Minnesota State Parks

[Mark]

What a great collection of photos, than ks for posting them!

I do have to say that I am surprised no one made any Sepoy Rebellion comments on this image though:

[TC]

Some more equipment from 1862. I lusted after the cap and ball revolver. I think I am seriously going to have to get one of these.

XL... I have been lusting too for a Navy Colt in .44 cal ever since I saw Mr Eastwood in the Sergio Leone movies. I cant have one here so please go ahead and make my day

Thanks for the wonderful photographs and the descriptions. They are simply wonderful...

Cheers

TC

[xl_target]

Baljit, TC, Mark,
Glad you liked the photos. I think I'm out of major events till August so there probably won't be anything till then.

Regarding the Colt Army revolver, I sure wish I had bought one or two when they were cheap in Cabela's, which often advertised them for about $125 on sale. Now they are quite expensive with the devalued dollar.

Tim,
Cabela's is having a sale on BP revolvers again. They have replica 1860 Colt Army model and 1851 Navy model revolvers for $179
Click HERE and HERE

I'm seriously debating it but I'm torn between the 1860 Army and the 1851 Navy .36 cal

[TC]

Tim,
Cabela's is having a sale on BP revolvers again. They have replica 1860 Colt Army model and 1851 Navy model revolvers for $179
Click HERE and HERE

XL,
This is what we called world of difference.... As I was typing I received a text from my wireless data service provider offering 250 MB free

Go for it..

Cheers
TC

[xl_target]

I just revisited the first park in this post; Minneopa State Park. We have had quite a bit of rain this year and Minneopa Creek is running pretty well. The falls actually had a roar to them this year.


Here is the original image that I posted last year.


Here is photo that I took this afternoon. Quite a difference, as you can see.
They have also totally rebuilt the bridge over the falls. It's almost an identical copy of the original.

Last weekend, my daughter and I went camping to another State Park. We met up with my college roommate and his son.
We went down to the south east corner of the state and stayed at Forestville/Mystery Caves State Park. As soon as I get the images edited, I will post a report on that.

[Sakobav]

Nice XL the falls looked like Hiawatha ones near Minneapolis airport

Thanks

[xl_target]

Navi,
I think you are talking about Minnehaha Falls. The Minnehaha Falls have a 53 ft drop and The Minneopa Falls have a 40 ft drop. There definitely are some similarities.

Here is Minnehaha Falls

video from here

Minnehaha was the Indian Maiden featured in Longfellow's famous "The song of Hiawatha".

By the shores of Gitche Gumee (Lake Superior),
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

from the Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


Hiawatha and Minnehaha (near Minnehaha Falls)
image from here

[xl_target]

Forestville/Mystery Caves State Park


**I must apologize for the quality of the photos here.
I left my SLR at home and only had a small point and shoot Canon camera with me.

On the 30th of June, 2013; my daughter and I met up with my old college roommate, Brian and his son Zach, at Forestville/Mystery Caves State Park. Brian is also my daughter's godparent and we stood up for each other at our weddings. The park is located in the south-eastern part of Minnesota, in an area of gently rolling hills. There are many caves in the area as the Limestone gets eroded by annual floods that eat their way under the surface. The park is actually spread out over two different locations; one encompasses the now extinct town of Forestville and the other has a series of caves called the Mystery Caves.


The Park entrance

We spent two nights at the Forestville campgrounds. The Forestville part of the park has many trails for hiking and for Horse riding. Some of the hiking trails are shared with the Horse trails. The beauty of Minnesota’s State Parks, are that there are so many and they are so large that you can wander around them and not see many people.


The well kept trails are just "a walk in the park"

We didn’t arrive till the afternoon on Saturday and pitched our tents right away.


Home, Sweet Home

We wandered through some of the nearby trails and then we cooked a campfire supper, sat around the fire till it got dark and then went to bed. We had a visitor that night. A very large Racoon, makes the campground his home and earns his living by pilfering food from the campers. Luckily we saw the masked bandit before we went to bed and put all our food away in our vehicles.


A picnic basket despoiler

The next morning, being wakened by a chorus of songbirds, I got up early and took a hot shower in the campground’s showers. After making a pot of some great Sumatran coffee, I sautéed mushrooms and onions in the pan and folded some scrambled eggs into them. I also cooked up a mess of Hash Browned potatoes. My campmates accused me of trying to set the park's picnic table on fire but we won't talk about that. After that hearty breakfast, we packed a lunch; a delicious spiced Garbonzo (Chana) bean spread, sprinkled with grated carrots and cheese and wrapped in Tortilla shells. My daughter had picked up a huge bag of walnut sized cherries which we had for dessert. The day was spent in the Forestville area hiking some of the trails.


Some of Minnesota's best Trout streams flow through the park


Special fishing regulations in the park

We have been having a lot of rain this year but the weather cooperated and we had beautiful cloudless skies with moderate temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s. The trails are well maintained and it was only on the shared trails that you had to careful not to step in the occasional “horses d’ouvers”.



Since we had already eaten, we were careful to avoid the "horses d'ouvers"

The trails wind through the valleys and climb the hills. Some of them follow the ridges and some of them go down in to the next valley. This park has some Oak Savannah areas and we walked through those. We started at Forestville, made a giant circle and ended back up at Forestville again.


Crossing the river to enter Forestville


The bridge is pretty old and no vehicular traffic is allowed on it now.


At one time Forestville had over 100 people and a large store that was the center of the community.


The view of downtown Forestville. Forestville got bypassed by the railroad and died a slow death.


Some of the preserved buildings in Forestville


The Brick store decked out in the National Colors for the coming 4th of July weekend


There were plenty of signs denoting the former location of various buildings.
Sadly they just presided over ruins


One interesting tidbit from one of the signs

We seemed to have the whole place to ourselves. We met two couples on horses and that was it. We climbed up to a cemetery near Forestville and we went to a “Scenic Lookout” on one of the ridges. We hiked about twelve miles of the trails around Forestville.


Crossing a stream. Look who is up front as usual


Heading for the hills


A Turkey Buzzard accompanied us for some time, slowly soaring in circles around us as we made for the woods.
"It's mighty hot but we ain't dead yet, Mr Buzzard"


The scenic lookout at the top of a ridge.



Back at Forestville for our lunch break

For some reason, the Butterflies were out and we often walked through clouds of them. One even hitched a ride on my shoulder for a good hour. As he wasn't hurting anything, I let him stay there while we walked around.


A bathroom break taken in one of the picnic shelters/restrooms


Pleasantly tired, we went back to the campsite and Brian cooked “Pizza Pies” on the campfire. We also grilled some Bratwurst on the fire. With full bellies, we sat around the fire and chatted about various stuff till it was time to hit the hay.


Resting our weary feet after the hike

As dusk stole over the park, it found us still sitting around the fire. We listened to the yipping of Coyotes and the plaintive hoot of the Barred Owls that frequent the area. Later that night we heard the sound of toppling Tupperware, wild scramblings and oaths coming from the campsite next to ours. It seemed likely that our masked bandit neighbor had got into someone else’s picnic basket. I smiled to myself, rolled over and went back to sleep.

On Monday morning, our last day, after breakfast and another great cup of Sumatra, we headed over to the Mystery Caves area….

...More to follow……

[xl_target]

We drove about seven miles to get to the Mystery Caves part of the park.


At the main building

Two to five hundred million years ago material was deposited in the bottom of shallow seas which intermittently covered large portions of North America. As the deposits increased in thickness, the layers on the bottom were compressed to form limestone, shale and sandstone. Today in the park, these rocks are 1300 feet above the sea. They are an important factor in the development of the terrain which exists now.
Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park is located within the karst region of Minnesota. Karst occurs in areas of soluble rocks, usually limestone or dolomite. As rainwater percolates through the soil, it is rendered slightly acidic as it picks up carbon dioxide from microbial decay of organic soil material. This fortified water has the capacity to dissolve the rock. The effects of this dissolving action are minute from the perspective of a human’s lifetime. However, over the course of many thousands of years, dramatic changes occur; the typical features of karst develop – caves and sinkholes form; underground drainage occurs. The park exhibits many karst features including one of the most outstanding karst features in the state, Mystery Cave. The cave is a maze of linear corridors. Over twelve miles of passage exist in two rock layers with strikingly different compositions. During dry years, the entire South Branch Root River sinks into the cave through gravel filled crevices in the river bottom.

Link


How these caves are formed.


Water enters the caves through fissures and apertures like these.


At the entrance. The opening above the door allows bats to come and go

Bats only use the caves to hibernate in the winter. They do not live in the caves in the summer.
Currently there is a disease called (WNS (White Nose Syndrome) that is affecting bat numbers. It is a fungus that shown up as white spots on a bat’s nose. This is fatal to bats.


Entering another cave.

Notice how level the ceilings are?
They almost look man-made but in fact are caused by the way the different layers are stacked over one another.
If you look at the photos, you can see the distinct bands, caused by the layering of sediment, showing up on the walls.


Some of the openings are very narrow and one has to turn sideways and stoop to get through.


Down we go


A bridge over a chasm


Turquoise Lake

We are about 150 ft below the surface at Turquoise Lake.
When the ranger turned off the lights, it was pitch dark in there and you could not see your hand in front of your face.
It was 48 deg F ( approx. 9 deg C) in the caves. We were forewarned and took sweatshirts in with us. Still, after the one hour tour, it was starting to get a little chilly.
On coming back up to the surface and stepping out of the caves, we were assaulted by the smell of flowers, the earth, etc. Compared to the almost sterile atmosphere in the caves, it was quite a sensation.

All in all, it was a very relaxing weekend.

We actually had to cut our vacation short as my daughter got hired by a Pyrotechnics company to assist in lighting off fireworks for the fourth of July, so she had to be back home right away to udergo training.
Here are a few photos of her on the 4th of July, getting ready to set off the evenings fireworks.


These are big fireworks


Loading the mortar tubes



Not your average light the "phataka" and run away.
The fireworks are set of in a certain sequence (and timed to music) by a computer.



The biggest one

I don't know how she manages to find these fun gigs all the time.

[Baljit]

Very nice pictures XL,i really enjoyed it.I wish i was there with all of you.
Thanks again

Baljit

[xl_target]

I wish you were there too Baljit.
Maybe one of these days.....

[Baljit]

I wish you were there too Baljit.
Maybe one of these days.....

I wish XL, i am also looking forward to come to you some day.I am going to see CK on this coming weekend in Vancouver and see what's his plan.


Baljit

[xl_target]

It's 2014 and spring has finally made its appearance in Minnesota. A short, wet spring and we're right into summer.
Last week, after it finally got to be nice outdoors, my wife and I did some picknicking.
We headed to our favorite; Minneopa State Park, with a picnic basket and spent some time by the falls.
The wildflowers were blooming and the trees were budded-out quite well.

Last fall, when CK was here, the Minneopa Creek was dry and CK never go to see the falls.
So I shot some video so he, among others, could see the falls in motion
[youtube][/youtube]

[ckkalyan]

Wooo Hooo xl_target - very nice video indeed, very skilful merging of stills and video! Many thanks for sharing.

Looks lovely - I would have loved to have jumped spontaneously, into the chill waters and gotten behind the 'veil' of the falls, in the scooped out space under the bridge, watching the world through aqua lenses!

The new bridge looks amazing - what a change! The blooms are beautiful - an all new feeling enroute to the waterfall - gorgeous colors.




The rushing stream probably zapped that poor skeleton Fish back to life??!

[xl_target]

State Parks on the North Shore

We went up to Northern Minnesota to spend some time with my in-laws for the fourth of July holiday weekend.
While there, I convinced my wife to take a drive up the North Shore of Gitche Gumee (Lake Superior).
It started out as an absolutely gorgeous day with bright sunlight, a blue sky and scattered clouds.
The drive itself is beautiful as it skirts the shores of the largest freshwater lake in the world.
The highway dips and climbs over and sometimes through the mountainous cliffs that populate the lake shore.


A tunnel through the hillside


Another one


A very scenic drive


By the shores of Gitche Gumee. In the Ojibwe language it is Ojibwe Gichigami(Ojibwe's Great Sea)


Those of you who read the "Song of Hiawatha" in high school might remember the lines below.
By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.
-H.W. Longfellow

Shortly after leaving the "Twin Ports" of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin; the Multi-lane Interstate higway (I35) ends and turns into the two lane State Highway 61. Traffic was relatively heavy as recreational vehicles and pull-behind campers crowded the road to this vacation-land. This weekend is one of the busiest holiday weekends of the summer.

After going through the small town of Two Harbors, we come to Gooseberry Falls State Park and about ten miles further is Split Rock LIghthouse State Park. The park itself is a large 2,260 acres and has many trails as well as campsites. The main feature of the park, of course is The Lighthouse on the Split Rock.

Split Rock Lighthouse


The entrance to the State Park


Walking up to the Lighthouse. The Fog Signal Building is on the left.


A member of the Minnesota Historical Society dressed up as a Lighthouse keeper.


Two gasoline powered air compressors powered the fog signal. It could be heard five miles away.


about the lamp, lens and the beacon. The beacon flashed every ten seconds and could be seen 22 miles away.
The lens assembly weighs nearly 6.5 tons.


Supplying the lighthouse before the highway was built was a real challenge.


The drawing of the Lighthouse plan.


The Lighthouse. Since it is perched on a rock 130 ft high, the tower itself is only 54 ft tall.


The view straight down the split in the rock. Lake Superior is renowned for the clarity of its water.


My wife checking out the view.
The point of land sticking out into the lake, visible just above her head is where I photographed the lighthouse (the last two shots in this post).


Later, we walked down to the shore line. Here, the State has thoughtfully placed numerous intimate little picnic spots along the shore line for campers to enjoy. It was a warm day but the gentle breeze coming off the lake provided air-conditioning. Lake Superior stays at 45 deg. F, all summer.


A view of the LIghthouse from the campsite/picnic area. The white speck near the foot of the rock is a fishing boat.


The beautifully restored Split Rock Lighthouse.