Aimee & I went up to Banning State Park over the weekend (Sat-Tues). When we first made our reservations I didn't think much about this park because it wasn't a park you hear people talk about like your Gooseberry, Itasca or Jay Cooke state parks. I was pleasantly surprised by Banning. Located just off of HWY 35 it's only a hour & half from the twin cities, just north of Sandstone hugging the Kettle River. Not only do you get to see the beautiful Kettle River, you also get a history lesson about the Banning Sandstone Quarry that once inhabited the site.There was plenty of hiking trails to keep us busy. We hiked the Wolf Creek trail that brought us to Wolf Creek Falls. This waterfall was located among the large sandstone boulders close to the Kettle River. We then hit the High Bluff trail which is a large trail that is used by snowmobiles and XC skiers in the winter. This trail is not very scenic but you can view some wildlife such as deer and birds. High Bluff trail then connects to Quarry Loop which is a self guided trail that reveals the remains of the Banning Sandstone Quarry and the town of Banning. The trail is the old rail line that took the stone out of the quarry. You can see remains of the power house, stone crusher and school house. If you look towards the Kettle River you will also see Little Banning Rapids, Dragon's Tooth & Mother's Delight. If you head down the the boat ramp you can also get close view of Blueberry Slide. You then take the Spur Trail back up to the campground. I'm betting we spent about 5 hours on Sunday & Monday hiking. We also took Zoey on all of our hikes and she was quite the adventurist always staying in front of us jumping from one rock to another.
The campground was very nice. We figured since we are staying Saturday to Tuesday that many people would be leaving on Sunday which is what we saw. We did end up getting new neighbors behind us with some annoying young kids that couldn't separate their gummy bear brains from the latest handheld video game. Luckily they went to bed very early. Monday we got a fun surprise that someone was camping in the site across the road from us. We don't know what the hell was going on over there but there was a Mom with 2 dogs and 6 teenage kids with a total of 3 cars. The Mom disappeared Monday night leaving these annoying zit picking teens behind. These were your redneck, Slayer listening, I hate my parents teens. They were riding on the hoods of their cars down the road, yelling to each other and going in to the woods knocking down the trees for fire wood (which is illegal). And all you could hear was their frickin' cell phones beeping 24/7 with text messages going back and forth to each other. I know the Host of the campground was concerned about this group but he didn't really do anything. Oh well. Nothing we could do.
It was a great trip and I can't wait to explore another MN State Park!
Here are all the pictures
