Monday, August 29, 2022 Upper Sioux Agency State Park: Frogs in Biblical Proportions

After a beautiful night’s sleep at Camden State Park, we had our luxury breakfast of homemade sausage egg sandwiches,

packed up and drove over to Upper Sioux Agency State Park, which has a very interesting history. Before it became a state park, this was the Upper Sioux (or Yellow Medicine) Agency, established in 1854, one of the many American Indian agencies that existed to implement U.S. government Indian policies. Basically, this meant that the government wished for the native peoples to assimilate into our culture, learning our language and becoming farmers, rather than their current way of subsistence. In 1862, the Dakota people, 4000 of them, gathered at the agency, angry over unfair treaties and food shortages. When short-term provisions were given, it seemed that the conflict was over, but it soon boiled over into the six-week U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, during which time most of the Agency buildings on site were looted and burned. Here we were, almost exactly 160 years later, walking those war-torn areas, all the witnesses long gone, all the signs of battle and bloodshed covered over, but the memories were lurking where signs were posted.

The park seemed deserted when we got there around 9:30 a.m. The only public building for the park was closed and the only map available outside was wholly inadequate. We were going to have to rely on the signs along the route, in addition to the Avenza app map that Kris had on his phone. We didn’t see a sign for the beginning of the Hiking Club trail, but we found the path and set out on the 4.3 mile hike. It was mostly sunny, but still early in the morning – the temperature was a tolerable 72 degrees with a pleasant breeze blowing. Ah, this is more like it! I had my knee huggers on and started out with a confident, speedy stride, motivated by the knowledge that the temperature was rising.

There were some beautiful vistas at the beginning of the hike. We knew we were along the top of the Yellow Medicine River Valley and would eventually be making our way over to the Minnesota River Valley, but we weren’t sure how much (if any) of either river we would see. I heard the sound of cows in the distance and crossed the road to see if I could spot the culprits, but they were out of sight. So much for seeing native fauna.

We noticed right away that there were lots of little frogs hopping out of our way as we went along the wide path. Lots. There were so many that I estimated I could say there were hundreds of them, but I checked with my Exaggeration Detector, Kris, just to make sure. He assured me that saying there were hundreds was not an exaggeration. It seemed odd that there were so many of them right in the middle of that path – why weren’t they hanging out in the brush on either side? Kris postulated that this might be the time of the year when the West-side-of-the-Path Frogs and the East-side-of-the-Path Frogs met in the middle for courting. I find that to be a credible explanation. Furthermore, you can imagine the Froggie Dating Game that must result. I present three Bachelor Frogs and ask you, if you were a single Frog maiden, which would you choose? This is how we amuse ourselves on the trail.

I had decided that today I would take NO photos of the flowers that we’d just seen the day before at Camden State Park, but would reserve my camera for new types of flora. It was a severe challenge and I’d say I was about 80% successful. Sometimes I just gave in to the allure of all that wild beauty, even if I’d seen some of it already. I’m assuming you will not judge me for my photographic excesses.

But I also found an exquisite dragonfly that sat for a very long time on the edge of a twig. Those critters hardly ever sit still, so I was pleased with its patience and composure. I think it looks just like the first airplane made by Orville and Wilbur Wright. Or perhaps I should say that their airplane borrowed on God’s design – that’s more accurate.

There were plenty of monarch butterflies flitting about, but they just wouldn’t stay put. I made many attempts, but only got one photo and by golly, you are going to look at it and appreciate the effort, even if it’s not fit for National Geographic (or even Local Geographic) Magazine.

Also, I experimented with the Silhouette feature on my camera. Can you blame me?

We saw evidence that horses had been on the trails. I did not take photos of said evidence. You’re welcome. Every time Kris saw these little piles, he’d comment that there was a road apple tree overhead dropping its fruit. I’m very fond of this man and his sense of humor.

The Hiking Club trail description said to “Look for red-tailed hawks gliding along with the air currents above the valley.” I was definitely on the lookout, so when I saw a bird way up high, soaring on those air currents, I called out to Kris, “Look! A red-tailed hawk!” I felt quite smart about being able to identify this bird, even though I had absolutely not previous experience in red-tailed-hawk identification. Was it one? You decide!

We moved through the paths quickly and for once, I was ahead of my husband for much of the time, driven by the knowledge that the hotter it got, the slower I’d go. And lo, it came to pass. Eventually, the heat and humidity caught up with me and we (me and my knee huggers) began to lag a bit. The cicadas had started their buzz-saw music. Ah, cicadas – the sound of summer leaving. When you hear them, you know Fall is waiting in the wings. By this time, we’d seen so many frogs, that I asked permission of the Exaggeration Detector to upgrade to the description of thousands of frogs. Permission was granted.

We continued on and finally came to a sign with a map. Uh oh – we recognized this map. We’d seen it early on in the hike and were not supposed to be seeing it again. Somehow we had missed a turn. We turned around and went back up the trail to see if we could figure out where we’d gone wrong. At this point I began to resent every extra step, but that’s just me. I get crabby when I’m hot and tired. We came back to a fork in the path and even though we still weren’t sure where we were (even the Avenza map failed us), we realized we were right by Employee Duplex No. 1, which we’d seen earlier from the other side at a distance. It boasts of being one of the earliest duplexes built in Minnesota, originally erected in 1859-60. Unfortunately, the original building was burned during the previously mentioned War of 1862. Someone bought the building in 1866 and rebuilt it for his family. In 1974 it was reconstructed to its original appearance by the Minnesota Historical Society and here it stands. It’s an attractive brick building – I wonder what it’s used for now. Probably some bureaucratic silliness. I cozied up to the windows and tried to get a photo of the inside with my phone camera. Fail.

From this point, we had no way of knowing where to go to get back to our car. We’ve been watching the series “LOST,” so the ominous music was playing in my mind as we tried to get our bearings. If Kris is Jack from the series (and of course he is), then I would be Hurley. But that’s another fanciful departure from reality. We decided to walk down the road, rather than trying to find the continuation of the actual hiking trail and voila, the picnic area and parking lot appeared before too long. We hadn’t parked in that lot, but we knew where we were from there. With a little more meandering we came to our cheerful little blue car and called it a day. It took us about an hour and 45 minutes to do the hike.

Knee score: 6. Longer hike with some ups and downs.
Parks/Miles: 44 out of 68 parks – 131 out of 197 miles.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning unless the frogs get to me first.

Next hike: Monson Lake State Park