Hayes Lake State Park

—Hayes Lake State Park—

Roseau, MN

After leaving the Angle and once we were back in the U.S. after trekking through Ontario again, we headed southwest to complete one more geocache at a state park:  Hayes Lake State Park.  This park is centered around a man-made lake that was made by adding a dam on the North Fork of the Roseau River.  The Roseau River flows northwest into Manitoba and ultimately feeds into the Red River of the North on its way to Lake Winnipeg.  (In case you wondered about the "of the North" part of the name of the Red River, there is another red river called the "Red River of the South" that forms the border between Texas and Oklahoma before flowing into the Mississippi River in Louisiana.  I always wondered about that.)

"Hayes Lake officially became a state park in 1967. Since the need for water-based recreation sites was a priority for the area, one of the first things to be developed for the park was the creation of a lake, formed by building a dam on the river. Both the lake and the park were named in honor of A.F. Hayes, an early settler of the land now included in the park and an advocate of the creation of the lake. The park was dedicated in 1973 and has continued to draw visitors who are attracted by the swimming and fishing opportunities offered by Hayes Lake."

Outside of the lake, this park just seemed pretty quaint and quiet—we didn't see any other people there.

Just a few miles after we crossed the U.S. border, we hit the storm front that we had been expecting, so the rest of the afternoon was pretty wet (not a downpour, just steady rain).  I am so happy we were not still on the lake at that point.                                             

Since it was just the three of us, we had enough time to be able to stop and check out the Ranger Station, but unfortunately, the office was closed.

We quickly jumped back into the car and headed towards the first location.  It was still a few miles down the road.  First, we made sure we had a map of the park.

The first set of coordinates brought us down to the lake near a small picnic area.  We instantly started to search for our first set of coordinates.

The kiosk is always a big tip off for the first clue, so that is where we looked.  You can see my dad searching too!

 

Once we entered the next set of coordinates, we took a minute to look at this really cool sign, and then we headed off to the next stop.

I thought this was a really cool sign!

The route brought us down on a super cute path right next to the lake.  

Not too far up the path we stopped by the river and saw the dam.  It was the first time I have seen anything like this in a state park.  It was very almost-artsy and cool-looking.  It seems like something a person would see at a museum or in a city.  A very unique design for building a dam indeed.

Following the trail: the bridge over the dam and the earthen berm going to the other side of the river.

You can't really see the scale here but it was a really big dam.  The water spilling over the sides looked really cool.

Spillway carrying the waters of the Roseau River downstream.

We spent a few minutes looking at it before we moved on.  It was raining, so we did not stand around for very long.  We continued down the lake side path to see where the next set of coordinates would bring us.

It didn't take long until we saw a sign that looked like it may have the next clue... and we were right.

 

Laminating the paper clues is always a brilliant idea!

 

From here it wasn't far to the next one.  The final set of coordinates brought us right to this beautiful bench by the lake.  It would be a nice place to sit and rest (if it wasn't raining)!

It only took a few moments to find the prize.

The goecache was hiding under the bench...

No Marcus at this Avian Adventure finish.  This will probably be the only one that he misses out on, however!

And here is the prize.

The Northern Goshawk, pronounced "gos-hawk."

A cool-looking raptor.  Interesting bird call, too.

The view from the bench!

Dad and I headed back to the car (and I had to find the outhouse instead of a restroom (this has been the summer of the outhouse)), but Luke hiked a bit more and took lots of pictures on the way back.

 

 

 

Here are some nice views of the lake on a rainy fall day!

The bridge over the dam at the outlet of Roseau Lake seen from a dock near the parking lot.

Fantastic contrast of foreground/background and colors.

Panoramic shot with the iPhone.

Pleasant fall day.  Pleasant if you don't mind the occasional overcast, rainy day in the fall.  As we went north the autumn colors were definitely ahead of the trees farther to the south in Minnesota!

Hayes Lake State Park was a nice place—nothing too extraordinary (well, except for the really cool bridge), but we will have to come back with Marcus in the future.  We also got lucky that the fall colors were pretty amazing.

I am not going to put this on the short list; however, it is the only state park that Marcus has never been to.  I guess that means that we have to bring him back so he can say he has been to every Minnesota State Park, too!

Car GPS telling us how to get back to the cabin to see Marcus and Grandma Z.!