Last Christmas, I gave my sister a different kind of present. The present was to take her to Governor Dodge State Park and spend the day together in a canoe. We are going to take this trip on Saturday and I am so excited to be free with my big sister! The canoe idea is going include docking our canoe, leaving some of our stuff under the canoe and hiking to find a cave.
There are three caves at Gov Dodge which I have hiked to with my family. Officially though, there are only two caves on the state park trail map. The third cave is smaller than the other two and hard to find off the Pine Cliff trail.
There are over 40 miles of hiking trails at Governor Dodge SP which I do not plan on hiking all of. The trails that we have hiked are some of the most beautiful walks in my life. The Gold Mine Trail will take you to one of the two official caves and is easy to find just off the Twin Valley Lakes campground entrance. The Horse Trail (Interior Loop) is like the shortcut to and from the big cave. To find the big cave (there are many other ways) locate the Meadow Valley Trail which you can pick up from the Cox Hallow Beach, at the end of the parking lot past the concession stand. Head twards Twin Valley Lake using the Meadow Valley Trail. After a looooong walk, pick up the Cave Trail to the right and look for the “Cave” sign. You’ll find it.
Canoe day to-bring list:
(these are just my items, Beckster is bringing items to compliment this list)
- eat before I leave
- pick up Beckie @ 8am!
Lunch
- PBJ’s
- Apples
- Cheese
- Raisins
Dinner
- Bagels
- Cream Cheese
- Chips
- Green salad with asian miracle dressing
Drinks
- two Windy City Cup blue water bottles
- Capitol Brewery Amber in cans, 12 pk. minimum
Dress
(these are items outside my regular garb)
- hat
- Tevas
- Muscle T
- Raincoat / rain pants
- leather hiking shoes
Supplies
- rope or strap for canoe tie-off
- pocket knife
- silverware
- blue overnight framed back pack
- cheese slicer
- small cutting board
- cloth napkins
- blue cloth cooler
- Ice
- life preserver vests
- flashlight (for the cave)
- tobacco and other vices
As you can see in my Lifestream, I am addicted to Pandora Radio.
