Sweetwater Creek State Park
Ranking: Easy Pie to Moderate
The one, the only, Sweetwater Park. We’ve hiked at Sweetwater several times now and each time is always something different. This park has several different trail options as well as an awesome visitor center to boot! So let's break it down further. Once you have parked and made your way down, you will arrive at a very awesome visitor center. If I am being honest, this is one of the best VCs I have ever been to.
Once you go inside, there are bathrooms to your left and a front desk on your right. There are also the usual items, souvenirs to snacks, to drinks and socks. Once you get past the shop and front greeting area, there is a mini museum about the park itself. There is information on the Mill Ruins that are on property as well as animal and historic relics found. (There is a room off to the left side right after you walk through the front doors, that has reptiles in it. Be sure to check it out- I missed it on my first visit. It’s small but cute.) After you have made your way through the VC or decided to skip it, now you must decide on which trail to hike.
Each trail is represented by a different color, so as you hike be sure to lookout for color markers to stay on track. My favorite thing about this park is that there are different levels of hiking available. If you aren't wanting anything too extreme, there is a trail for that. If you are wanting something more intense, there is a trail for that. I would recommend you grab a map and figure out which trail works best for you. The park employees are there to help as well so you could ask them too!
We opted to grab a map since we knew we were doing all-day hiking, changing it up as we went. Throughout the park, you will find Mill ruins, informational posts, as well as a huge river to play in. Whenever we go hiking during the warmer months, we always end up wading in the water and climbing the rocks. It is a great place to let kids play as well as adults. If you are planning on bringing kids or pets, I will warn you that the water is very deep in some places so watch out as you go.