Minnesota Hiking Club #28 - Big Bog State Recreation Area

 

Minnesota Hiking Club

#28 - Big Bog State Recreation Area

Date Hiked: February 22nd, 2025

Other Hikes That Day: Franz Jevne State Park, Zippel Bay State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 3.33

Not exactly much for the creative names on this one! "There's a bog, it's pretty big, what should we call it? Big Bog. Cool!" Can't fault it for accuracy or false advertising, at least. 

As I detailed in the other two posts for this day's hikes, Big Bog was meant to be my last stop on the way back down, but after a solid five hours of driving, I reversed it because I just wanted to get out of the car. That, and it's February in Minnesota, daylight could've potentially been a problem. 

An unseasonably warm day led me to attempt the parks on the very top of the map. Unlike other days inspired by such conditions, it was consistent up north, so I wasn't having my face frozen off while people were in short sleeves back at home. Obviously, this is another example of "this really is a huge state." When heading through Bemidji and there's still over an hour to go, it truly starts to set in. With no interstates headed this way, and most of this route being two-lane roads, that likely adds to the travel time. 

Once I arrived at Big Bog, found the information for the Earthcache (and realized I'd need to find more signs than the Adventure Lab would), I headed off around the lake next to the entrance. The small loop is at the beginning/end while the rest is a boardwalk that goes down-and-back. Along the way, the information signs are plentiful and detailed, as well as historical and biological. And, of course, don't follow the lights is practical advice. Or it would be during times where everything beneath the boardwalk isn't snow in the silence of the north. That being said, there is an immaculate beauty in that silence, knowing what a bog's biodiversity would look and sound like on occasions when people would normally be there. 

The historical context definitely makes this an even more interesting stroll, at least when one isn't nearly slipping off the ice and into the great unknown. They tried to drain it and use it for mining and gravel pits, but the bog (of the biggest variety, as we now know) wasn't having it. The caribou of the area weren't so lucky, because people had to ruin absolutely everything before they started having the radical idea of preserving it, but I digress. 

At 2.2 miles, this was surprisingly the longest of the three hikes on the north-central triangle. I can't say I appreciate that, or I wouldn't had I been there at a time where I wouldn't be trekking through closed gates and deep snow, anyway. Even from the population centers of Duluth and Grand Forks, this is a considerable distance to travel for the Hiking Club trails. I recognize these parks have more than the Hiking Club selection, but there is a bit of resentment on my part for driving five-plus hours for a hike short enough that a pack isn't even necessary.