Minnesota Hiking Club #33 - Flandrau State Park

 

Minnesota Hiking Club

#33 - Flandrau State Park

Date Hiked: March 1st, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: None

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 3.08

No proximity-based convenience was going to work for this one because of my damn need to compulsively follow the W-code rules, but that was just another excuse to visit New Ulm again, so... 

I have a Deutscheland scarf that I bought in Stoudtburg Village a decade ago, and I took German in university. Not just language, but multiple film and history classes, so I have an affinity for the culture. I think a good part of it comes from being an autistic person who takes things literally and doesn't play well in the Midwest verbal tango games of not saying what you mean. Some people think German people are mean for being direct and blunt, but I appreciate them on a level many can't understand for exactly that reason. I'm never worried if they're trying to sugarcoat something or blow sunshine for the sake of it. 

New Ulm reminds me of that, therefore New Ulm is a place I love to visit. 

I didn't even know about it, outside of having one more name to add to my score in a Robzle Sporcle quiz, until Geocaching took me to the town last year. Not being from Minnesota and not having someone to bring me in on the secret knowledge those from here possess, this got to be a delightful surprise when I was just following a trail of caches on a road that started in St. Peter, and since that day, I've been there four or five times. Now, with Flandrau State Park out of the W-code and into the Mud Olympics of March in Minnesota, it was time to go back! 

I stopped by Hutchinson first to retrieve the stamp for Greenleaf Lake State Recreation Area, so I vaguely scratched that proximity itch. It's right in the middle of Minneopa and Fort Ridgely, but I skipped over it when I did those. 

Unlike most of the state parks, Flandrau is right there in town, barely a hike from ol' Hermann on the hill. Yet the descent down into the park immediately immerses one into a land of woods, ridges, and riverlands. State Parks can be lovely that way sometimes in this state. 

Despite being New Ulm, I'd say some of the river views were quite Washingtonian, a superlative I don't easily give out. But, considering this trail intersects with three different trails, the landscapes are diverse. Woodland Trail to Grassland Trail to Oxbow Trail (Oxbow being a word I encountered on many of these Hiking Club trails), it's a loop shaped like Dad in his favorite recliner around 3 miles in length. The elevation change is optional, according to the sign, so of course I took it. 

Oddly enough, this was the first (and only) time I encountered someone else doing the Hiking Club. They were going in the opposite direction and asked me directions from their paper map. I must look like someone who knows their way around, news to me. I demonstrated where to go using my AllTrails route and told them about where they'd find the password, and off they went.