Incredible Find While Hiking Hidden Midwest Gem (Travel Vlog! )

hey everyone welcome back to the natty up north channel today is gonna be my very first travel vlog in a really long time so like most people out there i haven't been able to do much if at all travel in the last year and a half and it's one of my very favorite things to do but today is going to be an example of how you can travel and explore while staying a little bit closer to home so i'm actually just going about an hour away from where i live in minnesota and i'm going to be exploring a town that i have never been before in a hiking area that i didn't even know existed until a couple days ago meeting up with a friend we're gonna hit the trail and it's gonna be a good day and i wanted to bring you all along because i know a lot of you enjoy these videos and also hopefully a little bit of encouragement to get out and travel um even if you know you can't for restrictions for budget for time and whatnot so it's going to be a fun video before i forget to mention i want to say thank you to ariat for sponsoring this video you're going to hear more about them a little bit later in the video so before i get out on the trail on this beautiful springy day i'm actually gonna throw together a little trail snack a little energy bite for my friend and i to enjoy while we are out there so this is an example of a type of thing that i make really all the time whether or not i'm bringing it in the boat on the trail traveling you name it so you can make what i'm about to make a million different ways with any of your favorite ingredients but i'm basically making a almond joy style energy bite so it's yummy it's delicious and it'll keep us going all day until we go into town and get some food okay i'm gonna throw those together and i'll see you on the show [Music] we are officially out on the trail this is my friend kristen hey um so kristen i actually just met like through instagram was that like a month ago or so i think so yeah we found out that we both like outdoor stuff and we're in like the same area so we started hanging out and we're going to be hiking together today so where are we right now nurse strand big wood state park just outside of northfield minnesota and you've been here before yeah i've been here i think twice before and it's really beautiful there's a waterfall up ahead and then a nice walk you can take through uh through the woods it's a beautiful day it's actually supposed to be rainy and we have sunshine out yeah we're gonna enjoy this walk show you the beautiful stuff on the way and then i'm excited to see this waterfall i think it's been kind of rainy so this would be nice should be good all right stay tuned [Music] [Applause] [Music] so all right friends i hope that you are enjoying this walk as much as we are and i was just noticing like this whole green thing just appeared like pretty much overnight and we're enjoying it and again we hope you are too but as i mentioned at the beginning of this video this video today is sponsored by ariat which is a maker of super high quality hiking boots work boots and a bunch of other products and i'm super excited to be in my new waterproof terrain boots today i do a lot of hiking i share a lot with you on the channel and as you guys can probably tell i'm always in a really good pair of hiking shoes or hiking boots and it's something that i cannot recommend enough especially when you're doing trails like this that part of it is paved and part of it's not you see a lot of people out in like flip-flops and tennis shoes and things like that and well yes you can at times get away with it i really recommend not doing that because it's really going to set you up for failure so with good hiking boots you can be in all sorts of different terrain whether it's damp or dry or slippery or keeping yourself safe while also making sure that you're enjoying your time in the outdoors without your feet getting sore or blistered up or tired or whatever so i've always got a good pair of hiking boots on these ones i love this is my first day in them we've been hiking for quite a while and it honestly feels like i'm walking on clouds right now they feel awesome they are moisture wicking and as i said they're waterproof so highly recommend always hike with a good pair of hiking boots wool socks even if it's summertime put on a good pair of wool socks just get some lighter ones it helps you from getting blisters um and then yeah you're good supportive boots so i feel like i mean i've got miles left in me which is good because there's a lot more left on the trails too so i will put a link in the description below to this website you can get 10 off your first order thank you ariat for sponsoring this video and there's a lot more to see so we're gonna keep on enjoying okay friends that was that we just finished the hike and we're back kind of at the trailhead i am pleasantly surprised by that the waterfall yeah was like i can't believe that it was just in the middle of where where we are in minnesota um and also we read it was one of those trails that has like little signs kind of as you go and what did it say about how the glaciers carved this area do you remember i don't remember i think it was two or three thousand years ago that sounds right generally speaking this area around minnesota is like glacial carved land that's why we have so many and the last and the limestone that's right so really cool to see but are you ready for my snack i'm ready i'm hungry so i made these this morning they might be kind of warm now cheers they're kind of warm we're good good chocolate's kind of melting yeah and helpful mm-hmm we'll get to it so kristin is actually the author founder of a blog expedition kristen i'll put it linked in the description below but she does a lot of travel guides and things especially in this kind of minnesota northern area so you came here what 10 years ago yep this august will be 10 years i'm originally from long island moved to minnesota 10 years ago and didn't know how long i'd stay but still here and i like it love it we're happy to have you so for people that live in like maybe minnesota wisconsin area what is your favorite hidden gem hike and your favorite hidden gem town to visit a hidden gem hike would be um and good for minnesota and wisconsin saint croix boom site in stillwater i have discovered that most locals actually don't even know about it and when you go down you'll go down these stairs right down to the saint croix river you turn left and you walk for about 20 minutes along this path of rocks and dirt and through trees and you'll get to this beautiful waterfall oh nice and most people don't know about it i love it yeah how about a town that we might not know about a favorite town have you heard of montgomery minnesota it's about um maybe an hour south of the twin cities there is a delightful little apple orchard there there's a bakery that's been around since i think 1950 a family on pizzeria a brewery it's just like a delightful little day trip yeah most people don't know about it sounds like a perfect little summer getaway too yeah cool so then how about because i know a lot of you aren't necessarily from this area so you're really good about figuring out places to do kind of wherever you are so like i know personally i've been to a lot of really random parts of the country for work and i feel like i can always find something cool in the area no matter where i am but it can just be difficult to like figure it out so do you like what's your recommendation for people to find something if they live in another part of the country is it blogs is it google maps what do you use i use a lot of different things and then i kind of piece it together so one main thing is that i subscribe to a lot of newsletters or magazines or instagram accounts for places like explore minnesota travel wisconsin um and then local like twin cities magazines and i suppose the end of the day it takes some leg work you gotta go you gotta check it out for yourself and then exactly well if you guys can't tell it's really hot we're gonna hydrate we're gonna have a snack and then we're gonna go visit a little town called northfield this yeah too far from here get some lunch on the river yeah all right check out our blog stay tuned for more [Music] oh cute what are you guys doing thank you there you go did you just make this i did i did it's beautiful you guys this has been a great day as you can see we've been wandering around exploring northfield cute town you're familiar with it yep one of my favorite towns and then came to tanzanwald brewery which was a really really pleasant surprise we actually met the owner on the way in she pointed out her favorite menu items for us and they brew their own beer which we have been enjoying and just goes to show you that you don't need to travel far to have a good travel experience i think i think that that's it i think we're both in a little bit of a very pleasant food coma which is yeah okay place to be yeah so we are gonna head back but i wanted to say thank you for joining in on this adventure for watching the video give it a like if you enjoyed it and thanks again to ariat for sponsoring today's video as well all right gang more travel more fishing more fonts to stay tuned and thanks to kristen bye guys

Channel: Nattie Up North

Views: 22,781

Rating: 4.9716511 out of 5

Keywords: hiking, travel vlogs, summer 2021 travel ideas, midwest, waterfalls, best waterfall hikes, best hikes in minnesota, hiking in minnesota, waterfalls in minnesota, best breweries, northfield, northfield minnesota, minnesota bloggers, fishing, kayak fishing, hiking vlogs, where to travel in 2021, trail snacks, healthy snack ideas, trail snack ideas, camping, solo female travel, female travel, backpacking, hidden gems, nattieupnorth, nattie up north

Id: 0SYKVJO-VzA

Length: 11min 11sec (671 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 04 2021