Amnicon Falls State Park and Pattison State Park

This is a continuation of a travel series about my camping trip with my family in July.  To start at the beginning go HERE.

On our second day of our camping trip after a leisurely campfire breakfast of bacon and eggs we hit the road to explore Amnicon Falls State Park and Pattison State Park.

Amnicon Falls is a small state park of only 825 acres that is located southeast of Superior, Wisconsin.  It features a series of waterfalls on the Amnicon River as it flows around a small island and under a historic covered bridge.  It was only an hour and twenty minute drive from our campsite.

If ever there was a park to take small children to, this is it.  The water in most parts is very shallow (not always, so be careful) and the kids can get in and wade and enjoy the falls and swimming holes.  

 The falls are divided into the Upper and Lower Falls areas and swimming is allowed at both.

The trails are beautiful, well-maintained, and super short and easy.  It is a very relaxing park.  A place to go not for a strenuous hike, but a relaxing stroll through the woods.  We discovered this old cobble stone bridge on one of our walks.

In addition to families, this park is also filled with local teenagers who love to swim here.  While my family was perched on this ledge (I'm afraid of heights, so I hung back) they heard a girl screaming for help.  She was trapped on a cliff side and couldn't climb down or up.  My husband and son asked me to look for a branch or rope to help her, but of course I had none.  I called down that maybe I should drive over to the ranger station (cell phones don't work quite well out in the forest) and he said she didn't think she could hold on much longer.  So my son climbed over to help her and I got so mad at him.  I thought "What could he possibly do?  He's just going to get hurt now and all because some dumb teenager did something stupid."  I know, I'm so terrible and selfish.  I only thought of me and my son at the time.  I screamed at Jordan not to help her, but of course he didn't listen to me and then he ended up falling into the water himself.  Thank goodness he was alright.  He managed to climb back up to her and just stayed underneath her coaxing her how to climb up.  Eventually they both made it up.  He was so humble and said he really didn't do anything.  I was impressed and proud of him (although mad) that he risked his life to help someone else.

 This is the historic covered bridge.  Isn't it pretty?  It's like a scene right out of a story book.

 My son saw these deeper falls and was itching to get wet himself.  He grew up swimming in waterfalls as there is a waterfall and river right behind our home.  We finally relented, although I was nervous.

 And if you don't want to get totally wet, there's lots of spots to just hop rocks and soak your feet too.

 This was a shallow pool that families with babies and small children were enjoying.

And here are those teenage girls enjoying the more deeper and dangerous falls.

 

And my son finally joined in and went for a dip himself.

After a picnic lunch, we drove over to Pattison State Park.  It was only a 23 minute drive.  You may remember this park from these posts HERE and HERE.  My husband and I camped in Pattison all by ourselves for three nights and two days.  We had so much.  

Even though Todd and I had been to Pattison before, we wanted the kids to see it for it has Wisconsin's highest waterfall at 165 feet.

The trail to see the highest waterfall is super short and easy with lots of scenic views and park benches to enjoy along the way.

Jordan didn't seem to appreciate the scenic overlooks however.  I was surprised to discover he has a slight fear of heights as he spent most of his life jumping off a rock into his own private waterfall.

 After we saw the tallest falls, Big Manitou Falls, we decided we had done too much car sitting and strolling and needed to get a good hike in, so we took the trail to Little Manitou Falls.

This is such a pretty trail.  It starts along the back waters of the lake and into the woods.  You follow a stream and hear the babbling water for most of the trail.  It's a three mile round trip trail.

Isn't the mirror image of the sky in this photo just gorgeous?

I love this trail because there are certain views like the one below that remind me of the Rocky Mountains.

There's also pretty bridges on this trail too!

 And this is Little Manitou Falls.  Which really isn't so little, it's just little in comparison to Big Manitou Falls.  It is 35 feet high.

I should mention that you do not need to hike three miles to see these pretty falls,  There was a parking lot only about .5 miles away.  My daughter just about died when she discovered that.  She said "You mean we could have just driven here?".  LOL!  She's not the hiker her parents are!

But if you don't take the long way to get there, you might miss out on the good stuff, like this pretty tree frog:

Have a Great Day!  Amy

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