2024 farm caps and reluctant mask wearing) were genuinely pleasant and helpful, the food was good, and the lodgings were, well, at least adequate.  During the height of the pandemic, we stayed in old motor court type motels with outside entrances.

 The trails themselves ranged from one to six miles in distance, averaging, I'd say, about three miles. I sometimes questioned why anyone would drive hours to do a one mile hike. Some parks were more interesting than others. Some busier. Some more scenic. Some just plain buggy as hell. But all were worth a peek. Most trails were well maintained and usually fairly well marked with the distinctive Hiking Club signs. In only one park did we have any problems finding the sign with the password. For some reason, they put it inside a shelter along the trail. We made a game of where the password would be on the trail and what the password might be. We did well with the first; badly with the second.

The visits also increased my respect and gratitude for the accomplishments of the Works Progress Adminstration and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Shelters, lodges, piers, and other amenities these programs built are still in use nearly 100 years later. Some tax dollars are better spent than others.

So the challenge is done, the patches given, the booklets checked and signed by a park official. Now what's next? Maybe National Park Passport Club? Biking every trail in Minnesota? I am sure we'll come up with something. Give the Hiking Club a try!

Besides the badges, we will also be getting a plaque and received two free state park camping passes.

Slideshow 

Each time I go hiking, I hope to see a bear. We only saw one bear on our trips and that was while in the car, just outside Bear Head State Park. No moose or elk, but plenty of whitetail deer, pelicans, loons, eagles, egrets, and herons. And more than a few squirrels - both animal and human. Maybe I'll see a bear in Philmont hiking with the Boy Scouts in July. One can dream.