Bemidji – January 2021

Leah and I have been attempting over the last few winters to get more into cross-country skiing. We received some free used equipment from my dad which has made entry into the sport easier. We decided to finally make good on a yearly activity idea that had yet to come to fruition—doing an overnight cross-country ski trip.

We chose to go at the end of January and make the trip a three-day weekend. I started searching for state parks that had cross-country skiing and also camper cabins. Our experience in the fall in a camper cabin at Lake Carlos State Park had sold us on the idea. After finding that a lot of the camper cabins were already booked we were down to only a few options. We finally decided on Lake Bemidji State Park due to that fact that is wasn’t too far away (just under 4 hours from our house) and there were lots of cross-country skiing options nearby.

We loaded up the car and headed out on a Friday morning. We drove straight to Bemidji, only stopping once for gas. While driving we were listening to the audio book Becoming by Michelle Obama. It was entertaining and insightful to learn about the life of the former First Lady. When we got to Bemidji we stopped at a Subway for lunch. After eating our subs in the car we drove to Lake Bemidji State Park to check in at the ranger station. We made sure our cabin was available and I purchased a Greater Minnesota Ski Pass (a ski pass sold by the DNR that allows access to all state park ski trails and also dozens of other trails that have a loose connection—possibly based on DNR ownership or custodianship). Our cabin was ready so we headed there to unload our gear.

We were staying at Balsam for the weekend (the cabin names were tree themed).

It was pretty cold in the cabin so we cranked the heat a little so that it would be nice and warm when we got back. Our first action of the day was to head out and ski a trail along Lake Bemidji inside the park. There were barely any people out on the trails—though on a Friday afternoon that might be expected. The trail was in pretty good condition for not having had much snow recently. The temperatures were in the teens—not too cold for skiing but definitely not super pleasant either. My hands tend to get cold easily while skiing so I brought some heavy duty gloves on the trip

Here’s me in front of Lake Bemidji. You can see a few ice fishing shacks out on the lake.

The trail was really nice. We avoid black diamond sections at all costs, and thankfully the loop was mostly green (beginner) with a couple blue (intermediate) sections. I also fell almost immediately once we started skiing (it’s rare that I get through an entire day of cross-country skiing without falling at least once). We finished up the loop—which ended up being about 5.7 miles—and returned back to our cabin. It still wasn’t that warm inside the cabin so we bumped the heat a little more. We still had some energy left so we decided to boot hike another loop trail in the park that contained the hiking club trail. I was able to guess the hiking club password correctly (though I had seen it before, so not that impressive).

We got back to the cabin and saw some snowmobiles riding past us. We’d find out later that they were our cabin neighbors. Neither of us are fans of all of the noise that snowmobiles make. When we entered the cabin it felt nice and warm. I eventually realized that the device that I thought was displaying the temperature was actually displaying the humidity. This may have contributed to the temperature issues inside the cabin.

We hung out inside the cabin for a little bit, drinking beer and wine and eating snacks. Then we ordered Domino’s pizza for dinner and drove into Bemidji to pick it up. We each got a medium pizza and ate half. We played some games and read—Leah a book and me Twitter—until bedtime.

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In the morning we used our brand new electric water kettle to heat some water. You can’t burn a gas stove inside the cabin due to the toxic fumes. In our previous cabin adventure we used our gas stove to boil water but had to wait outside in the cold for it to heat up. Since the cabins are electrified we thought an electric water kettle would be a great addition to our cold weather glamping packing list. It has also seen some occasional use at home. What a luxury it was to sit inside a warm and cozy cabin and heat up water for coffee and oatmeal. For this trip we also filled two 6-liter water reservoirs before leaving so that we’d have enough water for the trip and wouldn’t have to go in search of it at the state park (assuming that they had winter drinking water access).

We packed up our gear and headed out to Three Island Park—a county park located in Beltrami County. It was about 15 minutes north of Lake Bemidji State park. Three Island Park had a lot of cross-country ski trails and most of them were beginner or intermediate. There was also a section for snowshoeing. We parked and hit the ski trails, starting with the trail that paralleled the Turtle River. It was incredibly scenic and we hardly saw any people.

The view just to the side of the trail.

It was overcast and chilly with temperatures ranging from about 10 to 15 degrees. We saw a trumpeter swan floating along the river and dunking its head into the water in search of food. It was quite a beautiful sight to see on a cold winter day. Part of the trail was also designated for endangered species habitat—I think bald eagle—and was closed starting in the beginning of February. According to the sign, the trail would be closed in a couple of days so we really lucked out on that.

Here’s me all bundled up looking very professional.

We did a big loop around the outside of the park. Near the main parking lot we did end up seeing a few more people—including some skate skiers who flew past us like we were chumps. We finally finished the big loop and made it back to our car. We took off our skis and had leftover pizza for lunch. My GPS watch said we skied 8.23 miles which is the most I’ve ever skied in one day.

Next we decided to do some snowshoeing. We had borrowed some snowshoes from my parents in the hopes that there would be some nice powder to use them on. The trails at Three Island Park were pretty packed down and it hadn’t snowed recently so the snowshoes weren’t that useful. We hiked the snowshoe loop trail which also followed the Turtle River but got down closer to the water. We followed the loop back to the parking lot and then added a small out-and-back hike on a mixed use trail. We ended up snowshoeing about 3.6 miles.

We decided it was time to call it a day and headed back to the cabin. We did some more reading and played some cards. For dinner we had instant noodles (with water from our electric kettle) and avocado wraps. I realized that I brought the wrong crowler of beer from home. I had meant to grab a black IPA and instead grabbed an imperial stout aged in gin barrels. Since Leah doesn’t like dark beers these were going to be personal beers for me and I wasn’t ready to drink that much high ABV (11.5%) beer by myself. I drank wine instead. Eventually we called it a night and made our way to bed.

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The next day we got up and had breakfast. We decided to ski on the C.V. Hobson Forest Trail. The trail is inside the Hobson Memorial Forest which was acquired by Bemidji State University in 1948. The university uses the forest for outdoor recreation, education, and research. The property includes a ropes course, amphitheater, two rustic log cabins, and over 7 kilometers of walking and skiing trails. It had snowed overnight so we had some new powder to enjoy. There was one set of tracks in the snow so it looked like one person had beat us to the new snow that morning.

The C.V. Hobson Forest Trail was very beautiful, mostly flat, quiet, and very enjoyable. We did a few loops around the different trails. We never saw anyone else on the trail.

Here’s Leah in an action shot.

Here’s Leah’s photo of me stopping to enjoy the scenery.

We visited the rustic cabins along the trail. I fell down trying to come to a stop near one, but I did manage to snap a photo of the cabin. It was definitely rustic.

A sketchy looking cabin that maybe college students at Bemidji State University sleep in during outdoor adventures.

We skied about 4.2 miles in total. When we returned to the parking lot we decided that we were done skiing for the day. We packed up out skis and headed to Jimmy John’s to grab lunch. We took our subs on the road as we drove to La Salle Lake State Recreation Area. We weren’t able to get a passport stamp because for some reason the one for La Salle Lake SRA is located at Itasca State Park. We did, however, snowshoe the hiking club trail and collect the password. It was an out-and-back trail that ended at the confluence of La Salle Creek and the Mississippi River. The trail was pretty packed down so the snowshoes weren’t very helpful (again).

The mighty Mississippi.

We decided to do a little more snowshoeing in the park before leaving. We did a loop near the parking area that was a little packed down in areas but mostly fresh snow. We finally found great terrain for the snowshoes!

Here’s another action shot of Leah, this time while snowshoeing.

The air was crisp and cold but not uncomfortable. We got back to the car and loaded up our gear and hit the road. It was a really fun weekend cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the Bemidji area. I’m not a cross-country ski buff nor have I been to a lot of courses or trails, but the skiing we did in Bemidji was the best I’ve ever experienced. The trails were plentiful and not crowded and there were courses that catered to all different kinds of skill levels. Another successful cold weather winter vacation.

Lake Carlos State Park and Glendalough State Park – November 2020

Leah and I have talked about renting a camper cabin at one of the Minnesota State Parks for a few years now. We opt for tent camping when the weather is nicer and the days are longer but a camper cabin seemed like it would be a real treat in late fall or winter. We picked a weekend in November and I got started looking for availability.

Booking the cabin took a little bit of patience and trial and error. The camper cabins cannot be booked through the online reservation system and you have to call during normal business hours to book one. You can, however, determine the cabin availability through repetitive searching using the online reservation system. This way I was able to determine which parks had available cabins so we could select our favorite before calling. The cabins at the more popular parks (Jay Cooke, Wild River, etc.) seemed to be completely booked up. We also wanted a park that was close enough so that we could drive to it on Friday night. I found a few parks that fit our criteria and we eventually settled on Lake Carlos State Park.

On Friday night we left after work and drove to Lake Carlos State Park, located near Alexandria, MN. The drive was about 2 hours long and for part of the way we listened to Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer on audiobook. The book on tape (CD technically) was a holdover that we had started and not yet finished from our road trip to Utah in September. We stopped in Alexandria for Jimmy John’s and took the sandwiches with us to eat at the cabin.

There are four camper cabins at Lake Carlos State Park. We rented the one known as “Frog Pond”. When we arrived it was dark. We unloaded all of our stuff into the cabin and had dinner. The cabin was super cute and cozy. It had electric heating and since the space was so small the room really heated up quickly. Here’s Leah’s photo of me sitting at the table inside the cabin.

Our cabin slept five and came with mattresses—though we did pack a fitted sheet which was a good idea. We used our sleeping bags for bedding. All of the cabins at Lake Carlos State Park also had front porches that would have been nice in warmer weather. The weekend before we went camping the highs were in the 70s. When we arrived there was a thin layer of snow covering everything with highs in the 30s and lows reaching the single digits after windchill. Not ideal timing.

One of the great things about the camper cabin was that it had electricity and heat. We didn’t have to worry about sitting out in the cold by the campfire or reading by headlamp. It was definitely a more manageable way to winter glamp. Eventually we cozied up in bed and went to sleep.

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The next day we woke up and made some breakfast. We had to go outside to use our stove since open flame cooking on butane stoves is highly discouraged indoors. We noticed some of our neighbors in the cabins moving about. Some were even lighting fires in the fire pits. Here’s a photo of me outside of our cabin, waiting for water to boil.

We headed out hiking for the morning. It was cold but the sun poked through the clouds and we were out of the wind enough for it to be a pleasant day. We hiked the Hiking Club Trail and only saw a few people. We had been to Lake Carlos State Park a few years ago over Memorial Day weekend so most things seemed familiar, though seasonally distinct. Here’s a photo I took of Leah as we made our way along the hike.

We also tried to do some more intentional birding while on the hike. We saw a lot of chickadees, jays, and what we think was a downy woodpecker—according to our bird guidebook—among other birds. We finished the Hiking Club loop and then hiked another small section by the entrance to the park. On our way there we stopped at the park office to buy the Hiking Club password book.

For those who don’t know, the Minnesota State Park system has a passport book where you collect stamps at each of the 75 state parks and recreation areas. We recently purchased the passport book and have been amassing stamps. On this trip we decided to add the Hiking Club password book to our state park travel documentation. There are 68 Hiking Club trails spread throughout the state park system and somewhere along each trail there is a post with a sign that contains the password. Sometimes the password has meaning to the park like a person or place. Sometimes the password has relative meaning like the name of a species of tree. And sometimes the password is seemingly meaningless and I spend the next 30 minutes complaining to Leah about why that was a terrible password and what one I would have chosen instead. I often end up complaining.

There was a little lake on the park boundary that we hiked to and I took this photo. We saw some big bird flying—maybe an eagle or hawk?

Next we headed back to our cabin to eat lunch and to warm up a little. After lunch we headed out again to do some more hiking, this time along what were mostly horse trails—though we never saw a horse. The park was beautiful and quiet. Afterwards we headed back to our cabin and had some snacks while we studied the Hiking Club password book and our bird guide.

We ordered Domino’s for dinner. I couldn’t get over how good of a deal it was to get two medium 2-topping pizzas and a salad all for $5.99 each. Domino’s, if you need an ambassador or spokesperson just let me know. I love a good deal on pizza. We drove into Alexandria to fetch the pizza and ate it back at the cabin. Eventually we curled up in our sleeping bags and fell asleep.

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The next day we got up and had breakfast again. Then we loaded everything back up into the car and headed off to Glendalough State Park. But first we took a selfie in front of the cabin.

The drive to Glendalough State Park was about an hour and we got there mid-morning. We stopped at the kiosk at the park entrance to get our stamp. When Leah went to open the glove compartment to get the passport book, a bundle of foam padding and fabric fell out. It quickly became clear that a mouse had spent the night inside the glove compartment of my car, presumably taking shelter near the warmth of the recently running car engine following our return from Domino’s. Leah got out of the car and I used a latex glove and trash bag to pick up what I could find—including mouse turds.

If you’re wondering why I had a latex glove in my car—long story short, a few months ago a door-knocker for Ilhan Omar stopped by our house and asked if we wanted a COVID safety package which included masks, hand sanitizer, and latex gloves. I said yes and have sense stored that package in—you guessed it—the glove compartment of my car. A real full circle story.

We weren’t really quite sure if the mouse could still be in the car. You’d think that loading items into the car and driving for an hour would scare a mouse away, but who knows. I tried to remain optimistic that once the sun rose the mouse woke up and realized what a terrible mistake it had made and quickly left the confines of my car never to be seen again. After the traumatizing mouse nest and poop scare, we got the stamp in our passport book and drove into the park.

We parked near the swimming beach—a place where I had gone swimming (Leah didn’t join in) years ago on that same Memorial Day weekend trip that included Lake Carlos State Park. We checked the car for visible damage or chew marks since it appeared as though the mouse had built its nest out of foam and padding from somewhere in the car. We found nothing and headed out on the Hiking Club Trail.

Glendalough State Park is more prairie-like than Lake Carlos. The weather was a little colder and the wind was blowing hard. This made for a particularly cold and less fun experience. We walked past the cart-in campground where we had mistakenly attempted to make a reservation on that trip years ago. Somehow we failed to actually submit the reservation or receive a confirmation and ended up having to book a site at a nearby private RV campground last minute.

Next we walked on a trail that included a dog cemetery which was from when the state park used to be a resort. The owners buried their hunting dogs on the grounds when they passed. Then we stopped by a historic lodge on the main lake in the park to check it out. It was locked. Here’s a photo of me demonstrating how cold it was.

We hiked out on a trail through a very marshy landscape. It was a trail that we attempted to hike years ago on the previously mentioned camping trip but were turned away due to an unpleasant amount of bugs. One positive of the cold was that there were no bugs so we felt like it was the perfect time to hike the trail. It also turned out that the frozen surface allowed us to walk—carefully—on top of what would have been inches of water and mud. It seemed like the best time of year to hike this section of trail, and yet it still wasn’t that great. At least we can say that we did it.

We finished the Hiking Club loop and ended back at the car. Leah made me check the glove compartment for mice. Then we enjoyed our cold pizza leftovers while sitting in the cold car. We decided that we would hike one more trail before calling it a day. We headed out and enjoyed some more beautiful prairie views. I didn’t take many photos that day mostly due to not wanting to expose my hands to the cold air. I did, however, feel the need to take a photo of this large tree that a beaver had recently been putting a bunch of work into.

We made it back to the car, checked again for mice, and headed home. We listened to more of the audiobook but still didn’t finish it. Finally, we made it home before it got too dark. The weather wasn’t super pleasant, but we’re both pretty resilient and didn’t let that deter us from having a good time.

The camper cabins are something that we’ll definitely stay in again. They are a little bit pricier—we paid about $75 per night—but when it’s cold and dark it sure beats tent camping. We’ve also talked about trying them out in the winter at some of the parks that have groomed cross-country skiing trails or snowshoeing. So many fun winter getaway ideas for the future!

Northern Minnesota – August 2020

Day 1 – Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area, Schoolcraft State Park and Scenic State Park

Leah and I decided to set out on a camping and hiking adventure in northern Minnesota. The trip was in part to explore some new state parks but also to celebrate what would have been our wedding weekend had there not been a global pandemic. We left on a Saturday morning, August 1st (the original date of our wedding). On the drive up, Leah got a call from her friend Jamie who wanted to wish us well on the postponed wedding date. Jamie also mentioned that we should find a place to pull over so we could watch a video that she organized that featured dancing, toasts, and well wishes from our entire wedding party. It was a really special moment and we both cried while sitting in a Highway 169 turn-off somewhere near Zimmerman, MN. We continued driving north, almost getting into a small fender bender at one point as traffic came to an abrupt stop in front of us.

We eventually got to our first destination, Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area. It’s a large park with multiple sections that all focus mainly on mountain biking. Most of the hills and lakes are remnants of when it used to be a mining site. The mining companies abandoned the area over 30 years ago and the land has been a state recreation area since 1993. Here’s Leah in front of a lake on the only tiny little hike we did.

Since the park is dedicated to mountain biking, we were really only there to get a stamp in our Minnesota State Parks passport book. We didn’t find the stamp in the main parking lot area but we did find a kids loop.

We headed back into town to see if the stamp was at the park office. Luckily it was and we were able to check off another stamp. We hit the road again, driving to Grand Rapids to stop for lunch. Leah found an organic cafe in Grand Rapids (beats Subway or Jimmy Johns) where we grabbed some paninis. Unfortunately, we couldn’t visit the Forest History Center (one of the Minnesota Historical Society sites that we’ve been wanting to go to) because it was closed due to COVID-19.

We headed on to Schoolcraft State Park, a cute little park along the Mississippi River. There were only about 2 miles of hiking trails total and we covered them all. I loved the smell of hot pine as we walked through the old growth forest. We found the hiking club password and made sure to get the passport book stamp there as well. There were a couple watercraft campsites along the river that looked pretty cool. There would definitely be more to explore at Schoolcraft State Park if we had a canoe or kayak to take out on the Mighty Mississippi.

Next we headed to Scenic State Park, the place where we would be camping for the next two nights. We got the stamp on the way in, found our campsite, and set up our tent. Here’s Leah posing with our brand new picnic table covering (thanks to Leah’s mom, Allison) with a bonus shot of our tent in the background.

We wanted to get in a hike before dinner so we set out on a loop past the fire tower. Unfortunately, the fire tower was closed to the public. We didn’t know if that was due to the pandemic or if that was how it always was. The hike started out fine, but as we got further into the forest the mosquitoes got really bad. We basically power-walked the rest of the hike. We kind of saw two backpack sites that were on a lake and maybe nice but it was too buggy to tell. The trail also wasn’t marked particularly well and there was a snowmobile trail that met up with and crisscrossed the hiking trail multiple times. We got slightly turned around a couple times but eventually finished the hike. On our way back to the campsite we stopped at the dock to sit and enjoy the water.

Once back at the campsite I made a fire and we drank some beers. We roasted veggie dogs for dinner and enjoyed the clear night sky. It started to get darker and we headed to the tent and fell asleep.

Day 2 – Scenic State Park

We woke up, had breakfast, and then set off on the hiking club trail at Scenic State Park. The first section we did was a loop on the forested side of the park and it was again very buggy. We had to power-walk that section as well. Then we crossed over the park road and started hiking on what ended up being the best trail in the park—the Chase Point Trail. It followed the ridge of a glacial esker and had beautiful views of the lakes on both sides.

Another bonus of this trail was that there were basically no bugs. Here’s another photo, this one of Leah walking through a sea of tall red pines.

Eventually we made it out to the point (and we also found the hiking club password along the way). Here’s a selfie of us from the end of the trail.

Next we found a picnic table back in the parking area and had lunch. Then we decided that we should hike an out-and-back trail that passed by the watercraft sites. It was pretty much the only section of trail that we hadn’t hiked in the park. It was, shockingly, very buggy and we power-walked again. We did find the watercraft sites along the trail but they were all occupied so I couldn’t do any snooping. From the trail they all looked very nice. Afterwards we headed back to the campsite and grabbed our camp chairs, snacks, and books and headed to the beach area. I was talking a big game about how I was going to go swimming in the lake. There seemed to always be children swimming in the beach area and I eventually chickened out and never got in the water. Leah took a couple micro naps and we both enjoyed the fresh afternoon air.

Then we headed back to the campsite, got a fire going, did some more reading, drank more beers, and had veggie dogs again for dinner. We turned in a little earlier as it had been a long day.

Day 3 – McCarthy Beach State Park, Iron Range Off-Highway Vehicle State Recreation Area, and Duluth

We woke up, ate breakfast, and packed up the campsite. Our next destination was McCarthy Beach State Park. We took a more “scenic” route to get there along a bunch of gravel country roads. Once we arrived at the park we got the stamp and then explored the campground. We found the main campground to feel very much like a resort. There appeared to be more long-term campers there and the lake next to the campground was full of boats and jet skis. We hiked a nice little trail along the lake and then crossed over to the other side of the park where there was a massive parking lot for a large beach and swimming area. It definitely had a summer vacation vibe, but as it was a Monday morning (and also a pandemic) there weren’t very many people out and about. Here’s a photo of the swimming area with a big floating dock thing with slides out in the lake.

Next we drove to a trail parking lot and had lunch. Then we headed out on the Pickerel Lake Trail and Big Hole Trail Loop (both making up the hiking club trail). The trails were beautiful and fairly quiet. Here’s Leah looking out over Pickerel Lake.

We did another loop trail out along some ridges that were covered with red and white pines and thick forest vegetation. These trails become cross-country skiing trails in the winter and we both agreed that they would be very pretty to ski on. There were also a lot of cool mushrooms along the hike. Here’s my favorite mushroom photo that I took.

We finished the hike and headed off to our next destination—Iron Range Off-Highway Vehicle State Recreation Area. The name is a mouthful, and there didn’t seem to be any hiking to do there, but I wanted to get the stamp. It was also barely out of the way on our drive to Duluth. When we arrived at Iron Range Off-Highway Vehicle State Recreation Area there was a truck just leaving and the man driving the truck kind of gestured to us. Then he turned his car around, parked behind us, and proceeded to ask us if he could help.

We finally realized that he was a DNR employee. He was staffing the state recreation area and was just about to leave for the day. His name was Carl and he told us that normally he leads tours of the Soudan Underground Mine but since it’s closed due to COVID-19 he was reassigned to this state recreation area. We chatted for a little bit and I eventually admitted that we were there to get the stamp (shocking, considering my Corolla clearly wasn’t hiding an “off-highway vehicle”). He very kindly went back into the park office to give us the stamp. Lucky for us we just barely caught Carl in time or else we wouldn’t have gotten the stamp.

Next we continued on to Duluth so we could get Fitger’s wild rice burgers for dinner. Also, the hotel at Fitger’s happened to be the place where we proposed to each other so there was a really cute tie in with it being our originally scheduled wedding weekend and all. We sat outside at Fitger’s and enjoyed our delicious burgers—a great meal to end the trip. I also talked us both into going to the Portland Malt Shop next door to get a malt. At least we only got one and shared it between the two of us. We ate the malt while looking out over Lake Superior. We both felt uncomfortably full (though obviously worth it) as we walked back to the car and drove back home. What a wonderful weekend.