Frontenac State Park

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Geo: 44.539, -92.3495

Our Memorial weekend trip. Jeff finally found an opening (cancellation) 3 days before the weekend. We had nothing booked up until then and I kept telling him..."good luck finding a campground open during Memorial weekend". His reply..."I'll find something " Well he proved me wrong after several days/hrs of searching and calling. When we booked it we were pretty excited about seeing this State park. He looked like a nice one.
We arrived at around 6:15 Friday night (about a 3 hr drive with traffic and the way GPS took us on the "Great River Road" scenic road). Friendly DNR checked us in and we finally bought our Hiking Club membership. After a quick set up we took a little walk around the campground (as we usually do) and then grilled some burgers. It had rained that day so everything was wet and the leaves were still dripping raindrops. After eating, we took another little walk down a short trail to a look out spot where we took some pictures of the Mississippi River. The sun was just about set by then so we headed back to camp for some drinks by the fire for the rest of the evening.

Day 2: After our usual breakfast, we headed off to the Hiking Club trail. Rain was expected so we wore our rain coats. From the campground it was just over a mile to the hiking club trail. The trail too us to a few lookout spots, through the forest and also some prairie lands. We found the password at Eagles Point after a hike up a long hill. Heard lots of birds but didn't see many considering it was suppose to be a "bird paradise". Did see an eagle fly away but no time for a pic. Our hike was a long 4.24 hike (over 9,000 steps) which took us 2:37 min. Just as we reached the RV, the rain started. We were pretty tired. We showered and then headed into Red Wing for lunch at Apple Bees and then some shopping at Wal-mart. While we were there the big storm came in and then cleared up. As we arrived back at camp the storm was just hitting the campground. We took a little rest while we had some internet time. Started cooking some supper, enchiladas. We both filled up fast and felt so full and tired. We could have went to bed at that point but we started a fire and had some drinks and turned in for the evening. Most of the campers had gone to bed or were very quiet around 10:00 at quiet time.

Day:3 Blueberry pancakes for breakfast (yum!) and then off to kayak the Mississippi. We launched at a beach in Frontenac. We started paddling up river. The waves were pretty high from the big boats and the wind. It was a hard paddle and I was not a happy camper! I just wanted a nice relaxing paddle. So after some bitching, we finally tuned around and went back down river. Just a little past the beach was a much calmer area where we viewed an eagle sitting on a tree top. It made my day. They are such a beautiful sight to see. Of course I took pics! After kayaking we hit the trail again to hike the In Yan Teopa Rock trail. Towards the top of the trail was a view of the rock with an opening in it. We thought we could see it from the bottom but didn't realize until we were coming back up that the view of the window in the rock was towards the beginning. It was a challenging trail going down a switch back and very narrow with stairs and rocks. It was a challenge going back up with a few stops. There were several people on the trail that day. Back at camp we showered in the park showers which were nice and clean and had hot water. Just so we could save on our water usage. Dinner was a steak dinner with sautéed peppers and onions, baked beans, cantaloupe and bread. We quick cleaned up before company came. Some friends from WI came to visit with us. It was a good night of drinks and good conversation around the fire.

Day 4: Memorial Day was a beatific day. Since check out was at 4, we decided to go check out the town of Lake City. A nice town by Lake Pepin with a marina and beach. We stopped at Port 104 Restaurant Lounge and Bowling. Nice, clean place. Decent food. We then headed back to the RV to pack up and head for home. I wasn't feeling up for a bike ride. We headed out a little after 1:00.

Campground review: Nice park. About 50+ sites with some primitive and cart in sites. Clean park with nice facilities. Hiking trails are challenging. Did not make it on the prairie trails though or bike trails. Nice wooded sites. Rangers are always walking around. We got a violation for parking. We were suppose to park end-to-end. We were really just parked temporarily until the rain stopped after our trip into town. Just a nice park but not one of our favorites.

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