Thursday, May 31, 2012

St. Croix State Park - Memorial Weekend 2012

Finally got out this year for the first time over Memorial Weekend.  We headed to St. Croix State Park located on the St. Croix river between Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

Last July 1st they had a terrible storm come through and do damage to over 11,000 acres of the park.  This was the same day that the state shut down all state parks due to a budget shortage and is probably the only good thing to come of the shut down.  The park was empty so there weren't any injuries or fatalities.  There was so much damage to the park that they didn't open until last September.  This was our first time back since the storm damage.  You can see very clearly where all of the trees went down.  Most of the bike path area was affected and you no longer bike through the woods - it's more like biking through a prairie.  I'm sure in a few years the park will look much different.

We finally got to see our first bear in the wild.  He came right through the campground and helped himself to the food in one campers cooler.  It was very exciting to see.  We also saw a baby cub scurry up a tree and the rangers shooed him back into the woods. 

Camp Store & office to rent canoes
 start of the bike path from the campground to the beach (5.3 miles)
 campground where you can see storm damage
Lodge and visitor center
 inside the lodge

 View to Riverview campground - this used to be full of trees
 Another view of the lodge
 View from our campsite - good thing we weren't there during the storm - that big tree would've landed on us.
 beach
 picnic area
 bike path

 first view of the bear

 The bear walked right next to our campsite!

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