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.