Up, Up, and... Up!

Swinging bridge

Hey campers! Scared of heights? If so, this next place might not be for you. For the rest of you Jay Cooke State Park will be great! Jay Cooke is located in Carlton, Minnesota. Jay Cooke is 8,818 acres of nature with a variety of wildlife in it. You can find white-tailed deer, black bears, timber wolves, coyote, and many more beautiful animals. At Jay Cooke you can also see the beautiful blue St. Louis River.

Some of the exciting things to do at Jay Cooke include horseback riding, biking, and hiking! There are many trails for all three activities. The biking trails include mountain biking, and normal tour trails. My favorite was the hiking! For people who don’t like heights this is the part you will not like. One of the best parts of the hiking, in my opinion, was the swinging bridge we had to cross. The swinging bridge was suspended over the raging St. Louis River. It was so fun crossing the bridge! I remember my dad was on one side of the bridge, and I was on the other side of the bridge. Guess who was in the middle… my mom, the one not a fan of heights! We kept jumping on the bridge to make it shake for a good laugh. It was so much fun, but my mom didn’t laugh until she got across! Another one of my favorite parts was the high cliffs we were hiking on. At one point we came to a picnic table that was secured to a tree because we were on such a steep cliff. You might seem a little skeptical thinking why would I want to go up that high? But, think about it, the higher up you are the more you can see. Let me tell you it is a spectacular sight when you get up that high! It is very beautiful.

The bench chained to the tree!

I have been to Jay Cooke three times. Each time it is more and more exciting. This is definitely a must see place for all you campers! While you’re there be sure you get the chance to see all the beauty I did, by going hiking! Oh and don’t forget that bug spray of yours…Campers: Nature's way of feeding mosquitoes. Oh… How I love to go camping!