Day 2: Taking Lake Itasca to Task!
Main Page > Cowboys & Indians >
The Boys rose early ready to take on the day! Their first objective the home of the French Voyeurs! Driving up US 53 from Duluth, it didn't take long for the city to give way to a bucolic rural Midwest highway! The Boys stopped at a local diner Wilbert's Cafe, right off of US 53!
A renewal of Country-Fried Steak at Wilbert's!?!
Mike pulled off so the boys could break their fast. OF course they needed to try the local country-fried steak specialty! Twenty minutes, two greasy meals, and 4 cups of coffee later, Mike and Bone belched their way out of the restaurant and continued up 53!
The Only National Park in Minnesota - Voyageurs National Park!
Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota was established in 1975 right next to International Falls. The park's name commemorates the voyageurs, the French-Canadian fur traders who were the first European settlers to frequently travel through the area. Notable for its outstanding water resources, the park is popular with canoeists, kayakers, other boaters, and fishermen. Voyageurs National Park is located on the Canadian Shield, with the rocks averaging between 1 and 3 billion years old. These are some of the oldest rocks on the North American continent. Formed during the early ages of the earth formation, the rocks of the park were compressed, and folded under tremendous pressure. This is the same formation that created Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Pulling in to the National Park Visitor Center Mike got his stamp in his National Park Passport Book, and Bone asked a very nice Park Ranger about a stuffed wolf exhibit. It was a fairly large specimen and Bone wondered if it was a representative size for such a beast. Turned out it was. The lovely National Park Ranger was pleasant, informative, and sadly temporary. The woman quit her teaching job in Portland Oregon to follow her passion, to be a Park Ranger! Unfortunately She chose this just as the Government was downsizing the number of permanent rangers.
Voyeurs in Voyageurs Lake Path!
After 20 minutes kibitzing with her, Mike and Bone left to check out the path to the lake. Lake Kabetogama is a beautiful clear lake within Voyageurs National Park, and is one of the state's 10 largest inland lakes.
Oogling Kabatogama Lake !
Lake Kabetogama is a beautiful clear lake within Voyageurs National Park, and is one of the state's 10 largest inland lakes. However once Mike and Bone got to the shore, there really wasn't that much to do unless they wanted to spend the day kayaking. Unfortunately, the Boys were on a mission and headed out after a few minutes!
Lumbering thru International Falls!
Heading out of Voyageurs took the Mike and Bone to the border, where they cruised past International Falls checking out the great Canadian landscape and a boatload of lumber yards! Their objective was 157 mile or 3 hours away, the headwaters of the Mississippi!
Moving towards the Headwaters !
The Mother of all rivers, the Mississippi! The Mighty Mississippi has an indelible impact on us Americans. It separates us (east vs. west) it is our national road especially in the early days, when all travel was on the water. New Orleans, Hannibal, St Louis, Mark Twain are all defined by this muddy mess! Not only is the Mississippi River is the primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it flows generally south for 2,340 miles to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico and the scene of the first Mike and Bone Tour, Naw'Oleans! As they got close to Lake Itasca State Park, they started passing back and forth a babbling brook that was that Behemoth in the Cresent City! Shortly, Mike and Bone arrived at the Lake Itasca State Park.
Lake Itasca State Park
Itasca State Park was established by the Minnesota Legislature on April 20, 1891, making it the first of Minnesota's state parks and second oldest in the United States, behind Niagara Falls State Park. It was named as a National Natural Landmark in 1965 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It has a series of long hiking trails but the trail to the headwaters is paved a clearly marked. The Boys headed to check it out!
Lake Itasca State Park
So who discovered the Mississippi source. Well supposedly it was Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (lots of Michigan references!) In reality, Native Americans knew well before 1832 where the Mississippi River started. So, what July 13, 1832, represents is the day when someone told the world about it.
That someone was Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. Schoolcraft worked for the U.S. government, responsible for relations with Native Americans of the Upper Great Lakes Region. He married a Native-American woman, Jane Johnston, and conducted his work with sincerity and respect. He was also an explorer and writer, and he sought to investigate a doubtful claim of where the Mississippi River actually began. An Ojibwe leader named Ozawindib showed Schoolcraft to the place where the Mississippi formed a small channel draining out of a small Minnesota lake todays Lake Itasca, and the rest was history.
Mike and Bone, Standing at the start of the Mighty Mississippi!!
After getting the obligatory picture at the start of the clear blue, babbling brook also known as the Muddy Mississippi, Mike and Bone headed down one of the paths into the dark, fragrant forest of Northern Minnesota. Unfortunately they only went a 1/4 of a mile when the vampires of the insect world, MOSQUITOS, ended their desire to dig deeper in the dark!
The Boys check in to their very cool little cabin (replete with and ice cream stand in the lobby!) and thought about real food! Unfortunately they were so far out there, there really was not a lot of options. Fortunately they found a local place no more than 2 miles away!
Wolfing Specialty Burger at Lobos !
Los Lobos is supposedly a mexican restaurant, and the menu sort of reflected it, but the specialty per the waitress was burgers! Famished, the Boys ordered two loaded burgers and Bone had a local micro beer, that they wolfed down in record time! By now it was dark, and up in Northern Minnesota, it gets really dark! So the Boys put in for the night.