Hike 23 - Medicine Wheel Trail

Hike two of our Wyoming trip was on the Medicine Wheel trail. This was a bit of a relief after the incline of our Steamboat Point hike. Don’t get me wrong, I still took it slow, but I don’t remember thinking I was going to die. It was chilly, but beautiful.

We parked in the lot at the head of the trail, which was really just a dirt road. There was a small hut in which the rangers hung out, pit toilets, and a bunch of walking sticks for the hike. The hike was easy enough although I was still feeling the impact of our last hike up to Steamboat Point. While we were walking up the mountain, it did have a few ups and downs at slight inclines and declines which helped it not feel so strenuous.

The Medicine Wheel has been used by generations of Native Americans in ceremonies for health and healing and is suspected to be about 7000 years old.

Hike #: 22

Trail: Medicine Wheel Trail

Location: Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming

Trail surface: gravel road

Date: 8/26/19

As we came back to our truck, small snowflakes floated down upon us for a fleeting moment making this feel like a magical place. I know that may be the norm in the mountains in August, but it was a nice touch to wrapping up this hike.

Jo: ★★★★

Jesse: ★★★★★

Riley: ★★★★

Hike 20 - Purgatory Creek Park

With Riley at her grandparents, Jesse and I decided to go on a hike of our own. We were still dealing with wet trails and hot days so we wanted to get out early to beat the heat and find a trail that was dry. A few rose to the top of my list, but I decided that I wanted Riley to go on those so I suggested this trail in Eden Prairie. I’d actually walked it a couple years ago while Riley was at a birthday party nearby and had always wanted to bring Jesse back.

Hike #: 20

Trail: Purgatory Creek Park

Location: Eden Prairie, MN

Trail surface: paved, although there is a crushed rock trail that you can cut across part of the creek, but it was flooded when we were there so we had to turn around.

Date: 7/7/19

I’ve had a hard time searching for Purgatory Creek to find this trail. In fact, there is a Purgatory trail in nearby Minnetonka that we checked out last year. If you Google ‘Purgatory Creek Pavilion’ you will find a good start for this trail as there is a parking lot, and pavilion there. There are also some statues honoring our Military that is worth stopping to pay your respects at.

This trail is a mix of shade and open sky, but is mostly open. It started out as a nice breezy hike, but we quickly heated up walking on the asphalt trail with the sun beating down on us at 9:30 in the morning. I need to start my hikes at 6 am to avoid this summer heat, I think. The trail is surrounded by houses and businesses and shops, and even connects to another nearby lake if you want to make it a longer hike. We might have if it weren’t for the heat.

This is the joy of living in Minnesota - there is lake after lake after lake and often a trail is built to walk around them. It’s something I often take for granted, but appreciate that our state makes sure that some of these lakes are preserved enough that anyone can enjoy them.

Jo: ★★★★

Jesse: ★★★★

Hike 12 - Door and Notch Trails

 I’d been looking forward to our get away to South Dakota for some time. We visited in 2015 as a family (and Jesse went back with some friends in 2016 and 2017). We did all the touristy things last time and hoped to get off the beaten path a bit this time.

Last time we spent half a day in the Badlands and it wasn’t nearly enough time to explore. This time we spent about a day and a half which was fantastic, but we left so much of this national park unexplored.

It was a hot one while we were there, 90’s on up to 100, but we were determined to get outside and find some trails. I don’t do well hiking in hot weather so we went earlier in the day (and perhaps should have gotten out even earlier).

Hike #12: 

Trail: Door Trail and Notch Trail

Location: Badlands, South Dakota

Trail surface: some boardwalk on Door trail, and a ladder on Notch, but mostly rock.

Date: 8/26/18

We started with a geology tour that took us down the boardwalk of Door trail. We wandered out after that on the marked trail weaving on top of the eroded sedimentary rock distinctive of the Badlands. It was only a .8 mile trail so we headed down the road a little to Notch trail which is 1.2 miles.

Notch trail should probably be hiked by those 8 and older just because there is a ladder you need to climb followed by a narrow walking path with cliffs to the side. At the top awaits a beautiful view and most importantly a little breeze. It felt incredibly hot along the trail, but at the top it felt a little more like the 70 something degrees it was.  

While these were both short trails, together they made it long enough for me to consider it a hike. Additionally, there were some challenge points, such as not falling off a cliff. We all loved this hike, especially the ladder, but the heat made it a bit miserable at times.

Jo: ★★★★

Jesse: ★★★★

Riley: ★★★★★