Willow River Long Loop - Oh The Places We've Been!

6 June 2024

After a rainy couple weeks, I’ve been itching to get back out on the trail, so when a couple precipitation-free days appeared in the forecast, I jumped at the chance to get outdoors!

Welcome to Willow River State Park:

Only about an hour drive from home, this park has been at the top of my to-visit list for a while, as it’s one of the few state parks I’ve been able to find with long loop trails:

It’s also a fairly popular park, so I figured I would hit the falls first and hopefully beat the rush, but first: a pre-hike donut (and coffee!) from Buddy’s Bakery in Hudson:

(the person who reserved my campsite didn’t show up, so I was able to access my site early and park my car in a nice shady spot- I marked it with a little star on the map above in the 300 campground)

I started my hike along the Willow Falls Trail (blue), which was a nice, shady trail that followed the shore of Little Falls Lake:

I’m not sure where that other trail leads- it’s not on my map…

I feel like this would be a great spot to find birds, but today is fairly overcast and windy, so maybe they just aren’t out right now? I did find this little chipmunk:

A short mile later, welcome to Willow Falls!

It was actually quite busy- this shot is carefully cropped (and slightly edited) to cut out most of the people milling around the falls. Even though it’s still technically mid-week, I hit it at lunchtime and since school’s out, there were a lot of families here.

There was a convenient selfie stand that let me get this picture:

Which again, is conveniently framed because there’s actually a guy standing behind me (he was talking quite animately and a few of my shots have his hand sticking out awkwardly).

Bridge over the river:

And a view from under the bridge:

Moving onto the Burkhardt Trail (pink), the stairs up to the falls viewing area were closed:

So I followed this gravel path up to the top:

This picture doesn’t quite capture just how steep it got at point, but eventually, I found the other end of the staircase:

and the viewing area, which overlooked the falls and platform I had just come from:

Ominous clouds growing in the distance…

Turkey vulture?

There were several of these guys overhead.

Back up to the trail:

There’s a second viewing area along this path, but the view wasn’t nearly as great, so I kept hiking:

A four-leaf clover!

And a five-leaf clover!!!

I actually found a TON of 4-leaf guys, but a dozen picture of clovers would be boring to look at.

Instead, here’s a Red admiral butterfly:

Despite missing half his wing, he was still able to flit around effectively.

When I got back down, I stopped back at the Falls to see if it was any less busy:

It wasn’t, but at least the person in the red shirt who was sitting on that rock by the log is gone, so I could get this nice picture. Unfortunately, new camera only stops down to f/16, so even though it was cloudy, I couldn’t really get any great blurred water shots.

But, I’ve got a lot of miles to cover today, so onward to the Nelson Farm Trail (gray):

This trail was mostly crushed gravel, but still nice to walk on. Plus, it had some cool bugs, like this dragonfly (an Ebony jewelwing):

And this little Robberfly, though I’m not sure why his butt is up on the air:

Willow River:

There were some decent ups along this trail, so these little ground strawberries were a fun find:

Nature’s trail snacks:

They’re so long and stretchy! But also decently sweet and fairly flavorful. Definitely the pick-me-up I needed!

Viewpoint at the top of the trail overlooking Little Falls Lake:

Somewhere on the right side is my campsite for the night.

The trail opened up into this prairie:

I feel like if the weather was better, this field would be great for critter-watching, but those clouds look like rain, and most of the wildlife seems to have taken cover, though this monarch was still out and about:

Farewell, prairie!

Hello, little flycatcher!

He refused to turn around for the camera 🙁

It was at about this point in my hike that the clouds finally started leaking:

So I took shelter as best I could and figured now would be a great time for a snack. I was just opening my granola bar when I heard a loud zoom; I stashed the snack and pulled out my camera just in time to catch a picture of this plane flying low overhead:

It was bigger than it looks in the picture, but unfortunately, I didn’t get a clear angle on the tail number, though a Google image search tells me this is an Albatross seaplane and an even deeper Google search led me to the tail number: N99TP

Fortunately, he took the rain with him, so onward!

This picturesque bridge marks the end of the Nelson Farm Trail:

and the beginning of the Trout Brook Trail (purple).

This robin was hoping along the railing of the bridge:

and this Brown-headed cowbird was sitting in a nearby tree:

This trail was great for bird watching- I spotted this Rose-breasted grosbeak singing in the tree at the start of my new trail:

and this American redstart did not want to stay still, but I finally snagged a shot of him!

There was a nice loop at the end of this trail with a sign posted warning of the red pine carnage ahead:

Sure enough, there were tree parts everywhere! It smelled amazing!

The sign informed me that these trees were removed because they were suffering from Red Pine Pocket Decline, which is a combination of insect and fungal infestation. When trees are overcrowded and unmanaged, they are more easily infected and once infected, they stop growing and eventually die. These trees were removed so other native species can be replanted here.

The purple trail was short, only a mile or so, and led into the Little Falls Trail (green), which ran alongside Little Falls Lake:

And up to the dam:

Thirteen-lined ground squirrel:

Goose family:

Grackle:

Yellow-throated vireo:

Another Brown-headed cowbird:

These guys were quite common.

Eastern bluebird on a blue water fountain:

Further along this trail was the largest oak tree I’ve ever seen!

Becca for scale

You can rent canoes and kayaks to explore the lake, but these kayaks were in stockades 🙁

Fortunately, this trail leads back to my campsite because I was getting hungry (and this path was all paved, which my feet did not appreciate after a long day of hiking).

Unfortunately, I forgot my lighter, so I had no way to light my camp stove. Ugh, not sure how I missed that when I packed, but there was a KwikTrip just down the road so after a quick run to the store, I was back to set up camp:

Rocks make great hammers!

and started dinner:

It was crazy windy! So windy that I seriously contemplated moving my car to act as a wind break, but my tent is pretty bomber and it (plus my foil wind shield) blocked the breeze enough that I could keep the fire on my stove going while dinner cooked.

Dinner with a view!

I didn’t have high hopes for this mac’n’cheese, but it was actually better than I expected- not entirely bland, though better with the addition of some Old bay, and not all the noodles rehydrated, so there were some very al dente bits… it was decently filling, but I wouldn’t get it again.

There was still a lot of daylight left, and I spotted a Great egret along the Willow Falls Trail (blue) that I missed getting a shot of, and since the spot I saw him at was only like half a mile away, I decided to see if I could find him.

Spoiler: he wasn’t there, but I did find some other cool birds, like this Great blue heron, who found himself a fish:

And after several attempts, managed to swallow it:

such an awkward face!

(Un)fortunately, don’t think he swallowed it properly because he walked around doing this weird open and closing of his beak, almost like he was trying to cough it back up? (can herons do that?)

I don’t feel sorry for him- he was ruthlessly pecking at that poor fish 🙁

Another Great blue heron, coming in for a landing:

Velociraptor:

I spotted another brown blob moving through the grass and, after zooming in, discovered this deer!

Wood ducks:

… and since I was already halfway down the trail, I figured I should probably check out what the Falls look light in the sunlight:

The rocks are even prettier and, despite it being like 7pm, it was still fairly busy, though easy enough to crop around people, AND the climbers were out!