American Travel Journal: Minnesota

Showing posts with label Minnesota. Show all posts

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Mississippi Headwaters State Forest

We crossed the Mississippi River near Bemidji, Minnesota on Beltrami County Road 7 at a location named Iron Bridge for the previous bridge that spanned the stream until its removal in 1984. The current bridge was built in 1980. The road passes through the Mississippi Headwaters State Forest for several miles. The forest is considered one of the most pristine areas along the entire river. It is 1300.6 river miles from here to the mouth of the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois and 41.3 river miles upstream to the headwaters at Lake Itasca.

The fire hydrant sign is posted to signify a snorkel is attached to the bridge so fire pumper-trucks can quickly refill directly from the river. We passed through the state forest in early August 2017.

View upstream

Mississippi River bridge

Main channel looking downstream

A river of grass in Minnesota

Entry to the forest is free.

The forest website is http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_forests/sft00034/index.html.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Paul Bunyan Park - Bemidji, Minnesota

Bemidji, Minnesota bills itself as the "First City on the Mississippi" as well as the birthplace of the legendary lumberjack, Paul Bunyan. We stopped at Paul Bunyan Park to check out both claims during our August 2017 visit to the state.

The headwaters of the Mississippi River are just a few miles out of town in Itasca State Park, but nearly 60 river miles upstream. The river flows through Lake Irving and Lake Bemidji before wandering over 400 miles to Minneapolis.

The park has a large parking area with over 100 spaces for passenger cars. Entry to the parking area is at Second Street and Bemidji Avenue. The exit is a block north at Third Street and Bemidji Avenue. Finding the park from the north was a bit of a challenge as I didn't see any informational signs along US-71. The easiest way to get to the park from out of town is to take the Division Street exit from US-2 / US-71. Follow Division Street east 1.7 miles as it becomes Fifth Street. Turn south on Bemidji Avenue and drive three blocks to the parking entrance on the left at Second Street.

With a population of over 14,000 people, Bemidji truly is the first city on the Mississippi River. With dozens of lakes, numerous bike paths and trails, a state park and a state forest, the Bemidji area should be on your list of stops in the North Woods of Minnesota.

The park is across the street from downtown

Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center

Information desk

Brochures for area attractions

The fireplace is composed of stones from near and far

Souvenir clothing and exhibits

Eighteen foot tall Paul Bunyan and ten foot high Babe the Blue Ox

Rotary Pavilion

Lake Bemidji

Black-eyed Susans

Another view of the lake

Playground

Niiemii - "he dances"

Parking and entry to the park are free.

The visitor center website is http://www.visitbemidji.com/.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Sunset at Ash River Visitor Center - Voyageurs National Park

We ended our early August 2017 visit to Voyageurs National Park at the same place we started, the Ash River Visitor Center. Specifically, we walked down the path toward the dock and turned west to watch the sun set over Kabetogama Lake.

Rainbow over Mead Wood Road

Salmon colored sky above Mead Wood Road

Ash River Visitor Center dock

Distorted reflections in Kabetogama Lake

Underlit clouds

A closer look

Fading light

Full moon rising

Entry to Voyageurs National Park is free.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/voya.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Little American Island - Voyageurs National Park

Gold was discovered on what is now Little American Island in Voyageurs National Park in July 1893. The Little American Mine was up and running early the next year with hard rock mining proceeding with both a horizontal adit and a vertical shaft that eventually reached a depth of 100 feet. The Little American Mine was the only profitable one in the region and it was just barely in the black.

By spring of 1894, the Rainy Lake "Gold Rush" was in full swing with the incorporation of the new settlement of Rainy Lake City on the east side of Black Bay Narrows. The boom quickly fizzled and by 1898 the school and newspaper were closed with the town being totally abandoned by 1901.

A tour of the island begins at the small dock on the northwest side of the island. A packed gravel ¼-mile path loops around to both the mine shaft and the adit. It also offers long distance views up Rainy Lake from an overlook on the east end of the island. One bench is provided for visitors that need to rest after climbing about 20 feet to the small hill atop the island. A vault toilet is located near the dock.

Visitors to the park can reach the island by private boat or by taking the park service's Grand Tour from the nearby Rainy Lake visitor center. I've written about the Grand Tour on a separate post here. We visited in early August 2017.

Voyageur at the dock

Heading up from the dock

Typical trail conditions

Wayside display

The adit entrance to the mine is full of water

Bridge across the adit

Remains of the hoist house mechanism

Vertical shaft entrance to the mine

Social trail to the southeast part of the island

Another wayside exhibit

Park bench at trail junction to the overlook

The trail stays high above the lake as it approaches the overlook

View up the lake from the overlook

Looking southeast toward Rainy Lake City

The dock at the foot of what was once Duluth Avenue in Rainy Lake City from the Voyageur

Entry to Voyageurs National Park is free.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/voya.

Grand Tour - Voyageurs National Park

Since 38% of the surface area of Voyageurs National Park is water, we wanted to spend at least some of our time in the park on the water. We chose to take a guided tour from the Rainy Lake visitor center aboard the Voyageur tour boat. The Grand Tour is a 20 mile, 2½ hour cruise on Rainy Lake that includes a short stop at Little American Island to explore the 1890's gold rush, viewing an historic commercial fishing camp, and searching for wildlife including bald eagles. Since Little American Island can be visited by anyone with access to a boat on Rainy Lake, I've written about it in a separate post here.

The tour costs $30 per adult (17 and older), $15 per child (3-16), and $3 for children (2 and under). A three person crew of park service employees includes the captain, a deckhand, and a naturalist (or interpreter). The tour has a minimum of 4 passengers and a maximum of 40. The Voyageur has an enclosed lower cabin and an open upper deck. In case of inclement weather, seating for all passengers is available in the enclosed cabin. Bottled water is sold on the boat and a marine toilet is also available.

We found the Grand Tour to be an excellent use of our time as we saw much more of the park than we would have on our own and we had a guide to point out some of the more interesting features of the Rainy Lake portion of the park. We visited in early August 2017.