| Bring your bicycles. There is easy, close access to the Cannon Valley Trail. You will need bike passes in order to ride the bike trail. Walking along the bike trail does not require any pass. You can buy your bike passes in the town of Cannon Falls, Welch or Red Wing. |
| A campfire is nice in the evening and late into the night, but I'd strongly suggest taking a walk on a warm evening after dark along the bike trail (an asphalt sidewalk through the wilderness). Bring flashlights for the kids, but if you want a real romantic walk go East from the campsite on a full moon night and you certainly will not need any flashlights. |
| Walk West from the campsite along the bike trail for about one mile and you come to Anderson Park where a spring fed creek enters the Cannon River. As you walk there is a small, 30' cave that children love to explore about 1/2 of the distance to the park. The cave is within 20' of the bike trail along the hillside. |
| Walk East from the campsite along the gravel road for about 1/4 mile and find a favorite spot on DNR land where someone has installed a large rope swing over the Cannon River. |
| Walk East from the campsite along the gravel road for about 1/2 mile and you come to River Terrace Prairie SNA (Scenic and Natural Area). I'd suggest that you walk to the top of the large gravel morain and overlook the valley. |
| Bring an old pair of tennis shoes, because it can be quite fun to walk down to the river (about one block from the campsite) and wade in the water. The river may look wide, but under normal flow it is no deeper than your knees in most locations. Tennis shoes are necessary because of the rocky bottom. |
| If you enjoy star gazing come on a New Moon. The lack of lights make it an ideal location to enjoy the stars. |
| The biodiversity of plants and animals is very high on this property. Deer and racoon are often seen. Skunk, mink, groundhogs, muskrats, and coyotes have also been seen on rare occasions. |
| If you are in the mood for a pretty scenic drive, I suggest that from the campsite, you drive East along the gravel road (Sunset Trail) for five miles. The road parallels the Cannon River. Stay on 'Sunset Trail' road until it dead ends into County 7. Turn left (North) and go about two miles past Welch Ski Village into the town of Welch. There are only about five buildings in this town. A restaurant where you can buy your bike passes. A bar where you can drink and a place where you can rent canoes or tubes to float down the Cannon River. |
| There is a pond adjacent to the campsite with a floating deck (16' x 16') over the water. It is an ideal place to put lawn chairs and observe Nature with a drink. |
| Due to the fact that there are many trees around the pond and other waterways, the month of May belongs to the Grey Tree frogs and the American toads. There are thousands. |
| A unique structure resides within the campsite area which we call the "Vine Covered Pool". It is a cement pool (10' x 10') with grape vines growing over the wooden frame covering the pool. Under the vine covered canopy there are four adjustable planks where you can sit in the shade and watch and listen to the water rising up from the pool and exiting into the sluice. |
| One of the best attributes of this property is its proximity to Rochester and the Twin Cities. If it starts raining or if you just want a shower and your own bed, then leave everything and you can be home within an hour. |
