Snow Hiking through Minnesota -- Part I

So during spring break this week, I decided that there wasn't enough snow in Wisconsin so I decided to head north and west to the neighboring state of Minnesota to do a bit of snow trekking. The first parks I visited were John A. Latsch State Park and Lake Maria State Park. Both still had plenty of snow and ice in them. Latsch park only has one hiking trail called the riverview trail. Because of the snow and ice, its extremely risky to climb. There were parts of the trail where I had to basically crawl up and slide back down. Its very steep and stairs just turn into blocks of ice when this happens so one slip and you could fall to your doom. Chance of dying on this hike in the winter: 15%. However, the view from the top was well worth it:

This picture is from the top of the bluff looking south on the Mississippi River.

Lake Maria does not have the high bluffs of Latsch but it has many more hiking trails. Although not as dangerous, the snow was still plenty deep. The trails themselves are ski trail and because of the grooming, the snow on the trails were pretty shallow. However, stepping off the trail 1 feet and you may find youself in knee-deep snow. Wearing short socks was not a good idea. Quite a good picture of Lake Maria itself frozen in the winter though:

Will have the other three state parks up in a few days that I visited. The snow and ice is starting to thaw soon and I'll have some spring pictures soon.