Tuesday, June 8, 2021 Buffalo River State Park: Riverine

With a graduation party to go to up near Moorhead, we decided to take a long weekend and visit 3 state parks. Unlike last time, however, each hike was done on a different day, so I won’t be lumping them all together in one blog post. Also unlike last time, we brought our tent and all our camping paraphernalia, which now includes cots. Theoretically, we could sleep on the ground, but we don’t want to anymore. So there. We also decided to skip the sites with electrical hookup to save money. This clearly means we were only a few steps removed from a Survivor kind of experience, right? Back to basics, baby!

Our first campsite was at Wagner Park in Barnesville, MN. This place gets two thumbs up from us. The state parks were all filled up for the weekend, so my husband found this place and we hoped we wouldn’t have trouble finding a good site there. It turns out that if you choose the non-electrical hook-ups, there’s not much competition for those sites. We were camped near a little creek and close to the bathroom (with flush toilets!). Add a campfire into the deal, and you’ve got Camping Paradise. It got down to 44 degrees that night, which admittedly subtracted a wee bit from the paradise vibe. But we are Hearty Minnesotans – and we have warm sleeping bags.

Buffalo River State Park was less than a half hour from our campsite and we arrived around 9:30 a.m. for the 2.5 mile hike. The thing you need to know about BRSP is that it’s relatively flat land (rejoice, ye knees) and it has a scenic riverine forest. I don’t know about you, but the word “riverine” was new to me. I have this picture in my mind of the BRSP staff sitting around a table trying to write a description of the park. “Let’s make sure and mention that it’s a forested area around a river,” says one unimaginative fellow. His crossword-playing peer saves the day by suggesting the word “riverine” instead, which makes the whole place sound really magical. Bravo!

We started off with the stored-up energy you have in the morning and I made a bold decision to leave the hiking poles behind (which sounds better than the truth that I forgot them). It was 56 degrees, which hits the sweet spot for both of us.

From the parking lot we could see the man-made chlorinated pool, which prompted Kris to award Buffalo River the coveted “Most Like Flandrau” award.

One of the first signs we saw mentioned the amazing view of an area where buffalo used to roam in the thousands. We were instructed to touch and examine the bison bone attached to the signpost, but alas, the bone was gone. “The Case of the Missing Bison Bone” sounds like a good mystery title, doesn’t it?

The paths were wide and easy to follow and I did my usual thing of stopping frequently to take photos.

The route took us through the campground and we could see that they were indeed full up. No regrets on staying at the campground in Barnesville, though – it was much less crowded.

We walked past the pool again and off to the right, which turned out to be the wrong direction, but it got us to a nice bridge.

Frequent checking of the map by our Chief Navigator put us back on the right path, which was a nice amble down by the riverside (and very riverine, it was).

I began seeing lots of webworm, which I consider to be a sign of the groaning of creation under sin.

At one point I stopped to take a short video, just so you could hear the wonderful sounds of the hiker’s world: bird song and the river in the background.

We stopped for a moment to get a drink and then the path peeled away from the river and we met with our only uphill walk to the top of the hill and more of a prairie. It was exceedingly windy up there and I was suddenly glad for the fact that my nifty hiking hat has a secure tie under the chin (even though it looks sort of old-lady-ish to me).

We walked along the ridge of the prairie and Kris noticed a sign that spoke of the many rocks up there that had been brought by Glacier Express from Canada many eons ago. Kris’s comment on that was that if the Canadians wanted their rocks back, they’d have to “come and get ‘em.” 😆

It wasn’t long from there and we were back at the beginning. “Fool, fool, back to the beginning is the rule.” Ah, that quote from The Princess Bride never gets old.

Knee score: 2-3 out of 10 (with 10 being the most difficult)

Next Hike: Glendalough State Park