First off: Carley State Park.
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| North branch of the Whitewater River |
Carley is an itty-bitty little State Park by Plainview, MN. It covers only about 200 acres, and it is managed by the staff at the nearby Whitewater State Park. The park is known for its spring wildflowers and its stand of white pines - rare in this part of the state. The Hiking Club Trail is 1.8 miles long, and quite pleasant.
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| Fall colors - ah! |
We crossed over the river a few times, and were intrigued by these concrete slab bridges. We had never seen them before in any other park we'd visited, but we saw them in almost all of the parks we visited this weekend. Some theories we had were: having bridges capable of vehicles to drive over, the slabs created rushing water which trout like (lots of trout in these rivers, more about that in later posts), more sturdy in floods than wooden or metal bridges...? We're not sure. Perhaps I'll find the answer prior to finishing the next three posts. Any ideas?
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| Bridge of mystery |
The fall colors were very impressive while we were there. We spoke to a ranger who said that they see two fall color peaks in this part of the state - first the oaks and sumacs go, and then later the maples and aspens. Lots of yellows against the greens of the undergrowth and the pines. Ah!
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| Leaves and shadows |
Since this is a short post, I'm going to show you all a sign that we've seen in just about every park we've visited:
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| Gathering of Firewood Prohibited |
Joe and I find this sign particularly funny when we envision a bunch of disenfranchised logs, unhappy that their right to assemble is being thwarted by the Minnesota State Park system. Help! Help! They're being oppressed!
Total miles hiked today (at this park): 1.8
Total miles hiked in 2014: 25.2
Total Superior Hiking Trail miles hiked in 2014: .8
Total ticks today: Joe - 0; Elly - 0.
Total ticks in 2014: 11
