Hiking In Vermillion Falls Park

Last weekend my husband and I attended a convention in Minneapolis.  On the way home from the convention we decided to take the scenic route to enjoy the fall colors.  One of the places we stopped was Vermillion Falls Park in Hastings, MN.  

Vermillion Falls Park is a city park located right off of 26th street in Hastings.  It has lots of nice, paved trails for dog walking and bike riding.  It also has plenty of big, beautiful lawns for picnicking.

We stopped at this park to see a waterfall that my husband read about, but when we first got to the park we started hiking in the wrong direction because we kept seeing a lot of people coming from that direction.  We eventually found out that they were only going that way because it was early in the morning and they were either walking their dogs or exercising.

The accidental detour ended up being a good thing however, because we found a wooded path that took us right down to the river bed and we also discovered a gorge.

I've always loved the look of moss covered rocks, and due to the constant moisture from the waterfall and all the shade, there was plenty of moss.

The river was so serene and peaceful downstream.

After taking a few fashion photos in this idyllic spot (see Monday's Fashion Post if you want to see more), we ventured back up the path to see if we could find this waterfall.

We eventually came across a bridge and discovered this amazing gorge.

Well, by now we were perplexed.  This gorge is amazing, but where was the 35 foot waterfall?  So I asked a passing cyclist and she said it was back in the direction we came from.  Seriously?  So back we went down the same path, only this time a little further than where we started on the path.

 And there it was!  A sign!  We found it!  How did we miss a waterfall this huge you ask?  Well, for one we parked our car at the end of the parking lot and totally missed the sign that was at the beginning of the parking lot that also had a park map on it.  And two, there is a factory that is right across from the waterfall that makes so much noise you can't hear the falls in the distance, but only the factory noise.

The falls have a viewing deck so that you can enjoy them without fearing for your life.  But of course my husband found another way to view the falls as well that was a bit more adventurous.

At one time, the factory did use the energy from the falls for it's business.  The building is actually quite neat, for it's very old, and I love old buildings.  The only drawback to it is the noise.  It is such a pretty park, but it's hard to enjoy nature with the obnoxious sounds coming from the factory.  I love to hear the quiet...the birds singing, the squirrels scampering....and the noise from the factory just drowns out all of that.

After viewing the falls from the observation decks, we then walked to an area above the falls.  Here you could climb down and see the falls from directly above.

I loved how the fall foliage of the trees framed the view of the falls.

My husband the daredevil got really close to the edge, but I stayed above where I felt a little safer.

And here is a short video where you can really hear the loud rushing water of the falls.

Well, I hope your all not sick of fall hiking pictures yet!  We are off again today to hike a bluff in Red Wing, Minnesota and next weekend were going to Galena, Illinois.  We were suppose to be there this weekend, but we changed our weekends when we discovered the hotel we wanted to stay at would be $100 cheaper.  Hopefully, there will still be color that weekend.  But if there isn't, that's o.k.  We're going to see the town mostly anyway.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

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