Posts Tagged With: LaSalle Lake State Recreation Area

Itasca State Park, Tuesday May 11, 2021

Well, it has been 15 months since our last post. This is a travel blog, so I don’t intend to relive our pandemic experience. We each have our own stories. Luckily for us, healthwise and moneywise, our families have done OK during this time period. During the course of the next blog posts, I’m sure I will squeeze in some various experiences and comments about the last 15 months, but they are simply an embellishment, not the storyline.

This trip will be to put our toes in the water and get used to travel again. It’s only three nights, spending time at Itasca State Park in Minnesota, the headwaters of the Mississippi river. On Sunday, May 30, we begin an almost 3 week trip down to Arizona in which we will stop at about a dozen units of the National Park system.

We left Saint Paul at 9 AM for the 4 hour drive to Itasca State Park. The city center blends into the suburbs which blend into the exurbs and finally to agricultural land. North of the cities, agriculture is large scale crop growing with big farm houses, barns, silos and related buildings. As we get farther north, the land is less rich. Pasturelands and grazing for cattle and dairy cows are inter-mixed with timbering operations. Farm houses and barns are smaller and less well-maintained.

Back in the Twin Cities, grass is green, most trees are in full leaf, and wildflowers are growing. As we reach the Itasca State Park area, the trees are just starting to bud and the only flowers are the early, small ephemeral wildflowers. It’s like we went back in time about four weeks.

The temperature was in the low 60s and sunny so we had our picnic lunch outside the visitors center at Itasca State Park. Then we headed to LaSalle Lake State recreation area. This area was established in 2011 around the deepest fully contained lake in Minnesota at 213 feet. A secondary purpose was to protect the rare plants and cultural resources in the forest and wetlands of the glacial valley. However, just after it was established, a heavy wind experience took a devastating toll on the area of old growth jack pine. There are very few remaining stands of old growth jack pine in Minnesota so the damage was particularly ruinous. After discussion and reflection, the Department of Natural Resources decided to replant the jack pine with the seeds from the fallen trees. A portion of the land was enclosed with 10 foot tall heavy duty fence to keep out deer and other animals that would eat the newly planted trees.

As we took our hike, we could see that the trees planted within the enclosure were doing much better than those outside the fence. Outside the fence, the aspen trees, which grow quickly in disturbed areas such as occurred here, have already created a dense area of young growth. While there are young jack pine trees, they are vastly outnumbered and look like they will soon be losing the battle for sufficient sunlight to thrive.

The hike was an out and back so at the turnaround point, one can look down on the Mississippi River. The mighty Mississippi is mighty minimal at this point. It is only a few miles from its headwaters-which was our next stop.

We have been here before, most frequently, but not only, in winter time. we have not told you the story of Mary Gibbs in previous blog post. For those who are younger and more hip, this is not the Mary Gibbs who asked for Disney programming. Or Mary Gibbs was born in 1879 and her father was the first superintendent of Itasca State Park, the first state park created in Minnesota. Mary gives work for her father as a secretary and he died when she was just 24 years old. She was appointed the park superintendent to replace him.

The logging industry was important and influential in the area. One of the logging companies attempted to lower the water level in the park area in order to facilitate its cutting of lumber. At a head to head confrontation at the dam involved, Mary Gibbs ordered the loggers to cease-and-desist and was successful. Briefly. Back in Saint Paul, The Minnesota State Attorney General reversed Mary’s order. Mary was demoted and a new park superintendent appointed, one friendly to the logging industry. Timber was cut in the park area until the supply was no longer financially viable. Mary left the state and moved to Canada where she raised a family and died at age 104 in 1983. There is even a You Tube short video about her.

Since our last posts in 2020, WordPress has instituted a new method of composing and editing. The learning process has grasped the basics and hopes to advance a bit more as time goes on. Maybe eventually the blog can have more graphics and include more creativity in design.

Ed and Chris, Itasca State Park, MN May 11, 2011