July 23, 2018 Hike #2: Rice Lake State Park – No Buffleheads

We’re making great strides (ha ha) on our hiking club adventures. I’m thinking about blogging through each hike we do so that you, dear reader, can live a life of hiking vicariously through us. You’re welcome. The challenge is to make boring stuff interesting – you can let me know if I succeed.

This time we went to Rice Lake State Park, where the hike of 2.4 miles was going to bring us through “diverse areas,” and “along the lakeshore.” This sounded promising. There were even hints of being able to see waterfowl – the elusive fauna! You may recall that last time I said we had learned a lesson about doing these mid-summer hikes early in the morning before it got too hot. I lied about that – we did not learn. In spite of fairly good intentions laced with vague goals, we didn’t arrive at the park until 1:15 p.m. – it was 80 degrees and Minnesota humid. Go ahead and groan and shake your heads. We deserve it. We did bring our water bottles with us, though.

I was going to stitch those two photos together so it would look like we were in front of the sign at the same time, but it involved technology and I wasn’t motivated enough.

We both brought knapsacks but I didn’t end up using mine, since it occurred to me that there was no reason for BOTH of us to carry one. Fortunately, this also occurred to my husband, who valiantly offered to be my beast of burden. I’m pretty sure that had we met in our high school years, he would have been the boy who offered to carry my books. I love that chivalry still exists and Kris has got the full measure of it.

Off we went, along the aforementioned lake shore, which was visible through the trees and swampy areas with cattails. We saw boxes with numbers stamped on them nailed to some of the trees. Could these be for wood duck nests?

We had seen plaques showing the different kinds of ducks we might see on the lake, one of which carried the captivating name of “bufflehead.”

I really wanted to see these fat little buffers which were supposed to bob to the surface of the water like a cork, but we were denied this experience. More’s the pity, since instead of an award winning photo of a bufflehead, my flora and fauna photo this time is one that will make you want to avert your eyes. I do beg your pardon, but a tiny butterfly feasting on a carcass of unknown nature was the only fauna that stood still long enough for me to capture it.

There were plenty of Mosquitos of Evil Intent in our vicinity, but neither of us received a single bite. And do you know why? Because this time we brought the Right Stuff. Let me pause for a moment to give an ode to DEET:

Oh, DEET, though you do not smell sweet,
Your chemicals are wondrous to behold
The blood-sucking insects which like to tease,
You vanquish with apparent ease.
I’ll never again leave your fold.

We passed a lovely bench which looked like a wonderful place to rest and think deep thoughts while looking out on the lake. However, the deepest thought I was having was to keep moving so the mosquitos wouldn’t have a fighting chance to pierce the veil of DEET on my skin.

The path was well-groomed and, most importantly, completely level. None of this torturous up and down stuff. Other than this confusing array of signs (see below),

we had no trouble following the path for the hiking club and readily found the important sign with the password on it (you have to record these in your booklet as proof that you did the hike). We have been a little disappointed in the lack of imagination in the Password Making Department of the State Parks.

Apparently, it was too much to hope for something like “The wild goose flies at dawn,” or “Buffleheads have a corking good time.” Alas.

Just when I was starting to get crabby from the heat, we came full circle and the hike was done. We now have an accumulated 5 miles toward our first reward: a little patch that says 25 Miles (20 miles to go!). Most of the hikes are 2-3 miles, but there are probably a half dozen or so that are 6+ miles, which would have seemed like a leisurely stroll 30 years ago, but now seems a little daunting to me and my knees. You may have detected by now that I am somewhat wimpy. I’m not proud of it, but there it is. Time to remember the glorious words found in Isaiah: “They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not faint.” If it were up to me, that would be on the last Hiking Club sign at every park.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

Next Hike: Nerstrand State Park