Camping

Biking the wildlife loop - super fun!

yellow lady slipper in bloom.

Kayaking Elk Lake in the wind.



This is some kind of crayfish eating mammal den - maybe a mink or an otter?  The hole is more than 3 inches in diameter.  As many as five other holes were within 10 feet of this one.  See the crayfish skeletons?



A tent catepillar spinning a coccoon - on a tent.  Living up to it's name.

I'm a tree hugger.

Offspring #2 and I had a great time camping at Itaska State Park.  It's really one of my favorite state parks.  The facilities are great.  The staff are friendly.  We had two close encounters with wildlife.  One hulky raccoon sauntered into our campsite at dusk on Friday night.  He reminded me of those weightlifting guys at the gym with thick necks, muscular shoulders and arms the diameter of legs.  He was the Arnold Schwarzenegger of raccoons.  My reaction to seeing him saunter by?  I grabbed my offspring's arm - like that is going to help?!  I guess if he attacked I could throw her at his feet and start running. Our second encounter was while biking the 16 mile wildlife drive loop.  We stopped biking because our legs were too weak to make it up the hill to enjoy the scenery when a ruffed grouse screamed like a banshee, almost t-boned offspring #2, swerved to the left at the last minute, flew over our handlebars and landed in the brush on the other side of the road. There it clucked and paced for 10 minutes in the brush while I tried to take it's picture.  I got 12 shots of the grouse only the grouse is not visible in any of the photos.  We biked during the morning hours on Saturday before it got too hot.  We swam to cool off in the afternoon and then went kayaking on Elk Lake. The wind was so strong there were white caps on this little lake.  The kayak cut through the waves and it was hard paddling out.  But paddling back was super easy and I came in so fast it was scary.  We kayaked again on Sunday morning on Mary Lake which was a much different experience - calm, peaceful, and relaxing.  I had not been to the headwaters of the Mississippi for a long time; too long I think.