We drove up to Wild River State Park to go hiking and to be able to check out the campground and the river. There was a path out to the Never Dam site so we sprayed on half a gallon of bug spray (possible exaggeration, but a LOT of bug spray) and set out. Along the way, we saw lots of interesting plants and a small raspberry patch. There were quite a few patches of poison ivy too, so there were several reminders to stay on the trail.
It was a great little walk, which led right to the river, where the girls discovered that the beach here is vastly different from the gravely sand we are used to on the lake. They were enjoying jumping down the bank for a while when Jim called from downriver to announce that he had found a big clam.
When we walked downstream a little, we discovered that there were clams all over the place, just below the sand. We spent quite a bit of time collecting and inspecting them.
We gathered a large collection, took a picture and then returned them to the river.
Back at the trailhead by the former Nevers Dam site, we discovered a cat (or he discovered us). He walked with us for the 1.3 mile trek back to the parking lot. He liked to be the leader, but then he would randomly lay down or burst into a run. He was kinda weird but there was a campaign for the entire walk for us to take him home. THAT did not happen and Jamie ended up in tears. We named him Nevers Azazel of the St. Croix and months later, the mention of him is rather emotional for some of the kids.
Bye, bye, Nevers!
At the visitor center in the park, we found hundreds of butterflies sunning themselves and enjoying looking at them and having them land on us. We also saw a display about the river mussels and discovered that it was illegal to move or disturb them (oooops!!)
