Camping at Lake Itasca (June 6-8, 2025)

It had been a while since we'd gone camping. We didn't technically camp locally last year because we did our big grand canyon trip and camped in the RV for over a week. So we dusted off our tent and set out up north to Itasca State Park. We collect the hiking club passwords and try to get a couple passwords each trip hitting another nearby park on the way if possible. 

We went up after the girls got out of school so it was a quick tent set up to try and get settled before dark. First night walking to the bathroom spotted a turtle with Thomas. 

The next day Saturday we had breakfast at camp then started off on the hiking club trail. 

had to get a picture of Mary with Mary Lake :-) 

After our first hike we drove over to where the fire tower entrance was. Itasca State Park is pretty big!

Link to the map here. 

The girls didn't want to join us so they stayed back at the van. We didn't end up climbing the tower because there was quite a line waiting to go up, there was a max allowance. Not worth the wait for us. 

 

Went back to the campsite for lunch then we drove up to where the Mississippi River Headwaters was. Short car ride but Oakley was already snoozing.

  

They had a nice visitor center. 

There was this first area (not the start) Thomas ended up falling in right away so became soaked.

   

A little farther down the stream still working our way to the start of the river. The Mississippi River is SO clean here!

Then we made it!

Kids had fun playing in the water for some time.

 

Then back to camp for night 2. 

Dinner over the campfire, kids playing high and seek or some kind of game I can't remember the name of it and tired pup. It ended up storming just at bedtime. We knew it was coming and cleaned up as much as camp as we could. Kyle and I were in our really old tent and the kids were in a bigger new tent we have. Our tent ended up leaking pretty bad from all the seams, Kyle was able to run to the van and put a tarp over our tent and that helped us stay dry. 

 

The next day we loaded up camp and before making our way home we wanted to hit another nearby state park. It was a little north but not far: La Salle Lake State Recreation Area. 

Oh I should say the ticks were SOO bad this weekend, it was crazy. We found another password and a nice view of the Mississippi River a little down stream from the headwaters, although north, I know confusing. 

Worn out kids and dog on the way home. 

Zion National Park: Emerald Pools Hike {Grand Canyon RV Trip: Day 8} June 30, 2024

We woke to some mule deer visitors at our campsite. Because of the heat we wanted to get up and around earliest to beat the heat (and the crazy crowds on the shuttles, I couldn't believe how busy this national park was) If we had to do it all over again for one we would not plan a visit to a dessert valley in June, HA! Ooops!)

Shuttle view of peaks

Today's goal was to see the emerald pools. 

 

First photo is a better depiction of mood, lol. 

So much wildlife along the way. 

 

 

 

  

We weren't sure WHAT these emerald pools would look like... were they green, was it a big pool of water? There were upper pools, lower pools middle pools... also nothing was labeled. 

We came to what we thought was the middle pools because we saw a sign for the upper pools. The kids were melting down... but we didn't hike all this way to NOT see the upper pools. So Kyle, Isaac, and I went up the vertical trail to the upper pools while the other three waited in the shade. 

 

Quick pic of upper pools, then I headed back to the other three while Kyle and Isaac stayed for just a little bit to enjoy. 

What we thought was the middle pools wasn't but then we came upon them, all of use. The kids had fun putting their hands in the cold water and finding tadpoles. The shade felt nice too, it was starting to heat up mid-day. 

 

  

I came across this photo while blogging thought I'd share here, Oakley was having the time of his life playing at the boarding place, lol. 

Back to Utah:

We finally made it to our stop to find the shuttle and head back out of the valley. 

We did well. Back to the RV to rest our feet and fix lunch before setting out on another small hike. We also took a dip in the river to cool off. Crazy how the river was in the 50s and the camp was over 100!  We wanted to go to the nature center for the kids to get their Jr. Ranger badges. Instead of taking the shuttle we decided to walk, it didn't look that far away... well had there not been lots of construction on the trail, oops. 

WE MADE IT! WATER!

Look at these kids HATS! Wow they go to a lot of national parks. 

 

In our defense the shuttle doesn't actually stop at the natural center so we had to walk one way or the other. So to leave we headed to the closest shuttle spot which was also the info center. 

 

Emma and I stepped outside to see the views, there were these little ground hog type creatures scurrying about, I couldn't quite get a photo of them though. 

We took the shuttle back to the main spot and made it to our campsite for the evening. I think we probably went back over by the river where it was much cooler. The mule deers have it figured out and stay pretty close to camp. I think we watched a movie - we bought a cheap DVD player on the first night because we had brought movies thinking the RV would have one but it didn't.