The road less travelled (NW MN road trip)

You know a road doesn't get much traffic when there's grass growing just about the whole way across it. I took this photo as I was driving through Beltrami Island State Forest, on my way from Grand Rapids to Hayes Lake State Park. 

But let me back up a bit: awhile back, when I decided I needed to put more effort into seeing this state before we moved, I spent a lot of time on the DNR website looking at state parks. An event on 8/24 caught my eye: Grinding Days at Old Mill State Park. It's the one time each year this park fires up their steam-powered flour mill and has a little festival. Without the chance to see the mill in action, I wouldn't have considered driving 5+ hours to see this park. The flour mill is really the main attraction of the park - yes, there are trails, a river and some woods, but the mill is what sets it apart from other parks that have similar terrain.  

With the dates set for this trip, I started looking around at what else was in the area or could reasonably construed to be on the way to or from Old Mill. Since I probably wouldn't visit this particular area again, I wanted to see as much as possible. Much driving and not enough sleeping is what came of that plan.

I left work early on Friday evening, and after a quick dinner with Terp at the local Culver's I got underway. Grand Rapids was my stop for the night - the hotel was cheap but decent if you could get past the sight of the turquoise sink and toilet and the apparent lack of light switches. Next morning I was up early and on my way to the Big Bog.

Besides almost running over a family of wild turkeys on the way, it was a boring drive. The Big Bog is part of a much larger bog, at 500 square miles the largest peat bog in the lower 48 states. And while a bog might not sound very exciting, it was pretty cool. Lots of history in the area - the last herd of woodland caribou in the state was at the Big Bog before disappearing in the late 40s. About 90 years ago there was a failed attempt to drain the bog and turn it into usable farmland. You can still see the scar where the ditch was - it stretches off into the distance and will take many, many years before the bog fully recovers.

But I was mostly excited by the carnivorous pitcher plants and spider webs all over the bog. I saw several pitcher plants with insects trapped inside, and the spider webs were an odd funnel shape with the spider hiding in the narrow part of the funnel, waiting for something to come his way. You can see photos here.

My next destination was a quick trip to Hayes Lake State Park. It was a several hour drive from the Big Bog to Hayes Lake, made even longer by going through Beltrami Island State Forest (the setting for my road less travelled photo at the top). The drive through the forest kept dragging on and on, with occasional signs pointing out the former location of a townsite or cemetary. Mildly interesting, but not something I'd go out of my way to do again. Same goes for Hayes Lake - it's a state park with a lake (obviously) and some trails, but nothing really unique or interesting for me. I had a little picnic by the earthen dam, hiked for a bit on a trail and left. I went back the next morning and hiked the Homestead trail - again, not really all that interesting. Photos from Hayes Lake and Beltrami are here.

Between those visits to Hayes Lake, I stayed overnight at Zippel Bay State Park. That was way more exciting - it's on the southern shore of Lake of the Woods, a massive body of water with 65,000 miles of shoreline and over 14,000 islands. Sunset was beautiful.

Although the campground was less than half full, it felt more crowded than that. The sites (at least the sites in my section) were not well screened from each other. And having a nearby camper drive in and out repeatedly until 2am did not help the situation. But I still managed to get some sleep and wake up around 5:45 for some early photos on the beach. The views were well worth the lost sleep.

I wandered up and down the beach for a couple hours before packing up and getting on the road again. Zippel Bay is most definitely a park I'd go back to. More photos (including a really blurry shot of the porcupine I saw after sunset) are here.

I already mentioned the stop at Hayes Lake to hike the Homestead Trail - from there, I was off to Old Mill State Park and their Grinding Days. It was an unexpectedly interesting drive. I guess I think of northern Minnesota as forests and lake, but the northwest corner has a lot of farmland and prairies. Not that unusual given the proximity to South Dakota, but I wasn't prepared for the transition from Lake of the Woods to prairies and sunflower fields.

Old Mill was pretty busy, certainly the busiest day of the year for them. I didn't really know what to expect. I had this idea in my head that this would be a quiet event, with the mill peacefully grinding away as it drew its power from the river. I must've ignored the part about it being a steam-powered mill - having an old tractor blasting away took away some of the charm. The sizeable crowd, gathered in their lawn chairs awaiting the start of the folk concert, managed to completely kill the quiet atmosphere I had pictured. 

But at least the mill was kind of cool. I climbed the stairs to the top and looked down into it to see the grain being pulverized into flour, with the finished product coming out the side.

I then wandered off and walked a short trail. It was there I came upon a baby squirrel that looked way too young to be out carousing by himself. I made him get off the trail before I left so his mother would be able to find him easier.

And then I left. All told I was there for an 1 hour and 15 minutes, which is almost comical considering this event was the whole reason for my trip. But I don't regret going at all - I got to visit lots of places I would have never seen if it weren't for Old Mill and their Grinding Days.

About an hour east of Old Mill is Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge. It's home to a sizeable moose herd, a couple of wolf packs and lots of birds. It seems like the National Wildlife Refuge system is based around waterfowl, as the refuges I've been to are heavily skewed towards wetlands, and Agassiz is no different. I saw a fox (which was cool) but otherwise just drove by lots of ponds/wetlands and saw a bunch of birds. Compared to the other refuges I've visited in Minnesota (Sherburne and Minnesota Valley), Agassiz is not nearly as scenic. It did have pelicans though, which was pretty darn cool.

The rest of my Old Mill and Agassiz photos are here.

I had wanted to drive to Scenic State Park and camp overnight, but the drive was taking longer than expected so I changed plans and headed to Lake Bemidji State Park. I'm pretty happy with that choice. I hiked their bog walk trail which led to a quiet little lake where I saw an eagle (or osprey?) dive out of a tree and splash into the lake twice trying to catch a fish. The campground was mercifully quiet so I got a great night's sleep, and I heard loons on nearby Lake Bemidji off and on all night. Photos are here (there's just a few of the bog lake).

I would've liked to had time for a short hike in the morning, but I had a 4 hour drive to get to work, so I packed up and got on the road. (I made it to work with 5 minutes to spare) All in all it was a really good weekend - I made it everywhere I had planned on and saw a lot of good stuff. I'd like to go back to Zippel Bay, Big Bog and Lake Bemidji, so I think a road trip in spring when the flowers are in bloom is the works.

I kind of like using a photo instead of a title. Hooray!

Saturday afternoon I was on my way to Sand Dunes State Forest (near Big Lake) when I remembered that Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge is right next to it. I realized I didn't have enough time to do both, so instead of driving all the way there and missing out on one of them, I decided to turn around, go home and try again in the morning.

I got up before 7 am (crazy!) and was on the road for real about 45 minutes later. I was slightly lost on the way to the refuge but found it without too much trouble. I wanted to start there and save the state forest for later, hoping I'd see some animals running around as I drove through. There's a nice 6-7 mile loop road through part of the refuge called the Prairie's Edge Wildlife Drive. I think the wildlife were on vacation today and made the birds stay behind.

The prairie part of it was OK, not incredibly scenic but I doubt the animals care. The first couple miles were a bit boring. I got out and walked the appropriately named Prairie Trail (about 0.4 miles). Decent number of flowers and lots of grasshoppers but that's about it.



Things picked up after that as the drive winds past wetlands and ponds. The scenery definitely improved - I apologize for including the scummy brown stuff near the shore in this photo.


I saw a pair of sandhill cranes and various waterfowl, including a family of trumpeter swans. I don't think I've seen those in the wild before. And I got a phone call from Terp while I was watching them, so he probably heard me taking photos while we were talking.


Beyond that, there's a short little trail through a patch of woods, which thankfully wasn't overrun with mosquitoes and biting flies. I finished up the drive, then got back on the county roads and drove through the refuge to the other side. It looks like it'd be a good place to visit in spring and later in the fall.

Just south of the refuge is Sand Dunes State Forest. Boy howdy did that suck. I wanted to hike a trail towards the middle and get into the SNA (Scientific and Natural Area) because that looked to be the most interesting part with the actual sand dunes. There's also a campground, lake with a swimming beach and of course, lots of forest. The trail was predictably sandy and not much fun to walk, the trail junctions were almost completely unmarked so I didn't know exactly where I was and which one would take me to the SNA, and it was hot. I did make it to the SNA but saw no sand dunes. I gave up shortly thereafter, declaring this a stupid hike which I won't do again. And then I left, stopping for Arby's (yay!) on my way home.

More photos are here.

I don't think I need a title for this one - the photo is sufficient. I took my first trip to Afton State Park on Sunday. The weather was about perfect - low humidity, sunny and temps around 75ish. I didn't really know what to expect from the park. I always think of Afton Alps (the ski hill) so I somehow always assume the state park is like that.

Luckily I was wrong. There's a lot of prairie land, some woods and a lot of riverfront. I started with the short walk around the prairie interpretive trail which was pretty cool. Still lots of flowers and bugs. I like bugs on flowers. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't do as well at close-ups as I would like, so my bugs are a bit blurrier than I'd like.



After that I made a bit of a mistake. I should've continued down the trail towards the southern end of the park, and then walked back along the river. Instead, I headed north towards the picnic area, beach and campground. I ran into a lot of people and I think I missed a really cool part of the park. I may have to go back some time this fall.

I skipped the official beach and instead got off the trail and walked along the river for awhile. There were lots of boats on the water, making plenty of noise and waves. I'm kind of excited because I imagine the scenery will be similar when I go to Voyageurs NP next month, minus all the boat traffic.





When the beach ran out I picked a trail going up into the woods. It broke out into another prairie section after half a mile or so, and from there the trail alternated between prairie and forest. I saw a rabbit, several deer and lots of birds - a couple bald eagles above the river, otherwise lots of brown unexciting birds. The trail was better than some state parks I've been in. There's an irritating trend to make trails 15 feet wide or more. I think it's because they serve a dual purpose - in winter the trails are groomed for cross-country skiing, and I can only guess that activity requires wider trails for some reason. I hate it because it turns a perfectly good trail into a bit of a runway and makes it seem like a very manufactured experience. Anyway, Afton doesn't widen their trails quite as much as some other parks, so it was better than I expected and I'll probably go back this fall or next spring.



More photos can be seen here.

Dakota County Fair

I've been to more fairs than I care to remember. Growing up, I showed dairy cattle for over 15 years. Every summer starting when I was 9 I would go to 1 or more fairs for several days at a time. It peaked out at somewhere around 6-7 shows one summer, so imagine spending close to 3 weeks hanging out in the fair barns, some times sleeping there but mostly just sitting around. Needless to say, fairs are old news to me.

That doesn't mean I don't still like them. But the dairy barn and midway could disappear and I might not even notice, as little time as I spend in those 2 places when I do find myself at a fair. Petting goats, sheep and little piggies is way more fun.

Dakota County (a suburban/rural county south of Minneapolis) just held its county fair, so Terp and I went down there this past Friday morning. Why Dakota County out of all the fairs in the metro area? Because they had this:


That pretty much blows everyone else out of the water. In case you don't understand, that's a bobcat. How many chances does anyone ever get to pet a bobcat? We almost didn't get the chance ourselves - the bobcat is kind of squirrelly in the morning and they usually don't bring him out until early afternoon, but the guy running the show graciously brought Mr. Bobcat out so we could pet him before we had to leave. Here's another picture:


And here's the bobcat about to go for Terp's jugular (notice the little tongue sticking out, ready to lap up the blood):


That wasn't all we did, just the coolest part. We also pet some goats and sheep and little piggies, walked through the art exhibit building, and ate deep-fried cheese curds and mushrooms (Terp about barfed watching me eat the mushrooms). All in all, way more fun then the state fair, much cheaper, and we got to pet a bobcat.