ST. JOSEPH - A local group is offering you a chance to combine discovering the great outdoors and the engaging fun of an escape room.

HIKEhoppers is a local organization that encourages people to spend more time adventuring outdoors. While HIKEhoppers is relatively new to Central Minnesota, the leadership group is full of lifetime residents of St. Cloud and the surrounding community.

The newest event, Park Escape, is taking place at Kreamer Lake and Wildwood Park starting Thursday October 19th through Sunday October 22nd and starting again Thursday October 26th and ending Sunday October 29th.

The Park Escape will give groups of up to eight a chance to have all the fun of an escape room while enjoying one of the great Stearns County Parks.

Emma Schott is the owner of Serenity Wellness & Healing and a member of HIKEhoppers. She says that they have more than just one escape to experience.

"We have three trails set up. We have one trail that is more family friendly and the other two are also for all ages but a little harder. One of them is also longer than the others."

 

She also says that while they are not Halloween themed, you can still get a fright if you choose to do the escape room at the right time.

"It is not really based off of a Halloween theme. It is more of a fairy tale theme I would say. You can have it be a little more spooky if you choose one of the later time slots to do the park escape in."

 

While having fun is a major part of what HIKEhoppers is offering, they are also focused on helping people get more in touch with local parks and the beauty of the outdoors.

"I am a firm believer that we are overstimulated as a society. We are in front TV's all day and in front of our phones all day and it is making us anxious. With my personal experience just getting out in nature, grounding down, unplugging from all that stuff is really going to help us both emotionally and physically."

 

HIKEhoppers organizers are expecting it to remain busy throughout the weekends. They recommend signing up for a time slot through their website for a specific time slot to make sure you can get a chance to escape.

They are also on the lookout for volunteers to help them with the park escape. If you are interested in helping out you can follow the link below for more information.

Milk and Honey Ciders, which is just down the road from Kreamer Lake and Wildwood Park, is one of HIKEhoppers partners for the park escape.

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