Grand Portage State Park | Minnesota North Shore #exploremn

June 19, 2013 Dan Traun 1 Comment

Grand Portage State Park

Grand Portage State Park is the last and final state park along the North Shore. It was the newest state park in Minnesota until 2010. Lake Vermilion State Park is now the newest. I look forward to visiting this location soon. For more information, check out the Master Plan.

Grand Portage State Park is situated on the northeastern tip of Minnesota on the Canada-Untied States border. The tallest waterfall in the state is located here; at 120 feet, it is impressive. I can only image how it must have been to happen upon this waterfall in a canoe loaded down with supplies, crew and furs. The nine mile portage around this falls and rapids downstream was a very laborious process no doubt.

The day we visited there was rather thick fog to contend with. At times, the visibility of the falls was impossible and you just had to stand there listening to the thunder of the water until it came back into view. This is one of the few handicap accessible park that will bring you up close and personal with this gorgeous waterfall via ramps and board walks. This is a day use only park with 5 miles of hiking trails. The views of the falls and river are very picturesque.

Park Creation

The land adjoining High and Middle Falls was purchased as a possible commercial property by Lloyd K. Johnson, an attorney and land speculator from Duluth, who held onto it for decades. In 1985 a park advocacy group, the Minnesota Parks and Trails Council, suggested complementing Ontario’s Pigeon River Provincial Park with a Minnesota state park. Johnson, who in the 1930’s and 40’s had sold hundreds of thousands of acres to the U.S. Forest Service to help create Superior National Forest and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, agreed to sell 178 acres and donate a further 129 acres. The Parks and Trails Council raised Johnson’s asking price of $250,000 through contributions from individuals and foundations and completed the sale in 1988. -wikipedia

Since the land was within the Grand Portage Indian Reservation, the state park bill was drafted with several provisions establishing a novel collaboration. Legislation establishing the park passed unanimously in both houses of the Minnesota Legislature in 1989. The Parks and Trails Council sold the land to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for $316,000, an amount well under its appraised value. The DNR then began the complicated process of transferring the land to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which would hold it in trust for the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa, who in turn would lease the park back to the DNR for $1 a year. Grand Portage State Park finally opened to the public in September 1994. It took so long to finalize the land deal that another entire Minnesota state park, Glendalough, had been authorized, developed, and dedicated in the meantime.

History

Git-che-O-ni-ga-ming and Grand Portage are Ojibwe and French words for “a great carrying place.” Grand Portage State Park and the surrounding area is rich in Indian and fur trade history. To American Indians, voyageurs and fur traders in the 1700s, the natural features of the area were an awesome sight. Travelers and traders were faced with a 120-foot waterfall, the thundering rapids of the Pigeon River, cliffs, and rocky terrain that was impossible to cross. The only option was to go around these obstacles. The nine-mile trek became known as “The Grand Portage” and ultimately gave the area its name. The park lies within the Grand Portage Indian Reservation and is bordered by Canada on the north and east. Lake Superior is about one mile east of the park. The park was established in 1989 through the cooperative efforts of the State of Minnesota and the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa Indians. A unique situation exists in that this is the only state park not owned by the State of Minnesota. The land is leased from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) which holds it in trust for the Grand Portage Band. The development and operation of the park rests primarily with the Department of Natural Resources and is implemented through the Division of Parks and Recreation. -wikipedia

Here are my shots from my recent visit to Grand Portage State Park.

Destination, Photography

Morton, MN Monuments | MN Minnesota River Valley

June 13, 2013 Dan Traun

MN Buffalo Ridge series [The To and From] [Gibbon, MN] [Pipestone National Monument] [Blue Mound State Park] [Morton, MN Monuments]

Birch Coulee was the site of the Battle of Birch Coulee, one of the deadliest battles of the Dakota War of 1862. It is now preserved at Birch Coulee State Memorial Park one mile north of Morton, Minnesota and has self-guided trails and markers about the battle from both sides. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

The Friendly Indian Monument recognizes the six Dakota Indians who befriended and protected government employees, immigrant settlers, missionaries, or aided soldiers during the United States – Dakota Conflict of 1862, most often at the risk of their own lives. Even though only 6 names are listed on the monument, many more aided those of white descent who are not listed there.

On a hill overlooking the beautiful Minnesota River Valley and the city of Morton, stand two 52-foot tall granite monuments. These monuments are known as the Birch Coulee and Friendly Indian Monuments. The Birch Coulee Monument was erected in 1894 for the soldiers who fought at the Battle of Birch Coulee on September 2, 1862. The Loyal Indian Monument was erected in 1899 to honor 6 Dakota who saved lives of whites during the U.S.-Dakota Conflict of 1862.

Destination, Nature, Photography, Wildlife

Blue Mound State Park | MN Buffalo Ridge

June 13, 2013 Dan Traun

MN Buffalo Ridge series [The To and From] [Gibbon, MN] [Pipestone National Monument] [Blue Mound State Park] [Morton, MN Monuments]

From Pipestone, MN we traveled South 30 minutes to Blue Mound State Park. This is another fine example of the wild beauty that nature has provided for us. Situated minutes North of Luverne, MN in Rock County, Blue Mound State Park is touted in local folklore as the mound that was used as a buffalo jump before European settlements – no archaeological evidence exist however. That would be quite the sight.

The “mound” definitely sticks out of the landscape with cliffs up to 100 feet high. The Sioux Quartzite bedrock can been seen from quite a distance; even though it is pink in color, it appeared to early settlers as a blueish mound – hence the name. There are well maintained trails all about the park, but be sure to wear suitable shoes – seems like common sense, I know – however we ran out of that when we pulled into the park. The excitement to get out and see the huge rock formation had us on a 5+ mile hike with no water and I with dead batteries in one of the two cameras I was lugging along for the excursion. We should have turned back and dropped my one camera off and acquired some portable H2O, but that didn’t happen (my fault). It didn’t seem like the hike was going to be that far until it was….ever been there? Beware of a small creek crossing on the South end of the park on Bur Oak Trail. The big hunk of wood in the middle of the stream that appears to be a worthy stepping stone is an invitation to get acquainted with the muddy banks of this innocent looking creek crossing. Thankfully the interpretive center, on the opposite end of the park from where we parked, was not far. It was a welcomed oasis. Some water to wet your parched whistle was just the ticket.

The lower path provides nice views of cliffs where the upper provides sweeping views from atop the mound to the surrounding farm land. There were lots of Western Prickly Pear and some Prairie Smoke, but with the odd Spring weather we had, it was still pretty early and nothing much was in bloom. There were plenty of birds, butterflies and other critters to hold our interest. We spied a very interesting bird; it looked like it had a yellow helmet on. I have never encountered anything like that before. If anyone knows what it is please comment below. We saw the buffalo heard on the way in close to the road, however, when we were done with our hike they were way off away from any photo opportunity. Oh well, perhaps another time.

Cyndie and I very much enjoyed this wonderful state park despite being prepared to really enjoy it. Next time there will need to be more time, comfortable footwear and plenty of aqua. We are very lucky in Minnesota to have so many great state parks. Get out there and explore a state park near you! You may be surprised with what you find and maybe stumble upon other interesting things in between.

Destination, Nature, Photography

Pipestone National Monument | MN Buffalo Ridge

June 13, 2013 Dan Traun

MN Buffalo Ridge series [The To and From] [Gibbon, MN] [Pipestone National Monument] [Blue Mound State Park] [Morton, MN Monuments]

We had wonderful weather for our exploration of Pipestone National Monument in Pipestone, MN. It is amazing to see these quarries and the amount of Sioux Quartzite rock that was removed by hand with only hand tools to expose the pipestone. We were not fortunate enough to witness the actual mining of the pipestone, but did speak with the artisans inside that were carving pipestone and working with sumac to form the pipe stems.

I won’t ramble on with the complete history of this very interesting place. Just let you imagination wonder while viewing the photos of what it must have been like in a different time. If you want to know more, visit Pipestone, MN and see it first-hand. The National Park Services has a wonderful website about all things in Pipestone, MN.

Catlinite (also called pipestone or pipeclay) is a type of argillite, usually brownish-red in color, which occurs in a matrix of Sioux quartzite. Because it is fine-grained and easily worked, it is prized by Native Americans for use in making sacred pipes such as calumets (Fr: “hollow reed”) and chanunpas. Pipestone quarries are located and preserved in Pipestone National Monument outside of Pipestone, Minnesota, in Pipestone County, Minnesota, and at the Pipestone River in Ontario, Canada.
~Wikipedia

Destination, Photography

Gibbon, MN | MN South Central

June 13, 2013 Dan Traun 1 Comment

MN Buffalo Ridge series [The To and From] [Gibbon, MN] [Pipestone National Monument] [Blue Mound State Park] [Morton, MN Monuments]

Gibbon is situated along the Western edge of the Sibley County boarder. This small town of just under 800 has character much like others in the region. Most notable is its village hall that was built in 1895 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Cyndie and I spent some time wandering about inDiana and Lyle Bad Dog Antiques and Other Attractions (1059 1st Avenue Gibbon, Minnesota 55335). This place definitely had some character. The proprietor was very proud of his wife’s enormous collection of watercolor paint tins. It was quite large. I never knew people collected such things. I guess you can collect just about anything.

The state bank sign also caught our eyes; not only for it’s eye-catching sea foam green color, but also it’s simple and clean design.

Destination, Photography

The To And From – Desitination Pipestone | MN Buffalo Ridge

June 12, 2013 Dan Traun

MN Buffalo Ridge series [The To and From] [Gibbon, MN] [Pipestone National Monument] [Blue Mound State Park] [Morton, MN Monuments]

After a short drive to drop off the furry kids at grandma’s house, we set out for Buffalo Ridge – specifically Pipestone, MN. I have wanted to make this in-state journey for some time now and just haven’t gotten around to it.

Back in-the-day, when I would travel anywhere, it was balls to wall (just recently learned the origin of this) with no time spent in between stopping for anything. These days, when Cyndie and I travel, I look for most any excuse to take a back road or generally deviate from the prescribed path the GPS has set forth. We stop for bakery’s, ice cream, antique stores, nursery & greenhouses, interesting small towns – we’ve managed to create an exhaustive list of excuses to stop. More often than not, we stumble upon fun, interesting, and often times tasty things. For all these reasons, if the route says 2 hours, you can count on it taking use at least 4 hours. After all, it is all about the journey.

This is the first of five post detailing our recent excursion to Buffalo Ridge and as the title states, these are the shots heading to and back home from our destination.

Destination, Photography, Wildlife

Abandoned Hunting: The In-Between | MN, SD & ND

April 6, 2013 Dan Traun

This is the follow up post to Abandoned Hunting | MN, SD & ND.

We were afforded quite a variety of scenery and subjects in our travels. The wildlife was plentiful and spectacular. The sheer number of geese that will congregate in one area can be quite the spectacle. We were reminded how nature can often be raw and brutal. We witnessed a bald eagle ripping away at a deer carcass and another that dispatched Fluffy on the side of a road and then proceeded to carry it away. The Whitetail deer were seemingly as numerous as grains of sands. There were three different occasions that we spotted entire herds milling about in the middle of the day. I very much enjoyed the small towns we passed through. I could have spent a lot of time photographing their character, but per usual, we were on a mission.

Abandoned, Destination, Photography

Abandoned Hunting | MN, SD & ND

April 6, 2013 Dan Traun 1 Comment

Cyndie and I had time last weekend to do some abandoned hunting. We drove through West Central MN (212), NE South Dakota and SE North Dakota. We were amazed at the number of abandoned farms and homes still standing. The first two images are two of many that “got away.” The snow was somewhat of a hindrance. Minimum Maintenance roads are nothing to mess around with this time of year. The roads to several properties where minimum maintenance or simply were just not plowed. GPS coordinates will come in handy for a return trip 🙂

The next few images are of an almost abandoned town in SD called Hammer. There was one home there still occupied – not quite a complete ghost town yet.

Further along you will see that we did find a couple of abandoned homes that we could actually explore (Montevideo and Big Stone City).

We both would have liked to get inside the 1911 brick schoolhouse in Louisburg, MN, but that just wasn’t possible.

A few more abandoned places we encountered.

It was a great few days to get away and capture rural decay and commit historic visions to pixels. The post to follow will include all of the photos of all points in between the abandoned places.

Photography, Wildlife

Shooting Swans | Central MN

March 24, 2013 Dan Traun 2 Comments

This is an absolute site to see. The $10/hr./photographer for private deck access just off the water was more than worth it.

swandeck — View from the Private Observation Deck

Reservations: Rich Thurman | 201 Mississippi Drive | Monticello, MN. 55362 | richthurman@fnmmail.com.

There is a public area to observe the swans adjacent to the residence with the private deck if you would rather go that route – Monticello Swan Park. Either way, please consider making a donation to carry on what Sheila Lawrence stared.

Between my two camera’s I have a little bit over 1000 frames to look through. I’ve gotten better at trashing the obvious non-winners. Here are the 37 frames I kept.

Private observation deck

Private observation deck – 4 slots

Public observation area

Destination, Photography

The Blair Amish Project | WI Driftless Area

January 22, 2013 Dan Traun

Ok – there really wasn’t any Blair Amish (or Witch) Project; it just sounded funny as we where driving around the back roads looking for Amish and anything else of interest to shoot. Cyndie and I set aside some time to get out of the house and away from the grind for a few hours this last weekend. We set out course for Blair, WI to check out the Amish and the Big Sand Rush.

It is Beautiful country in and around Blair, WI. It is well within the driftless region and the hills just rolled on and on. Up and down and all around – from valley to valley we traveled on steep hills and sandy roads.

On this wonderfully balmy afternoon, a number of Amish children were ice skating on frozen ponds or even a puddle in a the pasture. Their tidy farms were easy to spot. Mostly with a white, blue, green or grey roof. Nothing too flashy, as they were simple and very well maintained.

As our luck would have it and most often does, we stumbled on a few abandoned places along the way. We didn’t spend much time exploring as we wanted to explore the Blair area.

Big Sand is very much in the area, Badger Sand to be exact. The sand rush has been in full-swing in this area for some time now. This Amish community is not unlike the one in Augusta. Blair has a mammoth open-pit sand mining operation right in their back yards as well.

I spent some time on Badger’s website reading about their environmental health & Safety. They talk a great game about reclamation & environmental commitment; they even have some examples and they look great too. I can’t help but to feel extremely skeptical about it all. You can fill in the hole, make some grass grow and plant some trees, but what about the water shed? This huge open-pit mine has a lot of wet lands around it as well as a few streams. I hope for the sake of all in the area that live there and for those that enjoy its natural resources, that Badger Sand is for real where the environment is concerned. Hopefully those streams and wetlands don’t end up like those in Barron County at the hands of Great Northern Sand (GNS) plant in Dovre, WI. Their website speaks of their commitment to the environment as well. I like their community involvement link. GNS went out in the community and donated time rather than just cutting a check to the local school like High Crush did in Augusta. One is perhaps more tactful and the other more blatantly obvious, but all of it is an effort to win over the community. Sand is a very curious thing.

The nice day grew short of daylight in a hurry. The 40+ degree weather was a wonderful bonus considering the sub-zero forecast only hours out in front of us. The warm sunlight set the valleys aglow and cast some beautiful light. As soon as the sun set the temp plummeted 20 degrees in about half as many minutes. It was warm no more.