Frontenac State Park

Frontenac State Park

—Frontenac, MN—

(by Lake Pepin on the Mississippi River part of the Minnesota–Wisconsin border)

The focus of today's geocaching trip is to the hit the southeast corner of Minnesota.  We started the day by following the Mississippi River Valley down to Frontenac, Minnesota.  Our drive down even put us on the Wisconsin side of the river to start with and was very scenic with all of the bluffs and expansive waters of the Mississippi River at this point post-Twin Cities.  We took Highway 10 from I-494 across the border, then Highway 10/61 along the Wisconsin (east) side of the river to the bridge at Red Wing, MN where we crossed back over.  Great views the entire time!

We got an early start and pulled into Frontenac around 11 am.  Marcus was ready to get "out" of the car after the long drive (perhaps his favorite new word is "out").

When I was a kid I occasionally went to a girl scout camp in Frontenac – all I remember about it is that it was buggy, and not as pretty, as Singing Hills (the other camp that I loved) and it was a long drive, too.  I think must have missed a lot because this was actually very pretty, with rolling hills, and a magnificent view of the Mississippi River.

Our first stop brought us right up to one of the scenic overlooks by the river.  It was a pretty easy find with the first location being posted right on a kiosk.

One interesting thing about this part of the state is that there are actually timber rattlesnakes around—not seen very often but also not something that we wanted to mess around with.  They even posted a warning on one of the the kiosk signs about them.  (Very little to actually worry about.  In South Dakota several years ago we learned from a park ranger that the typical rattlesnake bite was on the face and arms (not the legs)... and the bite victim was typically male, young, and intoxicated... you do the math.  If you leave them alone, they will leave you alone for the most part.)

Marcus learning about the Timber Rattlesnake

After we loaded the next set of coordinates we were off.  Marcus was super excited to be on his feet and exploring nature.

Just a little way down the trail we stopped to explore the scenic overlook and learn about the river.

A geological marker with the natural history of the river valley.

           ... and, of course, enjoy the view...

 Frontenac overlooks the part of the Mississippi River that includes gigantic Lake Pepin.  This is the largest natural lake anywhere on the Mississippi river (as well as the widest naturally-occurring-width on the river).

Here is some information (thank you again, Wikipedia):

The formation of the lake was caused by the backup of water behind the sedimentary deposits of the Chippewa River's delta. It has a surface area of about 40 square miles (100 km²) and an average depth of 21 feet (6.4 m),

The wide area of the lake stretches from Bay City, Wisconsin, in the north, down past Pepin, Wisconsin, and Reeds Landing, Minnesota, in the south, with Pepin being just upstream from where the Chippewa River enters the Mississippi. The villages of Maiden Rock and Stockholm border on the Wisconsin side, while Frontenac State Park takes up a large part of the Minnesota side. The largest city on the waterfront is Lake City, Minnesota, which is the birthplace of water skiing. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Pepin)

We could not stop long because we needed to find the next location – this was only our first park on a day when we planned to visit 6 state parks in SW Minnesota!

We made our way to the trail, and very quickly the GPS was saying it was only 100 feet.

I found a small path that lead towards the destination.  Marcus was a bit more nervous about walking through it.  Just looking at this picture you can see how tall the grass was here.

We found the ammo box just hanging out under this tree... it was barely even covered.  This was a very fast and easy find.  Marcus was pretty excited to see his card.

  When we finished our long hike we realized how hungry we were, and we thought it would be a great time for a little picnic.  So Marcus and I sat down for a quick lunch while Luke explored a little bit more of the park trails and overlooks.

One last view of the river from Frontenac State Park.  It was pretty and was not buggy at all.  At the end of the day my impression of this park was much better than it was during my childhood.  I would like to come back and hike a bit more on the trails here!

There are lots of boats way down there – take my word for it!