Minnesota Hiking Club #34 - Moose Lake State Park

 

Minnesota Hiking Club

#34 - Moose Lake State Park

Date Hiked: January 31st, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Banning State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 3.08

This is one of those names that everyone who has been going north on the 35 has seen, even those who think state parks are where visiting states park their RVs on vacation. Rhode Island has a habit of sneaking in by hiding behind other states at the gate, usually a western one. It's a problem, but who's gonna stop them?

I was really intrigued by the Visitors Center, and not (just) because the answer to an Earthcache was inside, but alas, like most during this odyssey it was closed, This became common enough that when I would see an open sign, or even more scarily, a person in uniform doing worky parky things, that was the surprise. I suppose I don't blame them. If I worked a whole shift and the only person I saw all day was my awkward ass searching for the passport stamp, I'd probably ask for the season off too. 

I'm not a fan of having to cross a road on a hiking trail, but considering I didn't see or hear a car the whole time I was there, it could've been worse. I didn't do it in ice spikes like at Lake Bemidji, so it wasn't the sensory nightmare it could've been. 

Though that might've been a mistake on my part. Mostly, this was a snowless jaunt through the edges of the northern woods, but then in a section I had to cross twice was a sheet of ice thick enough for Wrench and Numbers to lose Wish Malvo in, so I had mild regrets. 

Is it obvious yet that I don't have a lot to say about the Hiking Club trail itself? I mean, clearly I didn't think it was bad, as I ranked it high enough to be here, but... not a lot... happened, I guess? 

It's a loop but with a spur route going over the road to the parking lot. Can it technically be a loop if it's a square with a stem? Because that's what it looks like on the map. There's elevation change over rolling hills, which must be true because that's what they named the trail, but nothing too difficult. The views of the lake are very nice, though considering the section of the state and the parks therein, it doesn't stand out a great deal. The walk through the woods is lovely, as would be expected from a hike in this part of the state, but it wasn't particularly noteworthy either. 

I'd rank this Hiking Club trail as perfectly average, which isn't an insult by any stretch. If you've read to this point, you know I have affection for trails I've ranked much lower than this. But, to be ranked number 34 of 67, perfectly average makes logical and mathematical sense. I ranked each trail by my subjective measures right after finishing them, so I didn't even plan on this one being the median. I just got blog lucky.

Sometimes even the numbers work out serendipitously.