Thursday morning I pointed the car north on 169, destination: Mille Lacs Kathio State Park.
I was hoping to find some nice and different trails to run on, and I did...what I didn't know was that this place was a virtual amusement park!
I strapped on the KSO's for a high quality historical run through one of the earliest inhabited sites in Minnesota.
I started out near the Trail Center and made my way through the lush grassy trails around Black Bass Lake. I must say, these trails are made for human locomotion! Just enough rises and gullies to get a good head of steam built up. I made a loop and then climbed the fire tower, which was a thrill. It also got me out of the clouds of biting flies that swarmed my head and torso just about the whole time I was running. That was the only low point of the run. Those flies wanted to be the very death of me, I swear.
After going up the tower, I struck out to the northwest and ran down to Ogechie Lake. I took a quick tour of the Landmark Trail. It detailed the history of the area - how the Native Americans inhabited it in harmony with nature for nearly 8,700 years and how European settlers changed the very ecosystem of the place in under a hundred years by logging. We're...not so smart.
It was really something to see the shallow pits where ricing took place, and the ghosts of Native housing foundations. I could almost picture what it must have been like to live there nearly 9,000 years ago along with the first inhabitants of this area. The little peninsula of land that the village sat on was a perfect spot for both summer and winter abodes.
I lingered for a bit on the shore of the lake, looking out onto the other shore and wondering what it must have been like to see bison hunting parties in canoes coming back up the river from the plains down south.
Then I turned around and headed back to where I came from. This time I pretended I was a runner going between villages with an important message...Corny, I know.
F#&king FLIES, MAN!!! I don't know how the early settlers did it!
Because I was scared the first time I went up the tower, I had to go back up and spend a little quality time up there and take some pictures.
yikes! don't look down.
a breathtaking view. you can see to the other side of mille lacs from the top of the tower!
i AM the missing link. the tower is riddled with graffiti from the early 1940's all the way to this weird evangelical graffiti from 2008. This is merely to document the graffiti, by reproducing it here in no way do I endorse the graffitist's viewpoints or offer any of my own opinions for debate.
It was then evident after climbing the tower twice that my quads have NOT recovered from my 50K at Calhoun, and then I went to my Grandmas to eat myself into a stupor. Sweet weekend!
I also visited the Mille Lacs Native American Museum and Trading Post and got some pretty wild ideas about...Moccasins! Hmmm...
I was hoping to find some nice and different trails to run on, and I did...what I didn't know was that this place was a virtual amusement park!
I strapped on the KSO's for a high quality historical run through one of the earliest inhabited sites in Minnesota.
I started out near the Trail Center and made my way through the lush grassy trails around Black Bass Lake. I must say, these trails are made for human locomotion! Just enough rises and gullies to get a good head of steam built up. I made a loop and then climbed the fire tower, which was a thrill. It also got me out of the clouds of biting flies that swarmed my head and torso just about the whole time I was running. That was the only low point of the run. Those flies wanted to be the very death of me, I swear.
After going up the tower, I struck out to the northwest and ran down to Ogechie Lake. I took a quick tour of the Landmark Trail. It detailed the history of the area - how the Native Americans inhabited it in harmony with nature for nearly 8,700 years and how European settlers changed the very ecosystem of the place in under a hundred years by logging. We're...not so smart.
It was really something to see the shallow pits where ricing took place, and the ghosts of Native housing foundations. I could almost picture what it must have been like to live there nearly 9,000 years ago along with the first inhabitants of this area. The little peninsula of land that the village sat on was a perfect spot for both summer and winter abodes.
I lingered for a bit on the shore of the lake, looking out onto the other shore and wondering what it must have been like to see bison hunting parties in canoes coming back up the river from the plains down south.
Then I turned around and headed back to where I came from. This time I pretended I was a runner going between villages with an important message...Corny, I know.
F#&king FLIES, MAN!!! I don't know how the early settlers did it!
Because I was scared the first time I went up the tower, I had to go back up and spend a little quality time up there and take some pictures.
yikes! don't look down.
a breathtaking view. you can see to the other side of mille lacs from the top of the tower!
i AM the missing link. the tower is riddled with graffiti from the early 1940's all the way to this weird evangelical graffiti from 2008. This is merely to document the graffiti, by reproducing it here in no way do I endorse the graffitist's viewpoints or offer any of my own opinions for debate.It was then evident after climbing the tower twice that my quads have NOT recovered from my 50K at Calhoun, and then I went to my Grandmas to eat myself into a stupor. Sweet weekend!
I also visited the Mille Lacs Native American Museum and Trading Post and got some pretty wild ideas about...Moccasins! Hmmm...
5 comments:
Moccasins?? Are you going to start wearing Mukluks in the winter?
Beautiful pictures - that view is amazing.
Holly
Whatever happened to kids saying they "heart" someone?
Did you also visit the casino? That's all I've ever been to in Mille Lacs.
Our cabin is very close to Kathio. I keep meaning to go over there to check it out for a run. Would it be too advanced for me? (Since I have never run trails before?)
holly - mukluks? maybe...can you run in them?
jess - i took my grandma to the casino. we won $15 and then split while the gettin' was good.
runnin-from-the-law - if you have effective defense against flies, i highly recommend even a road run of the entrance to the lake. but the trails are spectacular and not too technical, as well. it would also be amazing in the fall.
I don't think it is "corny" to imagine yourself a Native messenger from out of the past. I've done it myself, sometimes hearing drums and pow-wow music in my head set to the rhythym of my footsteps. Strange things can happen when you run all night.
Mocs are perfect for running, I have run in them on forest trails in my youth.
If only they had a little more traction for slippery ground. That is why I like my INOV-8s so much. They remind me more of mocs with cushioning and traction, instead of the heavy and bulky trail shoes I've worn before.
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