Wednesday, August 16, 2023 Big Bog State Recreation Area: Meat-Eating Plants and a Bog Lemming

The Big Bog State Recreation Area has a large office and a very nice campsite. Kris felt that a great injustice was done in not promoting Big Bog SRA to State Park status and said he’d devote the rest of his life to making it happen. Ha ha! This SRA was established in the year 2000 to help develop a tourist attraction in the area after the Red Lake walleye population crashed in the 1990’s, devastating the local economy. Big Bog is near Upper Red Lake, but it’s named after the 500-square mile peat bog, which is the largest bog in the lower 48 states.

By the time we got to the Big Bog campsite, the rain had stopped, so we were able to get set up in the sun and start drying some of our stuff off. The campground is in the southern unit of the SRA and our site was right next to the slow-moving Tamarac River, where I found more reflections and a lily pad flower.

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After we put up our tent, two friendly chipmunks came around. They’ve clearly learned that humans are sources of food droppage. They kept going under our tent, which was disturbing. What if they did that at night while we were trying to sleep? What if we accidentally stepped on one while it was under the tent? Many unpleasant chipmunk-under-tent scenarios played out in my mind, so I had to quit thinking about it. One of them came into the screen tent while we were reading and approached us boldly. What if it comes too close and runs up my leg? I’ve got major chipmunk issues now.

We packed up early the next morning, having decided to do the 2-mile Big Bog hike before breakfast. Yes, even before Kris’s early morning coffee! The bog portion of the SRA is in the northern unit, which was about 15 miles north of us, so it was 7:55 a.m. by the time we started out. It was 68 degrees – not too hot – but boy, was it close and sticky! In order to get to the bog walk, you have to do a short jaunt part-way around Ludlow Pond until you see the grand entrance to the bog.

We had the bog all to ourselves – no other humans in sight. The construction of the boardwalk was really amazing. It boggled the mind (see what I did there?) to think of the work involved in setting up the mile-long pathway in the swampy area. The boardwalk was completed in 2005.

You would think a bog wouldn’t be interesting, but you’d be wrong. Every so often as we walked along, we’d come across plaques with information about the bog, what kinds of flowers, plants and trees we’d see, the birds and animals that inhabited it, and how the boardwalk was constructed. We also read about when the government appropriated the land back in the early 1900’s and gave parcels out, hoping people could tame the bog and make good farmland out of the area. The Mighty Bog just opened its mouth and laughed at the hubris of man. That’s why it’s still a bog.

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Kris was going back and forth taking photos and identifying various things with the much-lauded Picture This App. I was hoping we’d get a glimpse of the exotic carnivorous pitcher plant! The first thing that caught my eye, however, was cotton grass – lovely stuff.

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Meanwhile, Kris was enthused about all the tamarack trees. Once I got a good look at one, I could understand the appeal. It’s a conifer that’s not an evergreen, so it drops its needles in the fall.

We also found and identified a plant called “Labrador tea,” which turns out to be a natural remedy for diarrhea. Good to know, although one hopes that this would not be needed in the middle of a large peat bog.

At last we came upon the pitcher plant. I took gobs of photos, thinking I might not see another one, but as we went along we saw so many of them that it became rather ho hum, which didn’t stop me from taken even MORE pictures.

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Another charming little plant was the Bog Laurel. (I wrote it sloppily in my notebook as we were going along and later it looked like I had written Bob Laurel. What a weird name for a plant, I thought, until I realized my error.)

We were also hoping to find another carnivorous plant called the sundew, but it must not be the season for them. What is it with bogs and carnivorous plants? At least they don’t eat humans, like mosquitoes do. (Insert bitter thoughts here.)

Animals that inhabit the bog range from the terrifyingly large moose (which we didn’t see, thank God) down to the adorably cute little bog lemming. I’m really taken with the whole idea of bog lemmings. If I had the artistic skills of Beatrix Potter, I would start a book series featuring these.

At the end of the boardwalk, we had emerged from the humid claustrophobia of all the trees and plants out into the open where there was a nice cool breeze. It’s a mile out to the end and then you just turn around and go back again.

As usual, my plan is to make short work of the return journey on these “out-and-back” hikes because I’ve already seen everything and don’t need to stop for photos. It’s amusing how I can fool myself on that every single time, but how was I to know that I would spot a dead bog lemming on the way back? Beatrix Potter sometimes used dead animals to make her sketches, so I had to get a photo just in case it would inspire me.

And also, how was I to know that a trio of interesting birds would come along and pose for me? (I took about 15 photos but they didn’t understand the concept of showing me their best side.)

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Or that one of those flighty, but beautiful dragonflies would sit still long enough for me to take a photo? Life is unpredictable.

When we got back to the bog entrance, I had this idea that the rest of the way around Ludlow Pond was tediously long, so I turned right to go back the way we came. “Lynn, we need to go the other way,” my husband said. “Oh no, I’m not – I’ll meet you back at the car,” I said determinedly. “But we’ve already come more than halfway around Ludlow Pond,” he informed me, “You’ll be walking farther if you go that way.” Have I mentioned before that map reading is not my strength? Good grief!

Knee score: 1 out of 10. Very level ground.

Unless a bog lemming tells me not to, I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

Next hike: Franz Jevne State Park