Monday September 12, 2022 Lac Qui Parle State Park: Listen to the Lake

We arrived at Lac Qui Parle State Park mid-afternoon for our hike. I was already predisposed to enjoy the park because of the name, which in French means, “The Lake Which Speaks.” Isn’t that lovely? It’s pleasant and edifying to think about how a lake speaks: the lapping of water against the shore or against watercraft, the waterfowl making their noises as they land and take off, the fish going “bloop bloop” as they surface occasionally. It makes for a nice conversation.

LQP was the first of three hikes we had planned for in as many days. We chose to start there to accommodate the weaker vessel who thought if we had to do a hike in the afternoon, it should be the shortest one. I’m sure my fellow weak vessels are nodding in agreement to this plan. When we set out on the 2-mile hike at 2:00 p.m., it was 79 degrees – danger! danger! – but wait, there was a nice breeze and (this is the key point) there was very little humidity. Sigh of relief.

By now we are becoming well acquainted with the flora at this time of year in this part of the state. The Picture This app has made experts of us. But eventually one gets tired of taking photos of the same plants every day. I’m sick to death of cutleaf coneflowers! And white snakeroot! Not to mention all the milkweed. Well, not really, but I need to have some sort of explanation as to why I took so few photos of these things at LQP. I think I’ll have to slide a poem in here to make up for this.

Lac Qui Parle, Lac Qui Parle,
Where the cutleaf coneflowers tangle and snarl
And the many white snakeroots slither and hiss
While the giant chickweeds swing and miss.
The barnyard grasses just sit on their asses
And the blue vervain just waves on the plain.
You’d think the beautiful Lady’s thumb
Wouldn’t be so awfully dumb
At Lac Qui Parle, Lac Qui Parle
Where the cutleaf coneflowers tangle and snarl

We were on the lookout for frogs after our experience at Sibley, but didn’t see many. In fact, I would say this: “Frogs, I’ve seen a few…but then again…too few to mention…”

There were no benches along the way, but also zero people, so yay. You didn’t know I was so anti-social, did you?

We finished this 2-mile hike in 45 minutes. The paths were wide, the trail easy to follow (good thing since there were no trail maps along the way) and we got to try out the fake Clif bars we bought at Aldi’s.

We didn’t see much of the actual Lake which Speaks until we were on our way out of the park. Was it speaking? Let’s imagine that it was, because our car windows were closed.

Knee Score: 1 out of 10.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning to atone for my snarky and shocking rhyme with “barnyard grasses…”

Next hike: Big Stone State Park