Tag Archives: Explore Minnesota

Three Minnesota State Parks To Visit This Summer

January is about the time of year I get the “itch.” Winter just seems to drag on with it’s cold and dreary, and I long to be at a Minnesota State Park. So, while I dream of summer days, here are three Minnesota State Parks on the must-see list for this summer. Check out our review for Itasca, Glacial Lakes, and George H. Manitou.

The cascades at George H. Crosby Manitou State Park from the bottom

1. Tettegouche State Park

Tettegouche is a Minnesota State Park gem.  The waterfalls here are Tettegouche’s claim to fame, with a few along the Baptism River and lots of gorgeous cliffs. While there are multiple waterfalls in the park High Falls, at 60 ft, is the biggest waterfall and a tourist draw. The landscape also makes Tettgouche a great stop for Rock Climbing, which would be an adventure on its own. While waterfalls themselves are enough to put this state park on my list, the wildlife is a bonus.  Home to Peregrine Falcons, the fastest birds in the world diving up to 224 mph. One may also get a chance to see a Northern Flying Squirrel while on the trails in Tettgouche State Park.

2. Minneopa State Park

Minneopa translates to water falling twice, referencing the two-tier waterfall in the park (apparently there is a theme of waterfalls here).  The pictures of the hilly terrain covered with woods and river cutting through looks straight out of a fairy tale. There is also the Seppmann windmill that was completed in 1864 and used to make flour out of wheat. This windmill is designed after the windmills in Germany and a very cool piece of history. While windmills and waterfalls are reason enough to give this Minnesota State Park a visit, Minneopa has it’s very own Bison Conservation Herd. A Bison Conservation Heard is reason enough to check out this state park in southern Minnesota.  Currently, this Bison herd has about 25 members and 331 acres to roam! There are special days and times to take the Minneopa Bison Drive so take a look at the schedule before you go.

3. Soudan Underground Mine State Park

The coolest part of Soudan Underground Mine State Park is that you can get a tour of Minnesota’s first iron ore mine. Aside from that attraction, there is a lot of wonderful wildlife to be on the lookout for such as black bears, timber wolves, and fishers. The Soudan Underground Mine State Park buds up to the Kabetogama state forest. While there are lots of places you can camp in state forests there is a special campsite here. Hinsdale Island is a primitive campsite only accessible by the waters of Lake Vermillion.

Let me know what are the top three state parks on your list to visit this summer? Which activity on this list excites you most? Let me know in the comment section below.

I can’t wait to get out this summer hiking among waterfalls, gazing at buffalos, and touring an iron ore mine!

Outdoor Vitals tent set up at Itasca State Park
Outdoor Vitals tent set up at Itasca State Park

 

Winter Gear

Winter is upon us, and it sure came quickly. Staying warm is the most important priority when enjoying the outdoors during the winter. Today I am going to share with you what we wear to stay warm when the temperatures drop.

Feet

Socks

Keeping your feet warm is very important because you lose heat quickly through them.  For men and women, I recommend Darn Tough wool socks. Wool has a lot of properties making it an excellent choice for winter material. It’s going to be able to insulate even if it gets wet as well as it is microbial. Hopefully, your feet do not get wet, but if they do you will be able to retain warmth. While your feet may get extremely warm in wool socks and boots, you don’t have to worry about sweat (thanks to wool’s moisture-wicking) or smelly feet due to wool being antimicrobial.

Women’s Darn Tough boot socks

Men’s Darn Tough hiker socks

Boots

When looking for a winter boot you want a boot that will keep your feet warm, dry, and make sure that you have a good grip on the ice. You may be starting to see a pattern here, but again for men and women, I recommend the same brand: Muck Boots. When looking at Muck Boots for winter boots, I specifically recommend the Artic Sport lines. Also, I find the mid to be the best style of these boots: shorts aren’t tall enough and the talls can be very difficult to get off.

Women’s Artic Muck Boots (these also come in so many colors to fit your style and show off your personality. 

Men’s Artic Muck boots.

 

Legs

Snowpants

If you are where snow is going to accumulate, snow pants are a must.  These are going to keep you dry, which will keep you happy. I also definitely recommend going with bibs versus just pants. The bibs will stay up no matter what, while the pants may get wet and weighed down, falling off of you creating other issues.

Women’s Artix snow bibs

Men’s Carhart insulated bibs

 

Coldgear pants

If you are where it is going to be just cold, with no snow accumulation, a pair of pants designed for running in winter will do the trick. Try out the Coldgear line from Under Armour, alone or underneath your regular pants.

Women’s

Men’s

 

Body

Layers

You will want layers so that you can adjust to avoid getting hot and sweaty. The more energy you exert while hiking or shoveling, for example, the more your body temperature will increase. I recommend wearing a T-shirt and then a sweatshirt over that, underneath your coat. I often wear a tank top, with a long sleeve shirt, with a sweatshirt on top of that and can sometimes heat up too quickly. The items for the layers can be anything you desire from your closet.

Coats

A coat will be the winter item you use the most. I used to always go for the 3-in-1 systems when it came to coats. However, this past year I went with a coat that is long. That makes all the difference in keeping your legs warm and giving them a break from the wind. Having a shorter coat is nice though when you are doing activities, as they don’t restrict your legs from moving.  Columbia’s Omniheat line, which utilizes your body heat to help insulate you and keep you warmer is fantastic.

Women’s Omniheat

Men’s Omniheat

 

Head

Hats

A hat will be the most important winter accessories for your head. A hat is going to keep your body heat from escaping, as your head is where you lose most of your body heat. Wool hats are great for their insulating factors.  Make sure that your hat covers your ears to protect them from getting frostbitten.

Women’s wool hat

Men’s wool hat 

 

Neck Gaiters/ Balaclavas

 

When you are out hiking, shoveling, or just going to be in the elements for a while a neck gaiter or baklava is great to pair with a hat. A neck gaiter or balaclava is going to keep your fave warm and prevent it from getting windburn.

Neck Gaiter

Carhart Balaclava 

 

Hands

Gloves/ Mittens

Finally, your hands. If you need to be utilizing your hands for any reason, I recommend gloves so that you can grab things and hold them easier. Mittens are great if you only need to be worried about keeping your hands warm. Don’t waste your time with the mittens that fold over to gloves with half-fingers, your fingers are only going to freeze.  Again, for either, wool is a great option because it insulates even while wet. If you would like to avoid soggy gloves, there are some waterproof options as well.

Wool Gloves

Wool Mittens

Waterproof Gloves Women

Waterproof Mittens Women

Waterproof Gloves Men

Waterproof Mittens Men

 

A Warm and Happy Winter

To conclude I hope this has helped you with staying warm and dry this winter. Living in Minnesota I understand that staying warm means staying safe. The products I’ve shared with you today are all tried and true, we use these ourselves at home! Happy winter!

 

Glacial Lakes State Park in Minnesota

Glacial Lakes State Park

Arriving

Two weeks ago we loaded up the jeep and headed to Starbuck, Minnesota. We were prepared for a camping experience a little out of our element. For the reason that Glacial Lakes State Park is a magical place where Minnesota prairie lands  (only 1/10 of 1% of the original prairie remains) and the central hardwood forest meet. Also, Glacial Lakes State Park is located in the Leaf Mountains.

Hiking In

In order to get to the hike-in sites, you will park at the horse camp. Along the edge is a large map showing all four sites, we chose Kettle. The park has 16 miles of hiking trails, it is about 2 miles to hike to Kettle Lake.  The park is very hilly and being prairie there is no shade, making it more difficult than your normal 2-mile hike. While mosquitos and biting flies were not bad, the ticks were awful, we had to stop along the way to pick some ticks off ourselves and the pupper.  Along the trail prairie dogs, ducks, geese, Great Egrets, and even a garter snake greeted us. Coyote scat was along the trail, and they are known for being in the area. However, we had no sightings of them.

Geese at Glacial Lakes State Park
Geese at Glacial Lakes State Park

Kettle Lake Campsite

Upon arriving at the campsite you will note a small, newer portapotty close by and that the campsite is pretty open to the trail. This could cause some privacy issues, but this is a quiet park and we did not experience that. In fact, we did not encounter anyone else along the trail. Further, the campsite is nestled along the bottom of hills along Kettle Lake. This creates a beautiful, serene view from your chair or tent. While enjoying the beauty of the lake, you will see many of Kettle Lake’s residents. This includes a busy muskrat who spends all day swimming back and forth, geese, ducks, pelicans, and more Great Egrets.

Kettle Lake At Glacial Lakes State Park
Kettle Lake At Glacial Lakes State Park
Kettle Lake At Glacial Lakes State Park
Kettle Lake At Glacial Lakes State Park

 

Enjoying Camp

Turkey Dinner Mountain House was our very filling and delicious supper. You have the choice of ordering wood delivered to your campsite, but since this is a prairie we just used our canister stove for all meal preparation. Kory got to try out his new water filtration set up, and we used Kettle Lake as our source of water instead of hiking in the extra weight. We enjoyed playing with our dog, each other’s company, and just the beauty of nature before heading off to dreamy slumberland. Mid-May is still fairly cold at night, temperatures were around 40 degrees. We woke up early with the help of our dog, Mora, made a quick breakfast and broke down camp.

Kettle Lake
Kettle Lake
Mora at Kettle Lake
Mora at Kettle Lake

Heading Home

The hike back to the jeep seemed a lot quicker than the hike in. Many waterfowl still made their appearance in the morning, and the ticks were not quite as bad. We found the temperature was great for hiking out, around 60 degrees, the sun was bright and we were gifted a few small breezes to help keep us cool. Leaving the park was as easy as coming in.  Once we were home we combed through ourselves and Mora and found quite a few more ticks.

Final Thoughts

Glacial Lakes State Park is a beautiful and unique park. Lakes fill this magical crossroads of prairie and hardwood forest. Trails in this park are moderate because of how hilly they are. You will find entertaining wildlife at camp and along the trail. We will definitely visit Glacial Lakes State Park again, truly the only downside was the plethora of ticks (so make sure you have your bug protection like permethrin.) Overall this park is a 4 out of 5 from us!

 

Itasca: The Original State Park

This month’s adventure took us to the Mississippi Headwaters, Itasca State Park! Itasca is known as the “Original State Park” and was founded in 1891.

Starting out in Itasca

Itasca State Park is actually not too far from our home, about two hours. We missed the first entrance, but caught the second one and made our way to the Jacob V. Brower visitor center. Everyone who stays in one of the 45 overnight sites will check in here. Plan to stay and enjoy this visitor center that is packed with historical information, exhibits, pamphlets of the area, as well as a cute little gift shop. Once we checked in, we made our way down by Douglas Lodge, which is a full-service restaurant (this park has everything!) and parked in the lot off to the side. From there we made our trek which was between 3.5 to 4 miles down the Deer Park Trail, our destination was Back Pack Site 5 on McKay Lake.

 

 

 

The Campsite

The hike to the site is moderate, you do go up and down a lot of hills. There are two shelters along the way and you also will pass the trail that will bring you to the fire tower, which is an attraction that draws a lot of people in (we had the pup so we did not break off course to see this). Once you get to site number five, you go into the woods a bit and there it is, your secluded oasis for your trip. I do mean secluded, it is the only campsite on all of McKay Lake, you will, however, have the company of loons, trumpeter swans, and some pelicans.

 Itasca

We stayed for one night and enjoyed really being alone with nature. There is a tiny “beach” on the campsite that the dog loved diving into, however, there were leeches so you have to be very careful and make sure to check between their toes. We called it a night decently early, and the loons could be heard calling all night.

 

 

In the morning, we took a short hike around past McKay lake, made it back to camp and cooked up a quick breakfast. Then we were on our way to the other side of the sprawling, 32,000 acres park to the Mississippi Headwaters. We hiked back to the jeep and drove about 8 minutes to the Mary Gibbs Mississippi Headwaters Center. On the way, we did pass the Itasca Lake boat access which offers Kayak, paddle board, bike, canoe and other rentals.

The Headwaters

After passing a few historical sites in the park such as the Pioneer Cemetery and Preacher’s Grove, we came to a parking lot in front of a massive building, which is the Mary Gibbs Mississippi Headwaters Center. This visitor center has educational stops outside, a large gift shop with fresh fudge, as well as a cafeteria-style restaurant with hand scooped Blue Bunny ice cream. Once we made our way past all of these eye-catching things, you cross over a bridge and come to the Headwaters of the great Mississippi River.

 

Itasca State Park is truly a wonder of Minnesota, and you can tell why it is one of the most popular! We were there for one day, and while I feel we did so much, there is still so much more to do there! Two more interpretive exhibits: Forest Inn and the Picnic Area Museum, I definitely need to climb the fire tower, I love to Kayak and of course, there is about 35 miles more of trails I haven’t seen (Dr.Roberts Interactive Trail is a must). We will definitely be making a few more trips back to this park, and hope you make it part of your #ExploreMinnesota adventure!

 

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