Twin Cities MN Part 2

Map of this blog's locations click this link to open the map

One of the attractions in the Twin Cities is the Minnesota Zoo. We last visited a zoo in Oshkosh Wisconsin but it was a very small free zoo. Our last large zoo we visited was a couple years ago in Syracuse New York. While we enjoyed this zoo, the one here in Minnesota is significantly larger - close to 10 times the acreage. The other nice thing about this zoo is how close it is to our campground. In under a mile walk, we can get to the zoo and save the parking fee. We time our departure to be at the east gate by 10 AM 

when the zoo opens. We were the only people waiting to get into the zoo which seemed strange and when the gate was still locked at 10, we realized that this gate is not always open. We walk the additional quarter mile to the main gate to find hundreds of visitors and a fairly full parking lot.

At the Proper Entrance

We checked out what programs were scheduled for the day that sounded like ones we would enjoy to help plan our visit. We settle on the 11 AM Sea Lion Discovery program and the 1 PM Wings and Things (bird) show. With 45 minutes to spare, we decide to start out by walking on the so called Treetop Trail. This elevated walkway is just a repurposed monorail system that used to be in service at the zoo until 2013. Ten years later it had been converted into a 1.25 mile walking path that provides a nice view of much of the zoo below. It’s clear from this vantage point just how vast the zoo is. Although much of the land area seems to be just wild land and doesn’t house any zoo animals per se. Plus at this elevation we didn’t get great views of any of the animals.

Airstream Food Vendors

We did get a chance to check out some of the bison and they were much closer than the ones we saw a few days ago at the Belwin Conservancy. We would make it past the bison area a few times during the course of our visit and the small herd did seem to move around quite often.

Dry Bison

Wet Bison

We also saw a few of the Mongolian wild horses grazing in their fields.

Przewalski Wild Horse

We head over to the sea lion show and stand in a fairly long line to wait prior to being let in. They have concrete bleachers that overlook the large pool. I was surprised by how tightly they packed the visitors into the show. There were several sea lions that performed for us. Most of the time it was the couple of staff members that got them to do all sorts of tricks - for food of course. But a few times they recruited eager volunteers from the audience to interact with the performers. Volunteering seemed to be a sure fire way to hands that smelled like fish for the remainder of the day.

Sea Lion Awaits Food

Young Boy Tossing Fish

After the water show, we headed out to concentrate on the outdoor exhibits, saving the inside displays for later in the heat of the afternoon. There are a lot of different animals at this zoo. They claim over 500 species and almost 5000 “residents”. Like most zoos, what you are able to actually see is quite hit or miss. Often the exhibits look empty or you only see a glimpse of the animal laying down in the shade. The leopard was a good example. Initially it was snoozing on a rock ledge but when we walked by later in the day it had climbed up onto a tall tree and was staring at the large crowd of visitors watching from below.

A Glimpse of a Tiger

Caribou

Snoozing Leopard Early

Alert Leopard Later

The prairie dogs were pretty active as were the several pigs.

Prairie Dogs

Wooly Pigs

One area was quite popular with visitors - the camels, llamas and alpacas. There was a long line of people waiting to pay to get a ride on the camels. And you could walk around with the llamas and alpacas. A few people needed to be reminded to not approach them but for the most part residents and visitors were well behaved. I liked how there were several large fans in the area and many of the animals knew to lay close by to get a good breeze on a hot day. Chris even found a friend that let her sit nearby.

Camel Riders

Cooling By the Fan

Chris Makes a Friend

It was after noon by now, so we found a bench in the shade to eat the lunch we had brought along. There are plenty of dining options, but we knew that most would not be particularly healthy or cheap. By now we could walk over to the amphitheater for the afternoon bird show. It’s a big venue and the seating was much less cramped. It is still a concrete bleacher but there are wooden boards to sit on instead of bare concrete.

Red-Legged Seriema

Northern Ground Hornbill

A Colorful Knobbed Hornbill

The half hour show was very entertaining. They had over a dozen different species of birds and they all seemed to have some interesting talents that they had learned. Some knew how to pick up trash and put it in the trash can or if it was a recyclable item, it would go in the blue bin. Often the handlers would be back in with the audience so the birds would fly to them to get their treat. The pied crow had a special talent. It could fly up to an audience member that was willing to donate some money to their wildlife fund. A guy a few feet away from us, stood up with a $5 bill in his hand and outstretched arm. The bird flew up, landed on his arm and retrieved the money.

Crowned Crane

Owl

Pied Crow Collects Money

One area we had not made it to yet was the family farm. Off to the side of the main zoo exhibits was a large farm with several large barns and outbuildings and a wide variety of farm animals. Of course, Chris was partial to the goats. We found it interesting to watch one of them take advantage of the rotating brush to scratch an itch.

Chris Makes Another Friend

Rotating Goat Brush

There were so many things to see here. Surprisingly the pigs we saw here almost looked cleaned and groomed. As we walked out the long drive back to the zoo, we spotted a horse and foal in their own fenced in area. It was clear they didn’t seem to be related yet they were acting like mother and child. It turns out that Marat, born to one of the wild Asian horses in May of this year, became sick shortly after birth and required extensive care. Upon recovery, his mother rejected him. Alice, a domesticated pony, had recently, lost her own newborn. The zoo staff introduced the two of them and Alice accepted this foal and became a willing surrogate. Quite the touching story. I suspect most visitors just walked by only seeing a couple of horses.

Very Clean Pigs

Marat the Wild Asian  Horse

Marat with His Surrogate Mom Alice

We had seen just about everything in the outdoor exhibits. There were a few of the animals that had been hiding but we were too tired to walk around the loops again hoping to see them. Plus we still had all the inside exhibits to see in the several buildings at the zoo.

Dwarf Crocodile

Colobus Monkeys

Red-Necked Wallaby

There are a wide assortment of animals to see here and many of them seemed to be up and active in their enclosures. Some of the monkeys and gibbons were very entertaining and showing off some of their skills.

Black Dragon Water Monitor

Gibbon Does High Wire Act

Tapir on the Move

Colorful Coral and Amemone

It was after 4 PM by now and we were pretty tired from all the walking we did today. We think we covered all the zoo but I’m sure there were a couple of things we missed. One last area is called the Dino Hideout. It’s really a play area for kids but it does include a fair number of animatronic dinosaurs to check out as well. We took 15 minutes to check it out before heading back the mile to our campsite. This was a very nice zoo and a fun stop in the Twin Cities.

Enter the Dino Hideout

T-Rex

Since this part of Minnesota was new for us, that meant there a lot of new counties that we have yet to find geocaches in. We plan for a road trip the next day to generally head west, trying to get to a handful of the counties in that direction. To come up with a strategy, we take a look at some of the towns to see if there might be something worth visiting. If not, we will look at the number of favorite points geocaches have to come up with a reason for stopping at it. We weren’t really finding any places we really needed to see west of the Twin Cities, but we did stumble upon something quirky based on a geocache. In the town of Darwin Minnesota is the World’s Largest Twine Ball. We put together a series of geocaches that would take us through 6 different Minnesota counties and made sure Darwin was on our list

It’s about 75 miles from camp to Darwin and we made several stops along the way finding some geocaches. We arrived in Darwin and had no trouble spotting the twine ball. What we didn’t realize is how much the town is into this honor. We had found a picnic table in a park across the street from it and a local came up to chat and asked if we were going to come to the big celebration in 3 days. Turns out, there was going to be a celebration this upcoming weekend to honor the 75th anniversary of the ball of twine. It had been a long drive to get here and we told him we likely wouldn’t  make it back. It is an impressive sight with its own covered gazebo to protect it from the elements. It’s around 13 feet in diameter and weighs in at 17,400 pounds! There might have been other unusual things in Darwin based on the name of the nearby alley.

Darwin's Prized Twine Ball

A Closer View

Did Not Explore Weird Alley

From Darwin, we headed south and visited some more counties. None of the other stops could compare to the ball of twine. Although we did find some creative hides along the way.

One Elaborate Geocache Container

We had one last day at this campground and we hadn’t done nearly all the hiking trails or geocaches. But that day we headed to a different portion of Lebanon Hills Park for another hike and some geocaching. The trail around Jensen Lake is listed as 2.2 miles but since we will be looking for caches, we know that number will go up. It was a pretty walk with a combination of normal trails and boardwalks over some of the wetter areas.

Canoe/Kayak Portage

Boardwalk

Trail

On the eastern end of the lake, we continued on some trails around two of the adjacent ponds. We found a couple of very creative hides along the way. One required a 9 volt battery but we knew this in advance so we had come prepared. After finding the well hidden container requiring a fair amount of bushwhacking, we powered up the unit and it started to play a recording. The problem was that the clue to the final cache location was in Morse Code. We started and stopped the recording multiple times attempting to distinguish the dots and dashes but it was at a speed that only a Western Union telegraph operator could decipher. It wasn’t looking good for us until I remember that the voice memo app on my phone not only records but can show a waveform of the sound. After recording the message, we could listen and watch the waveform and pretty easily interpret the dots and dashes and determine where we needed to go for the final.

Water Lily

One other cache that was sort of gruesome was 20 feet off the trail in some thick brush. With Chris being quite sensitive to poison ivy, I needed to go in for the find. I wasn’t planning on stumbling onto a bloody foot sticking out from underneath a log. I reluctantly grabbed it and pulled it out to find the container attached to the “leg”. I forgot to show Chris the picture until writing up this blog post. She was glad she didn’t need to reach for the foot. By the time we got back to the car, we had in a 4 mile hike and found 5 of the 6 geocaches we had looked for.

Never Know What You'll Find Geocaching!

Jensen Lake View

The next day was our travel day from the south side of the Twin Cities to the northern side. Our destination was Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Park in the town of Lino Lakes. It’s only about a 45 mile drive but with check out and check in times, we need to find an intermediate point to stop and wait. We found a Walmart with a large enough parking lot to accommodate us and Chris was even able to pick up a few groceries before continuing to the campground. This county park is not nearly as nice with gravel sites and roads and only water and electric at the sites but this place costs $4 per night more than where we were. At least the sites were spacious and level and they had a reasonable shower house and bathroom. This should work for the 7 nights we are planning on being here.

Now that we are the other side of town, we can explore some of the areas nearby. About 32 miles to the northeast in the town of Taylor Falls Minnesota is Interstate State Park. Given the name, you would be correct in guessing the park continues over the St Croix River to the Wisconsin side and it too is named Interstate State Park. We had thought the weather was forecast to be decent, but it was a bit foggy and drizzling a bit when we arrived.

Entrance to MN Side of Interstate State Park

Oversized Adirondack Chair

We park on the Minnesota side and head into the visitor center. We are planning on camping at a couple of MN state parks after this stay so we need to get a vehicle permit. We head in to ask about getting the required permit since the website was unclear how it would work with our motorhome towing a car. It turns out that their policy favors a truck pulling a travel trailer or fifth wheel over a motorhome flat towing a car into a Minnesota state park. The vehicle being driven into the campground must have the annual park pass affixed to the windshield and the camping unit would get a courtesy pass for the length of the stay. So if we stick our pass to the Jeep’s window in order to park here for the day, we would need to buy a second one for the motorhome. We decide to just drive a couple blocks into town and park on one of the roads there for the time we are here.

After parking the car in town, we walk back over into the park on the Minnesota side. There is a pedestrian walkway that goes underneath the very busy road. A kayaker was paddling underneath the bridge in the whitewater. He appeared to be having fun surfing in the swirling water although at times he would be kicked out rather abruptly.

Kayaker Surfs Rapids

The park on this side of the river has fewer trails but is still quite interesting to see. There is a 3/4 mile long trail that meanders along the river. This portion of the park is known for both the quantity and size of glacial potholes.

Large Pothole

If you’re not familiar with potholes other than those in the roads of northern climates, I’ll explain. A pothole is a cylindrical hole in solid rock caused by swirling meltwater from glaciers. As these holes start to form, sand and stones fall into them and act as an even more abrasive force making the hole deeper and wider. The one below was called the Bottomless Pit. In the early days of the park, this pothole was cleared of all the sand, silt and dirt before hitting solid rock. At 60 feet deep, it is believed to be the deepest pothole in the world but many other in the park may be deeper but haven’t been explored.

The Bottomless Pit

The trail system has been built to allow visitors to explore many of the potholes and unusual rock formations found concentrated in this part of the park. There are a few overlooks that provide a nice view of the river below. Too bad it was a little rainy since it detracted from the views and made the footing on the smooth rock surfaces a challenge.

Another Large Pothole

St Croix River

Color Rock Formations

Arched Stone Walkway

Another River View

As the rain continued, we headed back to the car to have lunch. The radar showed the showers should be ending soon and sure enough by the time we finished lunch, the rain stopped and we could walk over the bridge into the Wisconsin side of the park.

River Boats at Dock

This side does not have nearly the same geological formations but there are miles of hiking trails and a couple dozen geocaches to be found. We start out heading to the visitor center. They have numerous display and a movie about the area that we enjoy.

Remains of Old Stone Building

Bald Eagles

Large Bearskin

This stop provided enough time for the sun to actually start to appear. Of course that only helped to raise the humidity levels even higher. We worked our way south along the trail out of the visitor center finding several caches along the way. The Ravine Trail took us  down in elevation and would have been fine except that the morning rain had made things pretty slick.

Start of Ravine Trail

Lots of Stair into Ravine

As we got to the amphitheater, Chris headed in to use the restroom while I went after another geocache just a few feet into the woods behind the seating area. I found the container quickly and opened it to sign in. Then I noticed something on my one calf that felt like biting or stinging. I looked down to see my lower leg covered with some sort of bug. I couldn’t identify it but I knew I needed to get out of there. I don’t believe anyone was around to see me fleeing from some invisible predator. Even Chris was still in the restroom. As I exited the woods, I assumed I had stepped on some sort of ground bee or wasp nest and was expecting a swarm of them to be chasing me. But after 100 feet, I stopped to realized that nothing was coming for me and whatever had been on my leg were now gone.

I still needed to sign the log and head back to replace the container that was still in my hands. I reluctantly headed back in and successfully put it back in place without any further injury. But by now my leg was hurting with at least a dozen bites. I later had a discussion with ChatGPT about what might have attacked me. The conclusion was something called a formica ant. They are ground dwelling ants that will bite if they feel threatened. They also inject formic acid which can lead to increased pain at the bite location. My one foot must have stepped on their nest and they crawled up and bit me numerous times. It also explains why I didn't get bitten elsewhere since they don’t fly. For several days after my leg was in severe pain but eventually returned to normal.

We continued the hike down to Lake O’ the Dalles and then continued on along the main road before heading back to the trail along the river.

Beach at Lake

St Croix River View from Wisconsin Side

There are several riverboats that dock on the Minnesota side. It isn’t clear how long the ride is but it does seem like it would be a pretty boat ride if we had more time.

They Are Paddleboats

We eventually made it back to the car. The little town of Taylor Falls looked cute, but my leg was in too much pain to want to do any more walking than required. On the drive back to camp, we did make a quick stop in the town of Lindstrom. It has a strong Swedish heritage that even extended into the town’s cute water tower with Welcome to Lindstrom written in Swedish.

Teapot Water Tower