Somehow Kaysey and I always end up pitching our tent in the dark.
This time, I’ll blame it on the beautiful sunset at “Secret Lake,” which was too beautiful to leave – causing us to start our camping adventure later in the evening when it was already pitch black outside.
Our weekend started with a small fishing trip, which Kaysey’s dad graciously led. He brought us to his favorite lake, which has a secret location, so I felt pretty honored.
We floated on the lake for awhile, enjoying the open water and the sight of the sun melting into its own reflection on the lake. Kaysey and her dad both caught fish, but I caught nothing, sadly. Next time!
We pulled ourselves away from the lake as the sun made its final push into sunset. We’d booked a campsite at Maplewood State Park, about forty-five minutes away from Detroit Lakes, where we’d been fishing. We arrived at our campsite at about 11 p.m., so I ended up getting to put my new headlamp from the REI Garage Sale to good use – it worked pretty slick, and our tent was set up in no time.
We once more went to sleep at a campsite without having any idea what it looked like, and were pleasantly surprised when we woke up to the beauty of one of Maplewood’s plethora of lakes.
We also discovered that Maplewood is home to every single bird on the planet – or at least that’s what it sounded like. We saw a variety of ducks, geese, woodpeckers, loons, and even trumpeter swans, and heard a multitude of other birds.
The weather was a little chilly when we first woke up, but it turned into an absolutely gorgeous sunny day, perfect for hiking – which was great, because we had a lot of trails ahead of us.
We hiked through beautiful tall grasses, staying strictly on the path and trying not to think about how many ticks were probably roaming around in them. We made our way to one of the hills, hiking to the lookout at the top, which was beautiful, but the view was a bit crowded by trees.
Next, we packed up our things and traveled to Glendalough State Park, which was stunning. I made one more stamp on my State Park passport, bringing me nearly one-third of the way to all of the Minnesota State Parks. Just a small dent on my 25 Things list.
Glendalough had the similar tawny, tall grasses.
I wanted to run through the grass but I’m also terrified of ticks.
So instead, we found a little beach, and walked along one of the lakes for a few moments.
We’d read that one of the trails at Glendalough supposedly has several eagle nests at this time of year, so we excitedly started down that path. We didn’t see a single eagle or a nest, but Kaysey did get a bit spooked by a snake along the trail.
The trail turned into a marsh, and we came across a wildlife viewing area, where we took a bit of a break. Like at Maplewood, we saw a ton of birds. Earlier, we’d seen quite a few pieces of literature on bird watching, even a checklist for the birds known to be at the park. Both parks were a bird watcher’s paradise!
Along the marshy path, we came across a beaver’s work-in-progress, which was pretty cool.
Keep chomping, buddy. You’re almost there.
We perused several of the trails at Glendalough, and then headed to our last destination of the day: Inspiration Peak. Kaysey heard about two girls from her hometown who did the Mount Everest Base Camp Trek, and they hiked Inspiration Peak nearly every day to get in shape for Everest.
Hiking the incredibly steep, though short, distance to the top was a wake-up call for me. Last summer, I was hiking every single weekend, and was pretty well-adjusted to the physicality of hiking. But, I definitely noticed that I did minimal hiking over the winter, and so did my muscles. I have a lot of catching up to do, and my lungs definitely did along the trail! I also carried my backpack, which was pretty heavy, along our hiking endeavors, to try to begin training my back muscles for carrying my pack along the trail to Everest. More training to come.
Anyway, back to Inspiration Peak.
It was pretty inspirational.
It was very simple, nothing too crazy about it, but it was quietly beautiful.
Sinclair Lewis evidently visited it and wrote poetry there, which is how the place came to be dubbed “Inspiration Peak.”
After enjoying the sounds of the rustling hills, we let the momentum carry us back down the hill, where our adventures ended for the time being. As summer is finally breaking out, many more State Park adventures are to come!
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