Itasca State Park Part 1

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Our next planned stop was at Itasca State Park. It is Minnesota’s oldest state park and is the location of the headwaters of the Mississippi River. There are two different camping areas within this rather large park. The Pine Ridge Campground sites seemed to be more secluded and may be difficult for a rig our size while it seemed like the sites in the Bear Paw Campground might be a bit larger and it was right next to the lake. Since we had reserved the site right when the reservation window opened for our arrival about 4 months ago, we picked a site that had a bit of a lake view. We had heard good things about this park so we had booked our site for 9 nights. Since the sites only have electric, we planned on using the bathroom and shower facilities in the campground most of the time to extend the time our holding tanks last.

It was just over 100 miles but there was the issue of the checkout time at the COE park was early while the check in time at the SP was late - meaning we would need to stall somehow. So we found a Walmart along the drive that would work for a layover stop. Chris was able to go in to the store for a few groceries and I was able to go for a bike ride that would allow me to get geocaches in two additional Minnesota counties. This permitted us to time our arrival fairly accurately which was good because by the time we got checked in, there was a rather long line of campers waiting to get in. We discover that the site we had picked was plenty big enough however it was far from level. We needed to pull out every single leveling block to get the rig mostly level. Most people are either in travel trailers or fifth wheels or even tents so the level of the pad is less critical that those of us with long motorhomes. While not technically a lakeside site, we did have a decent view of the lake.

Lake Itasca

Our Unlevel Site

There was a concert at the amphitheater that evening so we headed over there to check it out since the weather was outstanding for mid August. Our performers for the night was called Basement Brass out of Bemidji MN. The group had one drummer and 5 members that played various brass instruments like trumpet, trombone, and French horn. They played a wide range of music that was quite entertaining. They even got a lot of participation from the audience when they played the chicken dance usually heard at wedding receptions.

Music Under the Pines

Basement Brass Performs

Calm Waters of Lake Itasca Before Sunset

The next morning we headed out for a hike in the park. Our plan was to piece together a couple different trails to make a 5 mile loop on the south side of the lake. We arrive at the parking area for the Douglas Lodge where we hoped to pick up the Deer Park Trail. We wandered around for quite some time trying to figure out which trail was the correct one. We eventually realized we needed to take a different trail (Dr Robert’s Trail) for a short distance to intersect with the one we wanted.

Stone Staircase

We Found the Deer Park Trailhead

One of our first detours was to check out the Aiton Heights fire tower. The side trail is around 1/3 mile each way but definitely worth the walk. As we approached the tower we saw the chain link fence surrounding the base and were worried it was closed, but the gate was open so we headed up the 100 foot tower. Chris knew she wasn’t going to enjoy the stairs to the top so she skipped the climb. It did provide for a very nice view in all directions.

Tall Fire Tower

View From Tower

Back onto the Deer Park Trail, we continue to the south. There are lots of small lakes to see along the way. While the trail does continue to the south as the Red Pine Trail, we follow the crossover trail that leads to the Ozawindib Trail. These trails are all fairly wide probably because they are mainly used for cross country skiing and might even be groomed so they need to be wider than most single track trails we are accustomed to.

Lake View from Trail

Crossover Trail

We had no trouble following this trail back north and right into the lodge area where we parked the car. In hindsight, since there is really no reason to follow this loop in one direction versus the other, it might have been smarter to just go to the well marked Ozawindib Trail from the lodge area.

Yet Another Lake in Minnesota

It was lunch time so we drive over to the main visitor center and have the lunch we had left in the car. The building here is quite nice with some sitting areas. They also have decent WiFi available which could come in handy since we have practically no cell coverage in the park - it’s a pretty remote location here at Itasca SP.

Visitor Center

Nice Sitting Area Inside Visitor Center

We wander around inside and check out some of the displays. We also take advantage of the ranger at the desk to get some information about other hikes and biking in the park.

Dramatic Ceiling

Bear Cub

Back outside, I watch the hummingbirds that come to the multiple feeders situated around the building. On the drive back to camp, we stopped at a couple of the small viewpoints like Preachers Grove - named after a preacher’s convention back in the 1920’s. It is also the area of one of the oldest red pine stands on the park.

Fancy Rocking Bench

Hummingbird at Feeder

View at Preachers Grove

The next day we head out from our campsite on our bikes to check out some of the nice trails. The 12 mile long paved bike trail runs from the Douglas Lodge in the south to the Headwaters area to the north and it goes right past our campsite 50 feet away. Of course if we were to ride this to each end and back, we would have a 24 mile ride. When we had spoken with the ranger yesterday, we were told that a better option was to use the bike path up to the headwaters area, then follow the Merschman Thompson Trail to the west where it intersects the Wilderness Drive. This section of paved road is about 10 miles long and one way so it makes for a pleasant, less traveled route back to the lodge where we can pick up the bike path again into camp. This loop route ends up being just over 17 miles and isn’t terribly hilly. There were sections of the trail with lots of wildflowers and we saw one of the areas where visitors can rent a cabin if you don’t have an RV or tent.

Wildflowers Line Bike Path

One of Bert's Cabin

Beginning of Wilderness Drive

The Wilderness Drive is quite nice and even has a bike lane identified along the side of the road. There really wasn’t much vehicular traffic and only saw one other pair of bikers - of course they had e-bikes so we don’t really count them as cyclists. There are a few trailheads that start out along this drive and some nice views of even more lakes. I guess Minnesota is called the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” so we know where a few of them are located. The full ride including stops took just over 2 hours and was quite nice.

Elk Lake Boat Launch

The following day we take it a bit easier and head out to tour some of the area to the west and north of the campground. Our mission was to find some geocaches in several of the counties in that direction and hopefully see some interesting places along the way. One stop was in the small town of Heiberg MN. There is a park with trails extending into the nearby woods. These trails look to be used more in the winter than summer months but it was still a nice walk.

Creek at Heiberg Park

Trail Behind Park

As we drove around western Minnesota, we started to see lots of large fields of sunflowers. We later would ask at a farm stand why there were so many acres of sunflowers being grown and was told that they were harvested later in the year and the seeds pressed for sunflower oil. On our way back, we stopped at Bad Medicine Lake. A pullout on the northern end of the lake gave a nice view of it and we walked down to the boat launch as well. All told, we ended up finding caches in 5 Minnesota counties and had fun time exploring.

Large Field of Sunflowers

Overlooking Bad Medicine Lake

Boat Launch at Lake

As we got back to the state park, we stop at the Headwaters Area to actually check out the beginning on the Mississippi River. This was definitely a popular place which makes sense given this spot is likely why visitors even come to this rather remote state park - it just took us a few days to make it here. There is a nice visitor center here as well with lots of souvenirs for sale. There is also a scale model of the Mississippi River complete with the ability to pour water at the beginning and watch it flow to the Gulf of Mexico.

Mississippi Headwaters Visitor Center

Headwaters Caretaker Statue

River Model

A short path leads from the visitor center to the actual headwaters. Along the way, you cross over the river and there are steps leading from it and out. There are people wading towards the steps. Apparently lots of visitors like to walk the first several hundred feet of the river just because you can. We weren’t dressed for such an activity.

Stairs To/From River

There were dozens of people at the headwaters. A sign explains how we are at 1475 feet above sea level and this water will travel 2552 miles all the way to the Gulf. What actually surprises us is the direction of travel. Normally I think of the Mississippi as heading south and you are either on the east side or west side. However in reality, it leaves the lake heading west for a few hundred feet before turning north where it will flow about 200 miles before turning east and then eventually to the south.

The Beginning of the Mighty Mississippi River

We do walk across the Mississippi like just about every other visitor does. It’s maybe 15 feet wide and just over ankle deep with minimal flow from the lake. The harder aspect of the walk are the slippery rocks along the river bottom that makes for challenging footing. For those not wanting to get wet feet, there is a log bridge across the water only 80 feet downstream. We use that path to more safely get back to the other side.

From the Other Side

Lake Itasca

First Bridge Over River

There isn’t a whole lot more to see of the headwaters unless you have your swimming suit on and want to play in the river. It’s likely this is the cleanest spot to wade in the Mississippi River.

Humble Beginnings of River

We had seen a couple of rail trails in the surrounding area outside of the state park. The Paul Bunyan Trail extends 123 miles from Lake Bemidji in the north to Crow Wing State Park to the south. The Heartland Trail covers about 45 miles from Park Rapids to Cass Lake. There is a 6 mile section where the two trails overlap near the town of Walker. After studying the maps for the trails, we decide to start riding the trail at the parking area in Walker and head southwest. Choosing that direction will have us heading slightly uphill for the ride. Then when we decide we have reached our halfway point, we should have an easier ride back. We will let our legs decide just how far we go. The trail was nice and in good shape. We didn’t come across all that many other people out so that was a plus as well.

Heartland Trail

There are dozens of geocaches hidden along this trail but we opted to only go for a few of them otherwise we wouldn’t get in much of a ride. We were feeling pretty good during the ride and decided we should try to make it to a small park in the town of Nevis which would be just under 16 miles. We found picnic tables, a real restroom instead of a porta-pottie and the world’s largest tiger Muskie. We ate the PB&J sandwiches we had along and while we were looking at our maps, we realized that when we biked through the town of Akeley, we had somehow missed the Paul Bunyan statue.

Tiger Muskie in Nevis

At 30 feet tall, it’s hard to believe we would have missed it, but we decide we must stop on our way back through. It is a few hundred feet south of the trail and would have been obscured by buildings and trees on our way through the first time but we had no trouble spotting it from the trail. We make a detour to check it out. It’s claimed to be the largest Paul Bunyan statue in the world but only if the kneeling Paul was to stand upright. It seems to be a dubious claim but he was nice enough to let us sit on his hand for our selfie. There is a small museum near the statue but it wasn’t open.

Paul Bunyan in Akeley

The rest of the ride went fine and we made it back to Walker getting in 31.7 miles. Total time was 4.5 hours but actual ride time was just under 3.5 hours. We really enjoyed the trail although it helped that it was a beautiful day for a bike ride. We felt like our effort deserved a reward so we stopped at Portage Brewing Company in downtown. After enjoying a beer, we headed to the city public dock to check out Leech Lake. It’s a very pretty setting.

Portage Brewing Company in Walker

Walker City Dock

Dock View

The next day we head to Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge about 30 miles southwest of camp. It was on our way to Detroit Lakes to see the trolls - more on that adventure in the next blog post. Tamarac was established in 1938 predominantly for migratory birds. It’s a big place comprising over 42,000 acres and it’s fairly remote so it’s a lot of driving on gravel roads. We first stop at the small kiosk with information and maps. We had come in on the east side of the refuge and wanted to check out the visitor center and drive the 5 mile long Blackbird Wildlife Drive before leaving the refuge on the west side. We would have preferred to hit the visitor center first but that would have meant backtracking to get to the scenic drive.

Entrance to Tamarac NWR

Beginning of Blackbird Wildlife Drive

There are lots of pullouts at viewpoints but either they are still in progress or being redone so each one just had a small sign stating which interpretive station will be coming soon. There is an observation deck less than a mile into the drive. Our timing to see birds seemed to be poor as well since there didn’t seem to be any birds in sight. It was a pretty drive even if we didn’t get a chance to see much wildlife.

Makeshift Interpretive Sign

Observation Deck

Scenic Rest Stop

Next we make our way over to the visitor center. It is a very interesting building design both on the outside and inside. The hummingbird feeder seemed to be attracting a few birds.

Exterior of Visitor Center at Tamarac

Hummingbird at Feeder

We end up spending a half hour exploring the displays. They have a nice upper deck that provides a good view of one of the nearby lakes. It looked like there may have been two trumpeter swans out on the water but they were pretty far away so it was hard to know for sure.

Owl Caught a Squirrel

Bald Eagle

Possible Trumpeter Swans?

On the way out to the car to work our way out of the refuge and make our way to Detroit Lakes, we passed a sign I just had to read since I think I know Jack - or at least I should!

Jack Pine - Not Me