Since Luke last spoke with Heidi and John, he has been visiting state parks in and within spitting distance of the Twin Cities. Luke visited William O'Brien, Interstate, Wild River. Nerstrand Big Woods, Lake Maria, Sakatah, and Rice Lake state parks. Of this group, geological features are what stood out.
"I visited Nerstrand Big Woods right after the big storms on Wednesday night [May 11th], so there were a few trails that were pretty water-logged," he said. "But in good news, the waterfall was flowing really well so that was nice to see. It was a great hike, aside from the one area that was pretty water logged."
Traveling in the southern part of the state, Luke noticed some of the peculiarities that developed because of glaciation in the area. "Nerstrand Big Woods is the closet park to the Driftless region that didn't get hit by glaciers, and you can see that with the stream carving, especially below the waterfall. It carved a deep valley and there is bedrock on both sides of the stream," he said.
Luke compared the driftless terrain to some of the other parks he visited this past week. "In Interstate State Park, the glaciers definitely pushed bedrock to that area. Wild River was very flat; almost all the parks I did last week were on glaciated land. But right now my favorite park was Interstate. That area had the most interesting terrain. With all the rocks and potholes, it felt like the northwoods without having to go that far north. It definitely had the best variety of the parks I've visited so far."
Latimer was also curious whether Luke had seen the Minnesota State Bird yet? "Any mosquitoes yet?"
"Yep! And they were in abundance! But no ticks yet." Luke added.
For those following along at home, Luke has a busy week planned. Today, he will travel to Minneopa. And between now and next Tuesday when we check in with Luke again, he'll traverse Myre-Big Island, Frontenac, Carley, Whitewater, John A. Latsch, Great River Bluffs, Lake Louise, and Forestville Mystery Cave.
If you have advice for Luke on what to see and do when he's in each of these Minnesota State Parks, please let us know on Facebook, or send us a comment at Comments @ KAXE.org .
