Itasca State Park

The Mothership: Itasca State Park

—Park Rapids, MN—

After we left LaSalle it was only a short drive to Itasca State Park.  We arrived there just about 4:30 in the afternoon, and it was a perfect day.  Marcus was still sleeping in the car during the beginning, so we took our time while one of us went looking for the cache.  We passed over the not-so-mighty Mississippi River (at this point no more than a small creek) a few more times in the process.

Itasca is a huge state park – it is actually the second largest by area, with over 30,000 acres, and is considered the "gem" of Minnesota state parks (as well as the first Minnesota state park) and it is easy to see why.  The headwaters of the Mississippi River are at Lake Itasca, which draws people from all parts of the country.  The headwaters were flooded with people from all over the country.  This park is extremely busy with everyone wanting to walk across the Mississippi River – hey, it is a pretty novel thing to do!

Since Marcus was still sleeping, Luke wanted to visit the headwaters and I stayed in the car.  (We will be returning to Itasca State Park to complete the entire Avian Adventure geocache series later on.  But, we might as well enjoy it now, too.)  Compared to the other state parks, Itasca really seems to rank number one in importance and prominence.  That is why it can really be considered the mothership of all state parks in Minnesota.  (Incidentally, Minnesota has the second-oldest state park system in the entire country [New York has the oldest].)

 The Information Center by the headwaters...

Only 800 feet to go...

The famous sign announcing the headwaters...

People wading across.  People, people everywhere.

It was interesting that despite all of the rain we have had this  year, the headwaters did not seem overly swollen to us and it was still just a little stream!  After Luke got back to the car we grabbed the GPS and figured out where the first location was – it was actually still 9 miles away in the park at a different park entrance (there are three different major entrances).  The good news is that Marcus was starting to wake up, so everyone was going to be ready to go.

This is the state park map which shows the different entrances.

Itasca State Park has unique geography.  If one goes thirty miles in any direction the flora and geology seem to change markedly.  It occupies a very interesting part of northern Minnesota that is distinct from any other part of the upper part of the state somehow.

We all got ready and off we went to hike.  Marcus was still a bit groggy from his nap, so he decided it would be best to ride at the beginning.

The initial coordinates were very close to the welcome center by the main entrance to the park.  We got to spend time inside there, and let's say that it is really neat.  Lots of fun things to see there.                                                 We followed the GPS and found a hidden trail that starts behind the building and connects with a ton of other trails.  I was guessing this was going to be an fast and easy geocache – maybe even accessible because it is such a popular park, but I was wrong.                                                                                                    It didn't take us very long to find the first location, but instead of just giving us the next coordinates, there was a clue that required some deciphering.  

Location # 1 – Hidden behind a tree

Marcus enjoying the view

We came up with a game plan and decided to head back into the visitor center to work on the clue.  It was a super buggy afternoon on the trail, and we didn't want to get eaten alive. 

Once we got into the building we set up our work station... Both Luke and I went to work in parallel to avoid making mistakes and catch everything... 

We had to figure out what letters were in each space of the clue by looking at a telephone keypad.

It did not take a long time to figure it out, so we went back out there and found the 2nd spot... and found another clue...

This is when we got smart and read all the way to the bottom of the sheet—where it listed the next set of coordinates.  Now we had a new plan to minimize our time on the buggy trail (Marcus was starting to look like he had chicken pox – the mosquito's love his face for some reason).  We could grab all of the clues and then go back into the visitor center to work them out. So on to location #3 – it was just a bit down the trail.

The park ranger was pretty tricky here.  Can you see the film canister under the bench?!

We all went back to the visitor center, and Luke worked out the rest of the clues and ran out to find the final location.  Marcus and I stayed in the visitor center to look at all of the exhibits and wildlife.  He really like the "bock bocks".

Luke is fast and he found the final location quickly and got the prize.

What a fun geocache – would have been a bit more fun if there were a few less mosquitos, but heck, can't do much about that in the north woods!

Another woodpecker!!

One of the exciting things we did here was get a preview of the final cache and the questions.  The box was located right outside of the front door.  We did not peek at the spoiler—only 36 parks to go and we will be back...

I have figured out that if you follow the blog you can probably figure these out as well since we post all of the cards...  It would however take a really long time to gather all of the answers off of the blog!

 One more highlight on the way home was that Marcus had his first stop at an old school drive-in A&W... Yummy... Mommy got an A&W root beer float!

Marcus's first drive-in A&W in Nisswa, MN.