Hiking: Lion's Den Gorge Nature Preserve

This weekend has been absolutely perfect, so we took full advantage of it and headed outside before a crappy week of weather ahead.

I've heard so many good things about Lion's Den Gorge Nature Preserve in Grafton and we finally checked it out this morning.

Parking and the park entrance is free. We parked at the front and walked on a few planked trails until we hit the graved trails that lead to Lake Michigan.

 There's a pretty swamp area with lots of red-winged blackbirds defending their territory.

I loved these yellow flowers near the streams.

Don't these buds look like caterpillars?

 So many great paths to choose from! We started on the bluff trail.

 Naturally, we were aiming to see views like this.

 The trails are well-maintained, flat, and the types of trees change throughout the park.

We both liked this cute bridge among all of the pretty birch trees. 

Near the bridge, we took the stairs down to the beach. The water here looked tropical at times.

 Of course, Craig always finds rocks to skip. I always fail at skipping rocks.

 People left little rock art creations around the beach.

 The bluffs around the lake were pretty treacherous looking.

Love hiking together! It's a great and active hobby and I'm so thankful to have a partner I can do this with for life.

Memories from today: so many spring birds out everywhere, a random dog on the trail growling specifically at me while I sat on a bench, and "Sunday' driving through the country on our way home.

We were starving after all that activity and headed to downtown Grafton to get a bite at Collectivo. I wanted to check out their new vegan options. I had the Edamame Hummus Wrap and a Green Hornet smoothie. The wrap wasn't my first choice, but they were sold out of the Cauliflower Bahn Mi so I had to settle for something else. It was still delicious!