Myre-Big Island State Park

[lydamorehouse]

 
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.

Comments

[pameladean]

I think we used to visit this park to see particular kinds of damselflies, but I don't remember for sure. We definitely did see an absolutely huge number of cormorants around the Little Island once. They were kindly exhibiting all sorts of cormorant behavior. The woods were beautiful but exceedingly full of mosquitoes. The park kind of fell off our list at some point, probably largely because of the distance, but I'm glad it was right where you needed it.

P.

[lydamorehouse]

It's definitely not close!

I wish I'd had more time to explore it.

[sabotabby]

MUSHROOMS! You are stronger than I am b/c I'd like to put them in my mouth.

[lydamorehouse]

They do look kind of yummy, don't they?

[spiderplanet]

We have stayed at this park. It's lovely, and peaceful in many places. We were there in early May and some areas had so many mayflies, it was difficult to see forward. They don't bite, but there are so many.

[lydamorehouse]

I grew up with mayflies. In LaCrosse, Wisconsin, the mayfly hatching is often visible with radar. So, I'm quite fond of them, honestly.

[dreamshark]

Richard and I stopped at this park for more or less the same reason you did - it was right on the way to where we were really going. We were heading for Iowa to bike on the Big Trestle bike trail, and stopped here long enough to stretch our legs (but on bikes, rather than walking). The main thing I remember about it is mosquitoes. Lots and lots and LOTS of mosquitoes.

[lydamorehouse]

I was lucky. Mosquitos didn't really bother me on this hike.

[dreamshark]

Drought has its advantages.

[lydamorehouse]

Sadly, yes.