Beaver Creek Valley State Park

Beaver Creek Valley State Park

—Caledonia, MN—

When we left Great River Bluffs State Park, we drove away from the Mississippi River valley and directly into the rest of the driftless area of the state.  The driftless area was spared glaciation during the last Ice Age compared to the rest of the state, so the rugged topology of this area remained making it full of giantic hills and deep, tortuous valleys winding through them.

From the DNR website: "The park is situated in one of the most interesting geologic areas in Minnesota, the 'driftless area.' The area covers 10,000 square miles in adjoining parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois, which were untouched by the most recent glacial advances. However, as the glaciers receded, torrents of melt water poured into streams and rivers, carving deep rugged valleys. These rocky walls are made up of a layer of sandstone sandwiched between two layers of dolomite, which were deposited by inland seas between 450 and 500 million years ago."

This means that there are rolling hills, cliff sides, and lots of topography to look at.  I think it is is one of the prettiest parts of the state.

My view from the car.

When we got to the park - which is miles down a dead end road we instantly saw the rangers station.  Luke got out and looked at it.  I looked at the GPS, and it said that we were still 0.2 miles from the first location; however, when I looked at the kiosk, I swear that I could see the next set of coordinates... ???

See the coordinates in red.

Luke looked at them and verified that they were the next set—in the completely wrong place...  That seemed pretty strange to me.  We decided to look by going to the place where the first set of coordinates was supposed to be... and it was there too... I guess the park ranger wanted to make sure everyone found it.

We entered the coordinates in the GPS, and it was 0.9 miles to the next stop, so we jumped back in the car and drove off – this is where the park started to get interesting... within a few hundred feet we came to the place where we had to drive over a concrete stream bed...

This was a new experience to us, but one that we would be replicated many times at this park.  

"Beaver Creek Valley State Park is known for its clear streams fed by the 'Big Spring.'  Its streams are home to brown and native brook trout." —MN DNR website

These streams meander through the park, and the river goes over the road as well.

Beaver Creek Valley State Park was like no other park we have visited before – driving the road (it is just a single lane in and out) you actually drive right next to all of the camp sites that are nestled on the hillside.  The road sits right at the bottom of the valley and nature completely surrounds you.  (You are really in the hills here.  A very deep forest valley feel to camping here.)  It was a very unique setting and I loved it.

We finally got deep into the park and found a spot to park at the end of the road.  The GPS said we were still 0.2 miles from our destination, so we got out to walk.  We quickly found the path – but it warned of Wild Parsnip, a nasty invasive species that, according to the Wisconsin DNR does the following:

"There are chemicals in wild parsnip called psoralens (precisely, furocoumarins) that cause what dermatologists call 'phyto-photo-dermatitis.' That means an inflammation (itis) of the skin (derm) induced by a plant (phyto) with the help of sunlight (photo). When absorbed by skin, furocoumarins are energized by ultraviolet light (present during sunny and cloudy days) causing them to bind with nuclear DNA and cell membranes. This process destroys cells and skin tissue, though the reaction takes time to produce visible damage." —Wisconsin DNR website

... nasty business.

We had decided that since it was so close we were not going to bring the stroller along... until Marcus decided otherwise... he stopped moving forward and started saying "stroller"... so Luke had to go back for it.  We learned farther down the path that Marcus made the right call here.

Similar to the road the path actually went directly over a concrete creek bed.  You can see that this camping area was really busy.  There was a large family camping together.

We followed the trail (and the GPS) and ran smack into their camp... this was really odd.  They were cooking dinner, and we just showed up.  We couldn't see any trails, and it felt like we were pretty lost.  The GPS said it was still over 0.1 miles to the next location.

We finally asked a guy, and he said that there was a trail on the other side of the site, but "Good luck," because it was steep.

Tent city.  A whole lotta campin' goin' on.

When we got to the other side of their campsite (cutting right between the tents as we had to) we found the trail and a state park map sign.

We quickly started up the trail – heck, it didn't seem very far, but it was uphill.  I know these pictures never really show how steep it was, but this was steep... and Luke pushed the stroller (lucky me).  We followed the trail up many switchback until we reached the top of the hill.

When we got to the hilltop there was a little path that ran out towards a small cliff... but there was some poison ivy on the trail... our old enemy: poison ivy.

So Luke and Marcus hung back while Mommy went ahead....

"Don't Go There!"

I found the final geocache.

Notice the poison ivy stalk on the right-hand side of this picture.  There was actually quite a lot of it in this state park.

 People put the most random things in goecaches – here is someone's master thesis – the note says they came to the park to celebrate graduating!

 After I found the card and signed the logbook, I went back to to Luke and Marcus and gave Marcus his card.

Another notch in his belt.

Now that we found our goal it was time to head back down the hill.  I have to say this was the longest 0.2 miles I have hiked in a long time.

Juggling.

I have to say I loved this park.  It is one of my favorites that we have seen all year, and I want to go back and camp at it.  It was so different than anything else that we have seen so far (granted we haven't been to the North Shore yet this year...).

Ahh... the halcyon days of summers past.  Or sure looks like it here.  Thanks, Picasa.