2020 09 27 - State Park, Fort Snelling

If you didn't know where we were, you should be able to tell by the air plane coming in for a landing. This is a nice park, but in no way quiet.

Way back ...

We were here on Sep 11 of this year but I hadn't started doing write-ups yet and forgot to do one for that stop. So this is our 2nd time to this park this year.

Last time we walked around Picnic Island.

This weekend ...

We were not supposed to be here. 1st, we were going to take the whole weekend and walk state parks and stay in hotels. Then I worked Friday so we didn't leave town Friday.

We had wanted to go up north to Duluth and beyond for cooler weather and now the fall colors. That was plan 1. Until we looked at motels and found that half the motels were already full. A lot of people had the same thought. And we would be doing it in part to get away from people. Hard to do when half the state gets there before we do.

Come Saturday morning we had plans to go all the way to the west border of the state to Big Stone Lake State Park and other parks on the way to and from.

We were just about ready to go and my wife sat down fully zapped. Exhausted. She wasn't feeling well and she is going back in for surgery on Monday. We canceled the road trip.

Saturday I spent most of two hours walking a local cemetery looking for grave markers. My wife stayed home.

Today ...

My wife is feeling better so we head to the closest park. Afton state park. As we drive up we see a line ahead of us and people turning around and leaving. But the line starts moving before we are stopped so we went with the flow. Sign says 'Lot Full' but they are letting cars in ...

Were letting cars in. There is someone standing there directing traffic and talking to someone in the parking area on a CB. We get stopped. We will have to wait until more people leave.

Nope. Without asking my wife, I just tell the person, 'bye,' we are leaving. If it is so crowded we can't park the trails are going to be busy also.

Finally ...

We arrive at Fort Snelling State Park. The small boat lot is empty. The next area where we park is about 75% empty. Today we didn't drive around to look at the other area's like we do in the remote parks. Partly because this one does not have an overnight camping area.

There were a lot of people for the amount of cars. Some times it is the other way around. Some were fishing, same walking there dogs, others riding their bikes or just walking. We let some of them pass us. Not sure the last time we past anyone. We are now the old folks. Didn't help that early on the back of my right leg started cramping up, but that passed and it was fine.

Nuts.

The ground is thick with nuts. Acorns. With as many squirrels as we have at home I have thought about filling a five gallon pail and then dumping it in my yard and see how long it lasts.

Our last rain was last night, but here the paths are mostly dry except where they seem to be having drainage issues. One of the ponds is labeled as a drainage pond for the airport. That is how close we are to it. Freeway/Express way on three sides of the park plus the airport on one side. Not a quiet area.

Did see one deer. Another group was pointing it out to each other but we didn't stop. Before too long that group past us. As they did they saw my wife's Grand Marais shirt. That got us talking, from a distance.

They had just been up to the North Shore on Monday. I think it was the Oberg Mountain Trail Head that they were bragging about. Showing us a picture on their phone of the tree colors and how far you could see inland over the land and out over Lake Superior. I've looked it up and is part of the Superior National Forest so they are the ones who maintain the trail.

We walked for about 50 minutes today. We paced it a little slower that some days be my wife hadn't been feeling well and my leg cramped up early on. So today it was just a walk in the park, not a marathon walk.

A little over 2/3's of the trail we walked was paved, the other was a dirt trail also used by pickups so plenty wide. The un-paved was smother than the paved. The tree roots have pushed the pavement up in places but still not so bad that you need to look down.