Back on September 5th 2021 we started the adventure that led us to creating this site and inspired us to share those adventures with others. It was a warm Sunday in September and we thought it would be nice to get out and take a hike. I suggested Banning State Park. I had been to Banning a bunch of times and thought it would be a great place to go explore with Heidi. When we arrived at Banning we never thought the place would be so busy. As we drove down to the trailhead we started noticing cars parked on the side of the road and noticed very quickly that the park was extremely busy. By the time we made it to the parking lot we had decided that taking a hike at Banning that day would not be happening. After doing some quick thinking I remembered that Moose Lake State Park was a short 20 minute drive up interstate 35. When we arrived at Moose Lake State Park we were pleasantly surprised that the park was almost empty. We parked at the picnic area and started our hike on the Echo Lake Trail. It was a short half mile walk on the shore of Echo Lake. After completing that hike we decided to hike another trail called Tall pines. This trail took us up into the pine trees where it was a bit cooler. We had the trail to ourselves and we took our time on the short trail. After hiking we decided to head into Moose Lake for a bite to eat.
We stopped at an interesting little building in the middle of town. There was a BBQ sign hanging on the outside of the building. It turns out that we picked Redneck Meats BBQ. Heidi went with the Redneck Sunday. A mixture of BBQ beans, pulled pork, coleslaw, and was topped with a pickle. I went with the Redneck Nachos. The nachos consisted of tortilla chips covered with pulled pork, cheese and BBQ sauce. The food was great and the service was good. Unfortunately Redneck Meats BBQ closed its doors in January 2022. After lunch we stopped for gas and noticed that Moose Lake Brewing Company was just up the road. There is nothing better than a cold beer after a hike. The brewery had a good list of beers to choose from. We both chose the Knot Bumper Mango Blonde. All the tables on the patio were full but we were able to find a quiet corner out on the patio. This was the spot where we took our first picture together.
When we started this adventure we were documenting things for ourselves and didn’t have the forethought to know what was to come. We will revisit Moose Lake State Park and the Moose Lake area in the future and document things to share with everyone.
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