hiking

8/14/2024: Fort Snelling State Park
MILES HIKED: 3.0 Made this trip yesterday. Actually got my annual pass while I was here. $35 dollars for the whole year, versus the $7 for each of the 68 parks I need to visit for this challenge. Yeesh. Fort Snelling was kind of underwhelming at first, but that's partially on me. I didn't realize how far of a trek it was to the actual path I needed to walk, so by the time I finally got there, I was exhausted. It's alongside the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, so there was a LOT of sand. The park seemed a lot... deader, than Jay Cooke for sure. It was still very beautiful though, especially when I got to Pike Island (also known as Wita Tanka by the Dakota), the actual destination for this hike. I did hit a snag at some point where the path I was supposed to follow was closed at some point, and I had to try to find a different way around. There are passwords along the trails that you need to note down for the challenge, but they're not marked anywhere, so I was very worried that the part that contained the password might be blocked off. Luckily, this was not the case, and I was able to get the password and enjoy the rest of the trail after all. This particular hike made me pause a lot and consider the indigenous people that once lived there. There were huge trees that must have been there for forever, and I kept on stopping to contemplate what memories people could have made there. Upon arriving at Pike Island, there is a small information board talking about its history with the Dakota people. It failed to mention the Dakota War of 1862, which resulted in the death of hundreds, as well as the internment and ultimate displacement of thousands of Dakota. It also resulted in the largest mass execution in American history. I'm reading all of this now on Wikipedia as I try to get accurate information for the purposes of this post. With these tragedies in mind, I am even more saddened by the amount of garbage that had washed ashore. Needless to say, I will be making a point of reading about the state parks and their history before making future trips so I can go in with a clearer picture.

8/14/2024: Fort Snelling State Park

MILES HIKED: 3.0

Made this trip yesterday. Actually got my annual pass while I was here. $35 dollars for the whole year, versus the $7 for each of the 68 parks I need to visit for this challenge. Yeesh.

Fort Snelling was kind of underwhelming at first, but that's partially on me. I didn't realize how far of a trek it was to the actual path I needed to walk, so by the time I finally got there, I was exhausted. It's alongside the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, so there was a LOT of sand. The park seemed a lot... deader, than Jay Cooke for sure. It was still very beautiful though, especially when I got to Pike Island (also known as Wita Tanka by the Dakota), the actual destination for this hike. I did hit a snag at some point where the path I was supposed to follow was closed at some point, and I had to try to find a different way around. There are passwords along the trails that you need to note down for the challenge, but they're not marked anywhere, so I was very worried that the part that contained the password might be blocked off. Luckily, this was not the case, and I was able to get the password and enjoy the rest of the trail after all.

This particular hike made me pause a lot and consider the indigenous people that once lived there. There were huge trees that must have been there for forever, and I kept on stopping to contemplate what memories people could have made there. Upon arriving at Pike Island, there is a small information board talking about its history with the Dakota people. It failed to mention the Dakota War of 1862, which resulted in the death of hundreds, as well as the internment and ultimate displacement of thousands of Dakota. It also resulted in the largest mass execution in American history. I'm reading all of this now on Wikipedia as I try to get accurate information for the purposes of this post. With these tragedies in mind, I am even more saddened by the amount of garbage that had washed ashore. Needless to say, I will be making a point of reading about the state parks and their history before making future trips so I can go in with a clearer picture.

8/11/2024: Jay Cooke State Park
MILES HIKED: 3.5 So it didn't occur to me to start recording this here until now (8/15), so you'll have to deal with a shitty recollection. I heard about the Minnesota Hiking Club a few months back, and considering that I'm very invested in staying active, being in nature, and doing things by myself, I figured it would be fun. This page won't be for Minnesota Hiking Club stuff alone, since I like to hike other places pretty frequentyly too. Anyways, for Minnesota Hiking Club, Jay Cooke State Park was the first park I visited on the very very long list of parks this state has to offer. Finally picked up my booklet for this (though I didn't realize until after this trip that there is also a passport club with similar expectations). By far the prettiest park I've been to in all of Minnesota, so we're off to a great start. This hike was very hill-y, and it made me realize how ill-prepared I am in general for hiking. This, and the bugs eating me alive, made me reconsider how much I'll be packing in the future. Part of my motivation for starting was because Minnesota state parks don't have any laws against harvesting fruit/fungi for personal use, and I had just the other day harvested and ate chanterelles for the first time, so I was keeping an eye out. I didn't spot many notable fungi during this trip unfortunately. Not much else to be said here, as I didn't go into this hike with the intent of blogging about it and I have the memory of a goldfish. I will, however, share some photos:

8/11/2024: Jay Cooke State Park

MILES HIKED: 3.5

So it didn't occur to me to start recording this here until now (8/15), so you'll have to deal with a shitty recollection. I heard about the Minnesota Hiking Club a few months back, and considering that I'm very invested in staying active, being in nature, and doing things by myself, I figured it would be fun. This page won't be for Minnesota Hiking Club stuff alone, since I like to hike other places pretty frequentyly too.

Anyways, for Minnesota Hiking Club, Jay Cooke State Park was the first park I visited on the very very long list of parks this state has to offer. Finally picked up my booklet for this (though I didn't realize until after this trip that there is also a *passport* club with similar expectations). By far the prettiest park I've been to in all of Minnesota, so we're off to a great start. This hike was very hill-y, and it made me realize how ill-prepared I am in general for hiking. This, and the bugs eating me alive, made me reconsider how much I'll be packing in the future. Part of my motivation for starting was because Minnesota state parks don't have any laws against harvesting fruit/fungi for personal use, and I had just the other day harvested and ate chanterelles for the first time, so I was keeping an eye out. I didn't spot many notable fungi during this trip unfortunately.

Not much else to be said here, as I didn't go into this hike with the intent of blogging about it and I have the memory of a goldfish. I will, however, share some photos: