(Note: we took this hike in September; I kept forgetting to post it.)
This marks our 68th and final hike through the Minnesota State Parks and State Recreation Areas. We decided to allow ourselves the luxury of staying in comfortable lodging the night before so we stayed in Detroit Lakes, rather than camping at the park. This 6.2 mile hike at Maplewood State Park is one of only four Hiking Club hikes that are that long. We decided to leave it for last and to do it in the fall, since the Hiking Club pamphlet mentioned it was especially impressive at this time of year.
As we drove along toward the park in the morning, I remarked that if it was a nice level path, the hike would be very pleasant. However, as we got close to Maplewood, we were driving up and down lots of little hills, so I gave up that illusion. Still, it was a beautiful day, mostly sunny and only 60 degrees when we got started at 9:45 a.m.
Right from the get-go, the trail south was hilly, taking us up and down through the autumny forested area. The sumac was at its height of glory all through the park. We saw horse tracks, a sign of things to come. It wasn’t long before we were traipsing through an area with small lakes on either side of us: Cataract Lake on the right (I think) and farther up, Grass Lake on the left.
We were keeping up a fairly good pace, in spite of my frequent stops to take photos. The steady up and down progression was beginning to take a toll, however and by the time we’d been hiking for two puny miles, I was feeling fairly done in. In spite of that, when I saw that the trail ahead suddenly went straight uphill, I thought to myself “Bring it on.” It was still early in the hike, so I could afford this type of steely determination. When we got right up to it though, there was a fork in the road and our trail went off to the left of the hill. Inner celebrations were going on until it appeared that there was no escaping the upward climb. We had a couple switchbacks on that trail, even!
Blue jays were calling “here! here!” in their raucous way, while steady breezes blew through the trees producing that wonderful shushing sound of the swaying leaves and branches. I had opted not to wear my hat on this hike because it had felt oppressively hot on the last hike, so I was able to enjoy the feeling of the wind cooling the sweat on the back of my neck. We hadn’t seen any horses yet, but the evidence of their presence was on every trail and we had to walk nimbly to avoid the piles with our feet and hiking poles. (I’m giving you the full sensory experience here to feed your imaginations as you walk along with us vicariously.) I entertained the idea of a video game in which you are speeding along the trail and have to maneuver constantly to avoid the horse hockey. If you hit one, you start back at the beginning.
We stopped at an empty campsite to rest and have a Clif bar. It was a nice respite. There was even an outhouse there, which I immediately rejected as an option (no matter what!), but logic eventually prevailed and I had to make use of it before going on. If I hadn’t, I would never have seen the amusing sign on the inside of it warning people not to put diapers, sanitary items or garbage in the pit because it required the park staff to go in and remove those items. The warning ended with the words, “…and you’re not that cruel.” It made me chuckle.
We noticed a few more blue asters here and there, still straggling along when most of the other flowers were gone. Kris decided to make up a new saying, “It ain’t over until the blue aster sheds its petals.” Of course right after that we saw some false sunflowers looking fresh and new on the scene, giving the blue asters a run for their money. That’s really the name of the flower, too. How would you like to be known as a false something? It’s also known as “oxeye sunflower,” or even more academically, as heliopsis helianthoides. No matter – its most common name identifies it as what it is not. That’s the way it goes.
We came to Beers Lake, a lake we’d be hiking along for quite awhile and where the path angled back northward. The trail came right up to the lake at one point and we refreshed ourselves with the view before going on.
The trails were very narrow sometimes. We saw another hiking couple coming toward us and had to step off the path just to make room for them. “It’s a one-way path!” one of them said cheerfully as they went by. I was reminded of the north-going Zax and the south-going Zax in the Dr. Seuss book. Fortunately, we were a lot less stubborn than the Zaxes and were happy to step aside.
The trail would lead us between Beers Lake and the much smaller Bass Lake. I was trying to set aside my growing sense of weariness as we walked along. Every once in a while, I’d fish my phone out of my pocket to see how far we’d come, which was probably a mistake since it was never as far as I hoped. I began rehearsing some of my favorite Bible verses for hiking, the ones that provide just the right lift and encouragement. Chief among them is one of the first Bible verses I ever memorized, Isaiah 40:31. “But those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not faint.” It doesn’t get much better than that when you need something to sustain you on the trail. I first heard that verse in the movie “Chariots of Fire,” and it impressed me enough that when I became a Christian, that one made it to the top of the list for verses to memorize.
For a nice change of scenery, a few horseback riders came ambling toward us. They stopped abruptly in the trail as if waiting for us to go by. When we approached, one of the women told us that her horse had heard the sound of my hiking poles and seemed to be a little uneasy. She asked if I’d be willing to let him smell them. Of course! I’m always willing to help a horse in need of hiking pole acclimation. In return, I asked if I could take a photo of her handsome horse. It was a fair trade, don’t you think? He had netting over his face that his rider said was to keep him from getting annoyed by bugs. The other two horses went without the bug screens and were no doubt silently mocking their pampered friend.
We pressed on. There were lots of different types of scenery that the trail had led us through: woods, lakeside, meadows…and now as the trail came back to the woods, Kris remarked that we were “heading back into Mirkwood!” The constant horse piles prompted him to take on the persona of Sam Gamgee, saying, “Mr. Frodo, they’re have been some Black Riders here.” I commented that Tolkien never described what the Black Riders left on the trail.
Once we left Beers Lake behind, it looked like we only had about 1.5 miles left. Only. There’s a big difference between the first 1.5 miles and the last, particularly when the road has been long and hilly. We passed a couple more groups of horseback riders, both of which commented on what a bonny day it was for a hike. “Yes, it sure is!” I’d reply, sweat pouring down my brow. I wasn’t just saying it either – it had gotten warmer, but it was a champion fall day, brilliant with color and sunshine.
We got to talking about how fitting it was to have our last hike be a really challenging one. It would have seemed anticlimactic to do a piddling 1-mile easy hike for the final push. It must be said that as we walked the last mile at Maplewood, even Kris was feeling the fatigue. Good gracious but this was a long 6.2 miles! One last hill and we were done. I checked the Strava app and it informed me that we’d gone 6.7 miles. I had forgotten to start it right away, so I’m willing to believe that it was more like 7 miles.
At the end of our first hike, our son Sam was with us and took a photo so we didn’t have to rely on doing a selfie. I really wanted to have someone take a photo of us at the end of our last one and had even worn the same shirt as on our first hike to lend a pleasing symmetry to the experience. When we got back to the lot, we found someone willing to record this auspicious occasion.
In retrospect, I think I can divide this hike into three portions: The Fellowship of the Trail, The Two Lakes, and the Return of the Horses. LOTR peeps ought to be able to appreciate that. And who, then, is the Lord of the Trails? King Jesus.
Knee score: a solid 10 out of 10, even with the hiking poles. Uffda! My phone tells me we did the equivalent of 34 slights of stairs.
This might be my last post of the year, depending on how busy things are. Will it be deleted in the morning? Stay tuned!
To start at the beginning of our hikes: Frontenac State Park
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