Myre-Big Island State Park

 
Image: Clouds reflecting on the lake

A friend from Michigan was supposed to be staying with us for a few days this weekend, but plans changed due to a funeral. I ended up driving him to Blue Earth, Minnesota, where he was going to meet up with family and then make the rest of the trip to the Dakotas. Since I was already all the way down at the butt-end of the state, I decided to see if there was a state park I could check out. 

The internet suggested Myre-Big Island. 

I didn't have a huge amount of time to explore this park, since I arrived at it around 6 pm (technically the park is open until 10 pm, but I was not equipped for nighttime hiking.) So, I drove out to see the "little island" and then parked at the Big Island for a little tromp in the woods. The first thing I saw was a "fat friend" in the restored prairie near the lot. The muskrat or groundhog was munching on some clover and I paused long enough to try to get a blurry picture of her. (It's on Facebook, but it's really too pixelated to reproduce here.) 

The trail was dark and lovely, full of looming trees.


Image: trail into the woods

I probably only hiked for a half hour, but I got my passport stamped and stretched my legs (which was the real point of this detour.) Plus, I saw some cool, heart-shaped mushrooms.