Minnesota Hiking Club #45 - Split Rock Creek State Park

 

Minnesota Hiking Club

#45 - Split Rock Creek State Park

Date Hiked: February 11th, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Blue Mound State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.67

This certainly didn't go as planned. 

It would be impossible to tell the story of this hike without giving it the proper context, and that's beyond just the logistics. My plan for the day was to finish out the southwest corner of the state, starting with Split Rock Creek, going through Blue Mound, and concluding with Kilen Woods on the way back. Despite the temperature that day being a balmy -17, I got an early start and knocked off a few Adventure Labs on the way.

Then, approaching the small town of Tyler, I felt a bump. Shortly thereafter, the tire pressure light came on. I pulled off around the corner in Tyler, and saw that my front driver's side tire was flat. I'm no automotive expert, but I do know how to change a tire. Or, at least I do when I can get the wrench to move anything even slightly.

As I'm nearly jumping on the wrench trying to get it to budge, I see a pair of Uggs next to my door. When I look up, there is this delightful blonde woman holding a cup of coffee who offers me help. She was the pastor at the Danebod church, in front of which I'd stopped. While we couldn't get the wrench to work, she walked me over to the local car shop and introduced me. They didn't have a tire that fit, but they did drive over with a power tool to help me get the flat off and the spare on. Not being from Minnesota, I haven't experienced as much of that genuine Minnesota Nice as many have, and even being a non-religious person, I made a donation to the Danebod church because of the kindness I was shown. 

That said, the limitations of running on a spare gave me two options: Try to make the 15-minute drive to the first park, and at least finish Blue Mound before a slow drive home, or turn back to Marshall, get a new tire, and try this 3-plus hour drive again another day. 

I opted for the former. Perhaps it wasn't the smartest decision, but it was a decision. Plus, I had a trusted car person near home who would take care of it for me the following day. 

Split Rock Creek was frozen, windy, and cold, if the aforementioned temperature didn't tip you off. Its unfortunate similar name will always have it as the little brother trying to keep up with the big brother's lighthouse and scenic North Shore hiking trails. With a lot of snow on the ground, AllTrails was a huge help to follow the path, as the signs didn't make it totally clear where the oddly-shaped loop trail would turn. 

I didn't make it to Kilen Woods that day, and driving home from Luverne doing 50 on a spare was abjectly terrifying, but I couldn't have done it without the kindness I experienced in nearby Tyler, where a total stranger went above and beyond. 

Minnesota Hiking Club #46 - Mille Lacs-Kathio State Park

 

(Picture is from Father Hennepin State Park, but I didn't want to leave it blank again)

Minnesota Hiking Club

#46 - Mille Lacs-Kathio State Park

Date Hiked: March 11th, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Savanna Portage State Park, Father Hennepin State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.67

Much like Franz Jevne or Carley in previous ranking posts, the access gate to get toward this trail was closed. Unlike Father Hennepin, done a mere few minutes before this park, the actual Hiking Club trail was nowhere near the gate.

Father Hennepin’s Hiking Club trail, which since I haven’t written about it yet obviously indicates I enjoyed that one more, takes one right next to Lake Mille Lacs, whereas the one with that body of water in its name does offer more elevated views from more of a distance. Neither of those are bad, but after having to hike to get to the hike again, I admittedly was deeply enveloped in being Over It ™.

The Passport club stamp also left me slightly miffed, although truthfully that’s more for personal reasons, in the sense that using the actual stamp gives me a happiness boost for reasons I can’t explain. However, instead of getting that little serotonin boost, they left sticker strips, whereas the stamp itself was inside the office. And, in a circumstance I will share quite often on this countdown, the office was closed when I got there, so with my Ennui ironically running wild, I placed it in the appropriate spot and moved on with it.

This Hiking Club trail falls on the more difficult side comparatively, but adding considerable distance on a day with a solid seven miles banked already, it felt more arduous than it may have, had this been the first hike of the day. At least it wasn’t five hours away like the aforementioned Franz Jevne, so I could’ve come back. I just didn’t want to.

Lake Mille Lacs was a common waypoint for me during this speedrun, usually an indicator that I was getting close to home after a long day. This day in particular had me reflecting on the first time I saw it, heading north as a passenger for the trip that taught me what kayaking was, among other things. In the winter though, it’s not just the Hiking Club trails that are desolate and depressing. The whole area feels lost in time, and while I’m sure it’s not that way in the summer, it is still rather notable.

Granted, there is historical and societal context for that, upon which is not my place to elucidate. I nonetheless think of it in contrast to other places I visited along this journey, like the North Shore and the Ely area, and can’t help but remark on the notable visible contrast. For which, again, the reasons are numerous.

Mille Lacs-Kathio is a beautiful state park with a woodsy, rustic vibe despite how close it is to a major travel route. I have zero doubt that without a seasonal hiking tax of extra distance, and perhaps being at the tail end of this speedrun, this hike may have been much later in this series. This day, I just wanted to get it over with, and even that required more time and effort than I’d initially planned

Minnesota Hiking Club #47 - Lake Maria State Park

 

Minnesota Hiking Club

#47 - Lake Maria State Park

Date Hiked: March 13th, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Lake Carlos State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.67

“It’s almost over.”

As I entered the gates for one of the State Parks closest to the metro area, that was the prevailing thought in my mind. A W-coded park whose brown highway sign on the 94 I’d passed a dozen times on the way to others, left me with only two parks and one more day of this self-imposed one-season challenge deadline to go. 

It’s safe to say I wasn’t fully invested in the park itself at this point.

While that had very little to do with the awkward fellow hiker encounters I had during this quick loop, it also reminded me why fitting in the Midwest is difficult as an autistic person. Where I went to university, you never made eye contact with someone walking by. Years of living here taught me that people will verbally greet you whether you look or not, and that’s where the social anxiety of autism meets the pressures of the social contract and putting on the mask of politeness. But, in an odd contradiction of neurotypical expectations, when I forced myself to acknowledge the presence of a passing hiker, each one of them stared through me like I’d flipped them off with the One Ring on my finger. Dammit, if they’re going to insist I play Midwest Hello Verbal Tango Tag, at least don’t make me feel like Queer Isildur when I do! 

This is also among the trails that Minnesotans hiking in March downrate because of the mud, as if several layers of tundra hadn’t just occupied the lands for a considerable amount of time. Granted, yes, Lake Maria State Park’s Hiking Club trail was the muddiest I’d found in my speedrun to that point (it would be quickly usurped on the next day finale), but Reviewer Culture would give a hike one star because they got mosquito bites in a state that literally calls itself the Land of 10,000 Lakes… Oh wait, they do that too. What are you expecting? Mud pontoon bridges and Biodome but with mosquito nets instead of glass? Maybe I’m just not online enough to get it, and I’m fine with that, but don’t expect to find an AllTrails review from my account in the desert complaining about heat and sunburn being the trail’s fault.

Just kidding, I’m never going hiking in the desert.

Lake Maria State Park is less than 100 miles away from home, which is why I saved it for a time when I knew I’d be utterly exhausted, and therefore wouldn’t have much farther to go after the trail’s completion. The trail itself, while obscenely muddy at this time, was a mere two miles to quickly knock out. While it doesn’t loop around the namesake lake, the back end breaks through the dense woods for a lovely view. At the trailhead, it looks like they’ve invested a lot in the visitor center and education therein, which helped this hike not feel like an odyssey through a time portal to a frozen dimension.

Minnesota Hiking Club #48 - Lake Bronson State Park

 

Minnesota Hiking Club

#48 - Lake Bronson State Park

Date Hiked: March 10th, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Red River State Recreation Area, Old Mill State Park, Hayes Lake State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.58

Of the four Northwest Corner parks I did on March 10th, this one ranks the highest, and we're not even halfway through the list. So, it's safe to say that this was, indeed, not my favorite portion of what the state has to offer. But, I imagine for those who live up this way, this has to be the preferred destination of the bunch, because even with its extinct planet vibes, the potential is obvious. 

Hell, I'll bet that when things are green, this even looks like a lake and not what an intergalactic explorer finds upon landing in order to conclude the universe is no longer populated. 

Reaching this far-north remote park on the day of wind gusts that would've either aided or inhibited Phileas Fogg depending on the direction, Waze took me toward a bridge that was out. That, of course, was not marked on Waze, because who the hell else was traveling this way in early March? Unfortunately, that meant a 15-mile diversion on mostly dirt roads before finally snaking my way in. 

Along the way though, a deer challenged me to a race. Several of a considerably-sized herd were running in my direction, but one of them banked about twenty feet away, sprinting alongside my car. Though I was on a dirt road and thus not pushing the speed, the fact that the aggressive deer running full tilt kept up for a solid five or six seconds was really impressive. That was the closest thing I had to something that could be considered an interaction on this day's journey.

The Hiking Club trail itself starts near an area with buildings that are likely overflowing with people when the temperature isn't the dark side of Saturn. The shape of the trail is technically a loop, but more accurately resembles a second grader drawing Lakes Huron and Michigan with one line. While the beginning/end, or the Lake Michigan side if you will, is mostly an uneventful walk over ice through the woods, the Huron half takes you down by the lake and then loops around to savanna, so the land diversity within the park itself is rather impressive. 

I honestly spent more time debating with myself whether or not I should even bother hiking this trail, due to how hard the wind was blowing the trees that would soon be above me, than I spent actually hiking the trail. As I'm sure you've gathered from my previous posts, having only a hoodie to block out the now-below 20 degree weather didn't do much for my motivation or enjoyment, but that's once again only on me.

The trail is unique in its shape and diversity of landforms within its mid-range distance. In the winter, it's indeed the epitome of solitude, and that's entirely understandable, given its geographic location and proximity to... anything. If deer who want to race you wouldn't be a highlight of any day's travels, I don't know what would be. NASCAR Bambi don't mess around.

Minnesota Hiking Club #49 - St. Croix State Park

Minnesota Hiking Club

#49 - St. Croix State Park

Date Hiked: March 8th, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Jay Cooke State Park, George C. Manitou State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.58

Fellow AllTrails users, come here. Come on, come over here, I need to tell you a secret. I'm gonna whisper, come right next to me now, that's it...

Minnesota is muddy in March.

Okay, take a second, I'll let that permeate in the thought meats for a little while. We good? You understand? You're not gonna go... Yep, you already downrated yet another trail because it was really muddy, of course you did. Let me guess, you also gave out two-star ratings in January because it was icy? Naturally. When it's July, do you give bad ratings because there are mosquitos? Thank you, you've been so helpful toward understanding what's a good trail versus the facts of existing in Minnesota somehow being the trail's fault, carry on. 

The hike at St. Croix State Park wasn't that muddy, though I only say that in comparison to a few that would come at the end of this Hiking Club speedrun. That said, a significant portion of this trail did feel like wading through an inland pond at times. 

I was really impressed how far I had to drive to get from the sign to the actual park entrance. Though I was heading down from the two North Shore-ish parks listed above that day, I can't imagine I'm alone in the experience of turning to enter the park, and then being surprised that it's another 5 or 6 miles before the office. 

This was the day, toward the end of my speedrun, that I started seeing other cars in the parking lot more often. This isn't a complaint, just an observation, but the changing seasons were quite apparent. It should be noted though, March of 2025 was having fun with its temperature variance, often jumping around 40-plus degree differentials by the day, so what can one do other than embrace the chaos and plan accordingly? 

Two of the three hikes on this day were W-coded, with the third (Manitou) being more just "well, if you really want to, I guess" in terms of winter hikability. Though tempted to also knock off Wild River State Park, the length of this one after the other two were not exactly Lake Louise in terms of length and elevation, I opted for this to close out Slushfest '25, being close to five miles and all. 

It's an interesting combination of trail types, I must say. It's technically a loop, but it's more similar to a section of Banning State Park where the proximity of the out-and-back is within sight. But because it is a loop, technically, it doesn't matter which way you go first. That is to say, one side is a paved bike trail and the other is a very narrow riverside excursion, so plan accordingly. 

It isn't my favorite of the long line of state parks dotting the St. Croix, but that just speaks to the quality of that grouping. None have been listed yet, so being the first of the many says a lot.

Minnesota Hiking Club #50 - Lac Qui Parle State Park

 

Minnesota Hiking Club

#50 - Lac Qui Parle State Park

Date Hiked: January 26th, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Big Stone Lake State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.58

I hiked this trail on the way back from Big Stone Lake, as its proximity was convenient and mostly along the way home. This one's "easy to find" rating suffered from having to turn around two different times while attempting to find the Hiking Club trail, as areas were closed off and otherwise inaccessible. Ended up joining the trail somewhere along the middle, which worked thankfully since it was a loop trail, but alas, the perils of attempting these things in the winter. 

It is not uncommon to find deer along many of these Hiking Club trails, though their attitudes vary quite a bit. Sometimes you're within a few feet and they couldn't care less, other times they want to challenge you to a drag race. At least on this day at Lac Qui Parle, they were so skittish and jumpy that getting within 100 yards made them panic and take off like I was one of the state's denizens with arms and an orange coat. 

I spent a not-insignificant portion of this hike wondering, "it's less than 150 miles from home, how is it still nearly three hours away?" 

I've said it in many and I'll say it again here: I bet this place is absolutely lovely in green weather, though I'm pretty sure that's among the first times I wrote it in my Passport journal. That booklet didn't start out as my place for jotting down snark that would eventually end up in here, but by this point, it was full-fledged Golden Girls-level shade, when appropriate and necessary.

Snow drifts were a big factor along this relatively short loop, which is to be expected in January on the prairie. The park's reputation for being a primary bird migration stop made me yearn for the days where having my camera with me could result in capturing images of birds outside the standard 20 that stay in Minnesota throughout the year. In November, seeing a cardinal, blue jay, white-breasted nuthatch, mallard, Canada goose, or black-capped chickadee may be fun, but in January, I'm dying for the red-winged blackbirds to let me know that variance is on the way. 

Much like the parks in the far north, the two Hiking Club trails on this day felt isolated and desolate, and that's not a complaint on my part. I imagine that most of the places have an entirely different vibe with green leaves and mosquitos, and this park is no exception. 

The infrastructure for campgrounds and picnic shelters is readily apparent, but spotting such things in temporary states of abandonment and disuse can be eerie at times. It reminds me that these are destination spots, not population centers. If I could tolerate crowded spaces for much longer than I'm actually able, I'd be interested in comparative analysis on that front. But if the 28 mosquito bites I get before my car door closes wouldn't scare me off, the screech of screaming children or annoyance of bluetooth speakers with no headphones inevitably would. 

Minnesota Hiking Club #51 - McCarthy Beach State Park

 

Minnesota Hiking Club

#51 - McCarthy Beach State Park

Date Hiked: March 9th, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Bear Head Lake State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.58

Even the Hiking Club booklet mentions loons in the description, so you know I'm gonna get excited about it, even when I'm well aware I'm not gonna hear any tremolos or yodels on March 9th. 

It's one of the harder trails to find, even as the park itself is not. The presence of a private residence makes you feel like you'd better turn around rather than continue on. As the W codes were being lifted due to a Minnesota late winter heatwave, which for most other states would still be too cold to be outside, I was knocking them off the list while traveling past ones I'd visited in much colder times. Bear Head Lake would've been an easy pairing with Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park, but when I hiked there, the snow was several feet high, so I wasn't breaking the code, convenient as it would've been. The state of McCarthy Beach's Hiking Club trail, though, made me yearn for the Soudan trail's compacted snow on top of which I could walk.

While skiing may no longer have been practical for this trail, at least for a day or two at that point, the trail was a fine mix of thick ice and enough slush for an establishing shot in Fargo. The attention to which watersports is paid in the descriptions of this park tell me that hiking may not be the most conducive way to experience this place, even when one isn't cursing whichever trickster god they prefer on whom to blame for the existence of slush as it permeates the legs of their pants and insides of their socks. 

Though I have fallen backwards into the outdoorsy cultures of hiking and kayaking on my own, I'm not Minnesotan enough to have added fishing, hunting, and/or camping to that list. I love being outside all day, but when it's time to sleep, it's the last place I want to be, tent or not. I love being at lakes, but I have no desire to get inside a boat with a hook-based springy stick to take food away from herons and eagles. Nor do I have any desire to leave my hook-based springy stick leftovers stuck in the trees, or the beer cans I've emptied in the process. I've heard many discuss the peace of being on the lake and immersing themselves in nature through fishing, and I'm always like "you know you can do that without the pole, right?" And hunting? No. That is all. 

I only say that because even the state park's website calls the watersports/beach "famous" while referring to the trails as "hidden gems." And that's fine, because the diversity of these parks in Minnesota's vast array of landscapes allow for the foci to vary based on what fits them. This one just makes me painfully aware that I'm a transplant, even after eight years of being here, and that's perfectly okay, but I still don't want to partake in them either.

Minnesota Hiking Club #52 - Lake Bemidji State Park

Minnesota Hiking Club

#52 - Lake Bemidji State Park

Date Hiked: March 2nd, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Glendalough State Park, La Salle Lake State Recreation Area, Itasca State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.50

I still don't know what inspired me to head here after I drove the whole way to Glendalough for my first password/stamp combination of the day, but since Itasca was the muse behind it, it only made sense to hit this one first and work my way back down. Thankfully, La Salle Lake wasn't the final stop on this particular collection of hikes, or that might've made the #67 entry even more awkward. 

"The dead marshes. Yes, that is what they are called. Look, there's Lester Nygaard and Wish.com Malvo. Don't follow the lights. Also, there was a hike." That's a direct quote from my Passport, and if you haven't seen Two Towers and season one of Fargo, just pretend I made an allusion to something you've enjoyed many times. But being in Bemidji, the main setting for the latter, and given that this hike is through a bog, I couldn't help but be referential. 

This wasn't my first bog hike of the speedrun, though interestingly both involved walking on a boardwalk covered in ice. Lake Bemidji's Hiking Club trail had a road crossing though, and that was an interesting sensory experience with ice spikes on, as was hiking with clamp-ons while wearing short sleeves on March 2nd this far north. 

Picking up a few Geocaches along the way while amusing myself with thoughts of the aforementioned pop culture crossover none of us ever knew we needed, I had a great appreciation for the effort, energy, and detail they put into the information along the bog walk. It's not often a place can effectively combine facts of a geological, historical, and cultural context, as well as detail the types of plants and animals native to such a landform in such a comparatively short amount of a hike. Granted, most of those plants and animals were not readily visible at the time of my hike, but given the amount of bugs one would expect in such a location, I'm perfectly fine with using my imagination to fill in the blanks left by snow and silence. 

The Hiking Club trail for Lake Bemidji State Park feels oddly separate from... well, the namesake lake itself, but also the park. "Enter this park, see this massive lake, look at all the activities there are to do... now hang a left and go away if you want your password." I'm sure many others do the Hiking Club trail and then partake in other activities, but you've obviously gathered by now, that's not what I was up to for this project. I just found it interesting, as the other Lake <name> State Parks on this list involved hiking around said named lakes, but mixing it up is not a bad thing. 

I'll talk more about bog walks when I get to Big Bog State Recreation Area later in this list, but I'm grateful these areas have been preserved, despite the best efforts of those who seek to break things and ruin them for everybody. 

Minnesota Hiking Club #53 - Hayes Lake State Park

 

Minnesota Hiking Club

#53 - Hayes Lake State Park

Date Hiked: March 10th, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Red River State Recreation Area, Old Mill State Park, Lake Bronson State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.5

Holy shitmonkeys, this is a big fuckin' state. 

If you're offended by silly profane phrases, I don't know why you're here. But also, if you've made a journey like this and not had that thought, I'm worried you might have some anger issues. 

I hit Hayes Lake at twilight, the fourth park of the regrettable Northwest Corner wind odyssey. Somewhere over the rainbow... if the rainbow is all grey and takes an hour to get between each shade. Red River seemed like a long time ago by this point. 

The other reason I was later than expected were the construction diversions for Old Mill and Lake Bronson, the latter more considerably. And with an hour, more or less, between each of these parks, by the time I got to the one that felt most remote of them all, the daylight was quickly fading. Sure, I could've saved this trip for a mere few days later when darkness would wait an hour to approach because it turns its clock ahead as well, but I remind you: I decided to do a Minnesota Hiking Club in not just the winter, but a winter, so perhaps reason and logic-based choices were not my strong suit in this pursuit.

Lake Bronson was like being on a dystopian planet where only aggressive deer and plentiful goose gaggles roam, but there was some semblance of a town nearby. By comparison, Hayes Lake felt like it wasn't even supposed to be there. Roaming through plains and farm fields, expecting to see a Kryptonian ship drop from the sky at any minute, then you have to turn off Nowhere Road and scuttle on up Desolate Drive, ohai white pine trees, what a welcome reprieve you are! 

Only in Minnesota calls this park "little-known" and points out that the closest big city is Grand Forks, North Dakota, which I'll remind you is where I started the Northwest Corner excursion many hours before this. Of their top 11 lesser-knowns, I've covered only two others already in this ranking series, so clearly I thought well of their choices for the lesser-known favorites. The descriptions and pictures OiM posted shows a beautiful lake surrounded by forest, and from what little I could see during my half-dazed effort to finish off the day and head for home, I absolutely agree. By that point though, I just wanted to go home, since despite traveling all that way even after the five-hour trip to get to the first of this day's hikes, I still had another five-and-a-half hour drive home following this 1.7 mile night hike. 

It's wonderful, it's gorgeous, the white pine is a lovely change from the Nothing that precedes it, and I absolutely did not appreciate it nearly enough for what it's worth on this day, which is my own doing and I understand that, no need to tell me. Give me a break! Even from here, it was still two hours before running back into the thriving metropolis of Bemidji!

Minnesota Hiking Club #54 - Zippel Bay State Park

Minnesota Hiking Club

#54 - Zippel Bay State Park

Date Hiked: February 22nd, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Big Bog State Recreational Area, Franz Jevne State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.5

This will be the first of two consecutive entries where I wish I'd seen the park under better circumstances, but more importantly, better times. 

The lack of a picture for this post is not due to a time crunch... well, not the kind that Carley State Park was anyway... and it's certainly not because there wasn't any interesting scenery. I know from the pictures and this park's reputation that there is. 

No, the problem with this hike for me was that I did it in the winter, it was very far away, and I ran out of daylight. 

Having read my previous entry on Franz Jevne, you'll understand why the light elapsed before my presence though, as the time was budgeted for a half hour, not 90 minutes. Zippel Bay had the same issue, for which I learned my lesson about seasonal alerts on the websites, but I digress. Like Franz Jevne though, I wasn't leaving without my stamp and password, because this park is really far away. When you look at the map of the state parks, it's the one on the very top, and a majority of people doing this Hiking Club will be... not there. At least not most of the year, anyway. 

I know of this park's reputation because on the way up, I got pulled over in Bemidji because I didn't notice a speed limit change. I told the officer that I was heading to Zippel Bay, and he seemed rather impressed and encouraging about it. I don't know if that's why he let me off with a warning, but I'm not questioning it either. I have rarely been that lucky. 

It only takes a single click on the Google machine to know how epically gorgeous this park is. Other than my thigh-high snow diversion, the reason I got there so late is that my initial plan was to do Zippel Bay, then follow with Franz Jevne and Big Bog on the way back. But after I'd already driven for five hours and the afternoon reminded me that it gets dark by the time most people are getting off their lunch break, I thought I'd better make sure to knock these out while I could, and I did them in the reverse of intended order.

I trudged through the Zippel Bay snow and the rapidly fading twilight to get my password. The bayside trail is a short one, and I'm exceedingly grateful for that, or a motel and some further regret may have been necessary. 

I stopped for food in Baudette on the way back, where I made sure Frank Peterson wasn't getting up to any green-based shenanigans (IYKYK). Then, my badass boast for travel skills was achieved for that weekend, because I drove from Baudette back home at night without stopping a single time. Not for gas, caffeine, wandering moose, nothing. I got a new perspective on what "up north" is though, since my previous referential point (Grand Rapids) was a mere halfway indicator. 

Minnesota Hiking Club #55 - Minneopa State Park

 

Minnesota Hiking Club

#55 - Minneopa State Park

Date Hiked: January 5th, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Fort Ridgely State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.42

I've mentioned my January 4th trilogy of hikes that took place in weather cold enough that even a giant prehistoric elk would question, and given that I haven't written anything about them yet, that should also indicate how well I thought of the parks.

Naturally the one I did the very next morning was going to feel a bit underwhelming. 

Yes, I already wrote a bit about that for dear old Fort Ridgely (you're with us in sunshine and weather more drizzly... deep Daria cut for those who know), but this was the first one on January 5th. It was closer, and while it was cold, it wasn't "dangerous elk turned back and planned his revenge later" cold. Mercifully, because my sunglasses didn't turn to ice. 

A note on proximity: because it was winter, I didn't do Flandrau State Park between Minneopa and Fort Ridgely, even though since there was no snow, I probably could've. But if you're not doing the Hiking Club in winter, it's not an issue and those might line up nicely. 

Second note on proximity: if you're doing the Passport club simultaneously, it's good to know that the stamp location and the Hiking Club trail are not in the same place. The stamp can be found near this whip cream-esque waterfall, while the Hiking Club trail is closer to the river and the buffalo area. 

Are all these notes a way to avoid covering the hike itself because of its unfortunate time slot of following possibly my favorite day of my Hiking Club odyssey? It's not not that...

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this park, and the fact that it has a buffalo herd (not the last one I'll write about that does) is really amazing and awesome. From one vantage point on the Hiking Club trail, very close to the end, I could barely see a few of them. But, they're a herd of wild buffalo running free across the plains (second Daria reference of this post, sue me). It's not a zoo, it's not guaranteed that one will get a good view. 

Speaking of good views though, there is a fantastic view of the Minnesota River on the trail. For once, winter is an advantage, because it was easier to see without any leaves on the trees. Winter, ya ain't so bad! 

The trail is pretty decent. Some elevation gain, but not too much... again, following January 4th, my calves needed the break. It's in good condition, it's a good walk through the woods and prairie, and sometimes you get to see buffalo roaming around. It's a decent stop on this journey, and probably an even better one when there are temperatures that human beings ought to consider living in, everything doesn't look brown and/or frozen (except the buffalo, if they're not brown there's something wrong), and the river is flowing rather than stuck in icy stasis. 

Had the trail gone by this badass waterfall though, it'd likely be higher on the list.

Minnesota Hiking Club #56 - Old Mill State Park

Minnesota Hiking Club

#56 - Old Mill State Park

Date Hiked: March 10th, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Red River State Recreation Area, Lake Bronson State Park, Hayes Lake State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.42

At least when I was "hiking" through a suburban neighborhood, it was still warm enough for short sleeves. It wasn't quite the 62 degrees it was back home, but it was tolerable nonetheless.

By the time I got up to Old Mill State Park, winds that would've made Bill and Jo Harding send the tornado chaser fleet had dropped the temperature below 25 degrees, and I was grateful that Old Mill's Hiking Club trail was mercifully short, especially with two more to knock out on the day of my Northwest Corner excursion. 

Unfortunately, I let the home conditions dictate my attire. A hoodie might've been enough for 25 degrees or for winds strong enough for a conversation on the Edmund Fitzgerald, but not both at the same time. While I hyperbolically call my quick completion of the Hiking Club a speedrun, this trail had me actually running to get it done quicker for practical reasons.

This would be the first park of the day, and not the last, where a road being closed off meant a ten minute-plus diversion. After leaving the comparatively thriving metropolis of East Grand Forks, Old Mill (at least by winter desolation standards) felt quiet and remote enough that the Langoliers might've been on the way imminently. 

It's a pretty simple loop. Mostly it reminded me of wandering through a yard trail of a rural home with a back 40, which I don't say pejoratively. Toward one corner of the trail, there's a really nice view of a river, but that was the extent of anything that could be accurately described as scenery, at least at that time of the year. 

The wind was strong enough by my time through the more densely forested portion of the trail that I had legitimate concerns about falling branches, or worse. My speed getting through the trail wasn't only because it made the frantic walk a tiny bit less frigid, but also because I didn't need a wooden Clothesline From Hell to make my day complete. 

I feel like I'm being snarky about this hike, but obviously I enjoyed it more than a few others or you would've read about it already. I suppose I would've enjoyed it a lot more if it lived up to its name implications. When I saw the name "Old Mill," I had hopes for abandoned structures, or at least some refurbished vintage sites. Maybe the park has them, but the Hiking Trail didn't take me near them like Banning or Crow Wing, for instance. That's not a flaw of the trail, but cool abandoned shit always gets bonus points on my scale, which I denoted in the beginning as incredibly subjective explicitly for reasons like this one. 

It's probably easier to not be snarky about this park if your face isn't painfully numb, or if you're not trying to get all four of the Northwest corner in one day. But, to be fair, I never described that decision as particularly logical or advisable. 

Minnesota Hiking Club #57 - Rice Lake State Park

Minnesota Hiking Club

#57 - Rice Lake State Park

Date Hiked: January 1st, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park, Sakatah Lake State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.33

The concept of New Years means absolutely nothing to me. New Year's Eve, as Will McAvoy once called it, is a celebration of "the world's biggest non-event." That said, the prior two years, I'd used it as an opportunity to travel out of state, as the prices are low and the crowds are smaller, presuming you're not headed to one of those aforementioned non-event celebrations. While I wanted to continue my loosely-defined tradition, particularly with whom I spent that time, it wasn't possible this time around. So I spent my energy elsewhere, grateful I had something other than the void on which to focus. If it's not obvious, I was not having a good time at this point. 

While, on that New Year's Day, I couldn't use the habits of most for ease of interstate travel, I was awake and on the road early to pursue my first trilogy of parks. Nerstrand-Big Woods, Rice Lake, and Sakatah Lake form a triangle south of the Twin Cities, and this was a great opportunity to get some stamps and miles in. I wasn't pursuing the one-season completion yet, but the fulfillment I got out of this day's pursuit did a lot to endear me to the concept. 

Rice Lake was the second of three hikes that day, and all three of the triangle were comparable in terms of length and scenery. There were several unexpected occurrences during this short middle trek. For one, I saw another person, which in itself was surprising, given the habits of most the previous night. Second, while many Hiking Club navigational and password signs had gotten recent upgrades (that I now know in retrospect), I nearly missed Rice Lake's password sign due to its different color scheme, as well as half the letters being faded out. Fortunately, and I say that only for the ease of decipherability, this park has the least imaginative password one could possibly conjure, though I did confer with Geocaching Bronco's page just to be sure. 

Third, and most notably, the silence of my solitude became scored with an otherworldly soundtrack. While I learned that noises like this emanate from the winds in the woods, it's easy for me to comprehend why others might think that they're about to visit the Red Room. I got the noise on camera just to make sure it wasn't my imagination, and so that if BOB decided we were about to have some kind of unpleasant encounter, I might remember not to put on the jade ring. It's always good to have a plan. 

It was cold, it was remote, and the views weren't especially noteworthy. But, aside from wondering "is it future?" or "is it past?", the peace in the solitude was a minor comfort to my soul at a time where I was wishing hard that I was somewhere very far away. Most of my prior athletic experience was in team sports, but conversely, putting in miles on the trail never requires reliance on anyone. 

Minnesota Hiking Club #58 - Glendalough State Park

Minnesota Hiking Club

#58 - Glendalough State Park

Date Hiked: March 2nd, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Lake Bemidji State Park, La Salle Lake State Recreation Area, Itasca State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.25

With the options of non-W parks having grown slim, having access to some of them after considerable snowmelt was a productive aid to maintaining the productivity to finish the Minnesota Hiking Club by my self-imposed, arbitrary deadline. 

If one is looking to maximize proximity, as well as efficiency with common road usage, there are pockets of parks that make this possible. The North Shore is an obvious example, with most of the parks being on 61. While not as convenient, the 94 does the same, especially if the W code is (most likely) irrelevant to the pursuit. My initial idea for this day was to pick up the 94 Ws, since I'd already covered the others. Starting with Glendalough, I'd then grab Lake Carlos and Lake Maria on the way back. A quick glance to the Other Hikes will tell you that clearly didn't happen, but for people who don't get weird urges to go knock out three others in a different part of the state, it's a suggestion.

If one is unfamiliar with the park, particularly in winter desolation, searching for the stamp and the Hiking Club trail may take some time. Plan accordingly. 

After accidentally hearing a local radio station out of Detroit Lakes assault my ears with a weather report that sounded like Baby's First AI, I set out, thinking that enough snow had melted that I wouldn't need my spikes. You'd think I'd have learned from such mistakes earlier on in this hiking speedrun, but alas. 

Glendalough's Hiking Club trail is mid-range in terms of its distance. With the shortest Hiking Club trails being a mere 1 mile and several tied for being the longest at 6.2 (though I'd dispute that, more on that in a later issue), Glendalough's 3.3-mile lake loop fits right in that middle ground, and as a mostly-simple route around a lake, it's probably an easy stroll with pavement, green leaves, and temperatures with more than one digit. However, when penguin-walking over thick ice and seeking out the sections with more of the crunchy-crunchy, it adds a bit to the time elapsed. I blame no one but myself, for the record. 

Along the route, I couldn't ignore the urge to go see Itasca after hearing someone speak glowingly on the park. While it was part of another pocket of nearby parks, Itasca was over two hours from Glendalough, and likely just as cold. However, that would also give me the opportunity to knock out three more parks that day, so ambition won out over reason, logic, or any semblance of convenience. 

While I didn't wander into the nearby town of Detroit Lakes before heading toward Bemidji, I did momentarily question if there were any abandoned car factories there, just out of a namesake tribute. When that's the thought I wrote in my Passport journal, I can tell that circumnavigating this lake via boot skating didn't leave much of an impression. But, unlike the same day's #67 hike, it left one. 

Minnesota Hiking Club #59 - Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area

Minnesota Hiking Club

#59 - Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area

Date Hiked: January 3rd, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: None

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 2.25

When I tell people that I wasn't raised in an outdoorsy family and culture, they tend not to believe me. 

I get it. A lot of people who are into things like hiking and kayaking learn it from their parents, or at least being raised around it and picking it up from friends while they're growing up. 

The first time I went kayaking, I was in my mid-20s. It was my first time in Northern Minnesota and someone asked me if I wanted to go kayaking, and I genuinely asked what a kayak was. 

Hiking? I was looking for abandoned railroad tracks, and I started documenting them. (Autism is fun!) Those searches led me to rail trails. Rail trails led me to walking longer distances. Longer distances led me to hiking. I fell into it backwards. 

And if you still don't believe me, the reason I went hiking on January 3rd at the Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area? I bought something from REI... for the first time. Exaggerate, I do not. 

The backpack I'd been using was perfectly fine, but not cut out for longer distance hikes. The jacket I had was perfectly fine, but with a polar vortex approaching and no sign of my hiking slowing down, I wanted a good one designed to hold up in the weather and strenuous activity. 

Thus, having made this purchase, I wanted to try them out. Since in January, it gets dark about nine minutes after the sun comes up, I opted for one of the closer trails. Those from the Twin Cities metro who have taken a gander at the map of Hiking Club trails know well, there aren't many nearby. The picture above will also show, even with the locality and no other hikes that day, I barely got it in before darkness. 

Why so much context before discussing the trail itself? Honestly, I don't think I could fill my allotted time talking about this one, for better or worse. It certainly does exist. 

I feel bad saying that, but it's hard not to compare it to other hikes in the same general refuge area. Up the river you have the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge, Long Meadow Lake, Bloomington Ferry, Rice Lake (not the state park one, this name is annoyingly common)... Even Memorial Park in Shakopee leaves more of an impression. The trailhead leads down along this nice view, then goes into a loop that traverses farmland and two road crossings, then you're back by this view before heading back. 

My new coat held up well, considering it was a balmy 10 degrees (only balmy in comparison to the January 4th trilogy later in the list). The REI employee spent a good deal of time teaching me how to adjust a backpack accordingly, which is good practice for when I start thru-hiking. I was still learning the rhythm of trekking poles at the time. 

I'm glad this place exists, because the hike was close and convenient on that day.