lukeludwig

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Itasca Circumnavigation, April 2010

Jake and I circumnavigated Itasca State Park, home of the headwaters of the Mississippi. We combined sections of off-trail, unmaintained trails, and hiking trails while traversing this 8x8 mile square park.
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We started in the northeast corner off of Beaver Trail. It was a windy but sunny day with temps in the 40s and low 50s.
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We started in the northeast corner off of Beaver Trail. It was a windy but sunny day with temps in the 40s and low 50s.

  • We started in the northeast corner off of Beaver Trail. It was a windy but sunny day with temps in the 40s and low 50s.
  • Jake's first lightweight trip.
  • IMG_0012
  • The offtrail sections were brushy in places.
  • Moving south along Lasalle Creek, an area where I once hunted deer.
  • We made a detour to hit the Aiton Heights fire tower.
  • The view from the fire tower allowed us to see the entire park in all directions.
  • A random tree with Christmas ornaments.
  • We saw a raven, 2 mature bald eagles, an immature bald eagle, and 2 northern harriers in the span of 5 minutes.
  • We camped at Mckay Lake.
  • A lone mosquito. Mosquitoes were not a problem yet, but deer ticks and wood ticks were all over the place.
  • The evening was windy and chilly.
  • McKay Lake, Itasca State Park
  • Ready to go in the morning.
  • A wolf print? There were numerous piles of wolf scat on the trails, as well as a wolf kill (deer). I think this print is a little small for a wolf, so more likely a dog or coyote.
  • A bear track. I've seen several black bears in Itasca while deer hunting.
  • IMG_0074
  • We connected the North Country trail with unmaintained trails on the west side, which were very old road beds, and about 1/2 mile of off-trail as well.
  • I was amazed to find this clump of snow. This year was an early spring and we haven't seen snow for over a month. It was an interesting spring with a long stretch of no snow and no greenery.
  • The only backpacking sites are in the south, so we had to find our own place to camp in the north, which we did here along Lake Ozawindib.
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