Cascade River State Park...

Last Sunday, we stayed at Cascade River State park...Lukie had been there before, but it was a first for Lex.  After setting up camp, the first goal was the hiking club trail (3.5 miles, most of it up the Sawtooth Mountains towards Lookout Mountain)...

But we went off the trail to loop around the river a bit...the Cascades are I think my favorite part of the northshore...

Then it was time to get hiking...we did not go towards the river...we went up...

They were smiling now...they didn't know how much we would be climbing (fyi...on all hikes, I carry a backpack with water, snacks, first aid kit, etc.  We are prepared)...

Still smiling...

Halfway to the top, they were beginning to wonder if it would ever end...

A quarter mile from the top, we found the password...that would be huge for Lukie (coming later)...but we still had to get to the top...

There are some appropriately placed benches at the top and a great view...

You have to wonder...how many people, bears, wolves, etc., are in this picture?

But we were only a halfway done...we still needed to get back...

Finally, back down by the Cascade River, we took this picture.  I've got a picture of Kieran and Lukie hugging this tree and not connecting.  Lukie and Lex were touching hands on the backside of the tree...it'll be a few more years until they connect on the nearside...

I always wonder what they're thinking of when watching waterfalls or rivers...

Back at camp...it was time to relax...

Together with our hikes at St. Croix in the morning, the day turned out to be a very active day...if I took 30,000 steps, they took more with their little legs...but they never complained...

When we awoke the next day, we had to get geocaching...the park doesn't have GPS units to loan, so we had to learn to use my phone....but we found the first location....

And the second...

What was cool about this geocache is that it took us away from the campground (the previous ones we did kept us in the campground) and onto hiking trails...I had never been on this particular trail...

It took us a long ways north of the cascade area, but we found the cache...

And they got their cards...

After breaking camp, we had to stop at the office.  With completing the hiking club trail at this park, Lukie passed the 75-mile mark and earned a patch recognizing that feat.  He is incredibly proud of that...

Lex is currently at 68.7 miles on the hiking club trail, Kieran at 24.7 miles.  Lex missed 3 parks back in June 2017 that Lukie and I visited...Lex wants to visit those three parks, Lukie totally wants to keep the lead...I bet Lex wins...