This weekend my son and I headed off to the one camping reservation that I have really looked forward to all summer; Willow River State Park in Hudson, Wisconsin. The weather was looking disappointing all week but we didn’t let that deter us. With a projected heat wave, we packed extra water and hit the road!
The park is about a four hour drive for us. Therefore, packing the night before is imperative when on a time crunch. No matter how much you think you have planned, and that you should be able to leave “right after work”, it NEVER happens. Pack whatever you can the night before; heck pack your duffel bags during the week!
This trip was no exception and it was a couple hours after work before we finally hit the road. The GPS noted an arrival time of around 7:30 and I relaxed once I knew I would not be setting the campsite up in the dark. It was shortly after we left that I started receiving the “watch for weather” messages. I have camped in plenty of rain and thunderstorms, weather has never made us shy away from an adventure; but this was the first time I heard of “derecho winds”. A quick google mentioned a weather phenomenon similar to hurricane winds…last I checked hurricane winds and a tent were not a great match. Still we pressed on in the hopes the weather system would miss us.
We arrived at Willow River and were excited to set up camp. I have a great tent for solo camping with a kid; it takes me about 15 min to set up our entire camp!
The first time I ever took Wyatt camping, I mistakenly took our family tent which takes two people to set up. At the time he was two…not much of a helping hand. After a hour long struggle, the people on the site over had to help me. The first thing I did when I got home was to buy a small 2 person tent. (I will post some camp equipment reviews and tips later).
Once the tent was set up in a safe spot (with a predicted storm I chose a spot where there was a break in the trees in case branches came down in the wind – it is important to consider these things when picking a spot for your tent), we made a fire and our traditional first night dinner of steak on the fire! Before we could settle in to enjoy dinner I noticed the weather alerts popping up on my phone. A quick google of some weather channels showed no improvement in expected weather; 75 mph winds were possible in our area. I made the decision to switch to a hotel for the night. I cannot stress enough to know the limits of your camping party, not just your limits. While, I could have rode the storm out; I did not want to spoil a camping experience for my son by terrifying him of a storm in the tent. Lesson one of camping with kids…be adaptable!
After quickly packing up camp we headed off to Holiday Inn Express in Hudson. The hotel was awesome! The rooms were giant and everything was very clean; they followed all the recommended COVID guidelines. A bonus of the hotel was we both got a hot shower after working up a sweat in the hot weather setting up and rushing to take down camp.
After a restful night, and a much milder storm than anticipated, we headed back to camp early. We set everything up AGAIN and I cooked up some French Toast which has been Wyatt’s favorite camping breakfast.
Once we had happy bellies, we were both anxious to hike to the falls that the park is famous for. We took the falls trail from campground 300. It was about a two mile round trip hike, on a easy trail. The trail was well cared for and easy to follow since it was about 6 ft wide! A stroller or wagon with kids would have worked just fine on this trail.
The falls did not disappoint! They were gorgeous and there was lots of rocks to sit on and get your feet wet! Wyatt enjoyed kicking off the hiking boots and playing in the puddles on the rocks. The falls had quite the current so I kept him away from the rocks edge but some people were playing right in the falls so I do not believe it was very deep, maybe 4-6 feet. It was a nice area to explore and there were more trails on the other side of the falls. There is no real picnic spots to camp out for the day, and it was crowded so hard to claim a spot at all. Go early, or go during the week, for the best experience!
After the falls we headed to the beach in the park. There was a nice section buoyed off for kids to swim, but no life guard on duty. I always make Wyatt wear a life jacket in the water so he was happy to swim out and I was happy not to have to worry. There was not really beach sand as it was more of a small gritty sand but was decently clean. The biggest pain was the goose poop to avoid when walking to the beach.
In the afternoon, we took some time to check out downtown Hudson on the St. Croix River. What a cute town! There was lots of shops on the main street along the water and numerous restaurants too. We had the goal of visiting Knoke’s Chocolates and Nuts, since visiting a candy store is a tradition on our trips. Wyatt got a couple treats and we both got a ice cream; the cones were delicious and huge!
For dinner we made pudgie pies. These are one of the most versatile dinners to make when camping with kids since there are so many different types to make. Wyatt and I will create a post just on pudgie pies with his ratings on each one. I remember eating them when I was a kiddo and now he loves them too!
By this point we were exhausted and sweaty. The heat index was extremely high and despite drinking water all day we were still feeling it. With the hikes on our list for the weekend done we decided to pack up, instead of staying and sweating all night, and head to the lake! Lesson two of the weekend; be versatile! Go with the flow! It was a good thing our camp is easy to set up and take down since I did it twice this weekend and didn’t sleep in the tent once!
We spent most of Sunday enjoying the lake. Wyatt got his swimming time and we went on a “fast” boat ride. We ended the weekend with some last minute fishing before heading home. The weather was great and it was nice to jump in the water when we worked up a sweat!
While the weekend did not go how I pictured it; we still had fun! We hiked to see some falls on our summer bucket list, and cooled off at the lakehouse. You cannot go into a camping weekend, especially one with kids, with an exact itinerary or plans. Learn to adapt! Who knows, plan B might be more fun than plan A was!
Camping information:
Park: Willow River State Park
Campsite: Site 352 along the lake (note the lake is a steep slope down from the actual site)
Weather: Extreme heat index, Derecho winds, and Thunderstorms
Trails: Falls Trail from 300 Campground
Wandering Momma 