Midwest Adventure: Moose Lake

Our next stop on our Midwest Adventure was Moose Lake State Park in Moose Lake, Minnesota. I selected it because it was half way to Voyageurs National Park and because I liked the name. Plus, it looked nice on the website.

Pretty, but not Moose Lake

I liked it very much, but it was not exactly as advertised. First of all, the lake in the park by the campsites isn't Moose Lake, it's Echo Lake (Moose Lake is down the road). And, second, there are no Moose. It's not that we didn't see any of the Moose -- it's that there are no Moose that far south in Minnesota. And, to be fair, the website didn't actually advertise Moose. It's just that the name ...

Spoiler alert for our entire trip: If you have in your head that Minnesota and northern Michigan are chock full of Moose, they aren't. In fact, it's my home state of Colorado that wins the Moose lottery. I hear Maine has the most, but, seriously, I see lots of Moose in Colorado. Lots. In fact, Caty and I once saw 60 moose in 48 hours on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park. Top that, Maine! On this trip, I saw one -- ONE -- Moose. And, it wasn't in Minnesota. 

So, to recap:

Colorado = Moose ...

Photos taken in Rocky Mountain National Park, Brainard Lake and Grand Lake

Moose Lake  = no Moose ...

Everything but

But, that didn't mean it wasn't lovely. It was. The park, which sits conveniently right off Interstate 35 (close enough to have some highway noise), is named for the nearby town of Moose Lake, which is on Moosehead Lake. One get the feeling there used to be moose here. But, not now.

The park wasn't crowded, but the site we had booked was still occupied and checkout time wasn't until 4:00 p.m. Who does that? Fortunately, the office was open (it's closed on Tuesday and Wednesday) and they let us change to another site. It was wooded and secluded, with a walk through the woods to the nice, hot showers.

Campsite; Photo: Scott Stevens

Luckily, we also thought to inquire about renting a canoe for the next day, because had we waited, we would have been out of luck because of the office closure. They gave us our gear and keys to the lock that secures the canoes. So we were set to go the next morning.

Ready to go

We set up camp and I went into Moose Lake (the town, not the lake) to buy groceries. That's when I discovered that, besides having a state park, Moose Lake also has a prison. 

A little disconcerting when you are sleeping outdoors, but, hey, how often are there prison breaks?

And, I suppose, folks visiting relatives in prison can also have s'mores, which would make the trip less depressing.

I made one of the few dinners we actually cooked on the trip. 

Although we were camping, camping per se wasn't actually the goal. It's just that our Little Guy trailer is a nice, easy, inexpensive way to travel and stay close to nature. Because we were on the move, we actually didn't do much cooking, which is a bit hard for me to adjust my thinking to. I always think you have to cook and you have to have a fire. But, actually, you can do whatever you want.

I made burritos (we always do Mexican when camping). They were delicious. Plus, the leftovers enhanced some jarred spaghetti sauce later during the trip. 

Making dinner; Photo: Scott Stevens

And, I know it's weird, but, yes, I do wear an apron when cooking at a campsite. I am just as messy outdoors as I am indoors.

After dinner, we explored a little. A drive produced a few birds to photograph. 

Some Eastern Kingbirds

A juvenile Merlin

Plus slugs

Too bad I didn't get any pictures of the mosquitoes, of which there were many. I had planned the trip late in the summer because everything I read said that the bugs are worse earlier. To be fair, we didn't have any issues with sand flies (no-see-ums), just with mosquitoes and biting flies. I spent the entire trip covered with bites, despite my repellent.

Back at the campground, we went down to Echo Lake for sunset pictures. Ahhhhh .....

Sunset

Even though it was by the Interstate, it was peaceful, with just a couple of campers and a family picnicking by the lake.

Nice reflections

We had a fire that night (you can see a smidge of it in the lower right hand of the picture below). It turned out to be the only night we made a campfire. The rest of the time, we were either too tired or it was too hot. I had anticipated warm days and cool nights, but, for the most part, we had HOT days and warm nights. No fires needed.

Night time

The next morning, we headed out on the canoe. We got to the middle of the lake and Scott became concerned that the bottom of canoe seemed to be taking in water, so we paddled back and exchanged for newer -- and drier -- canoe. It's a good idea to not ignore things like rising water levels.

Although I have never actually tipped over in a canoe, I am always concerned that I will. So, I didn't take a camera -- not even my phone.

Canoeing; Photo: Scott Stevens

Of course, I regretted that because a loon surface right by the canoe and swam with us for quite awhile. One of my goals on this trip was to get good photos of loons and here was one right by the boat. I spent the next week worrying that I had blown my chance. And, even though we got lots of great loon pictures in Voyageurs and Isle Royale, we never had another that close to our boat.

Isle Royale Loons

I had planned two nights at Moose Lake because I am trying to transition us to a more relaxed, enjoy-nature style of traveling. But, it was not to be. Scott decided that we had exhausted Moose Lake's possibilities (I could have canoed all day, but ...), so we packed up camp and moved on. But, not before we took another drive looking for more birds. 

We saw more Eastern Kingbirds ...

Watching us

And, in the same place as the Merlin had been the day before, an American Kestrel (since they look similar from a distance, it took some time to figure out it wasn't the same bird).

Not a merlin this time

 Then we vacated our lovely camp ...

But, it was so pretty

... and moved on to Lake Bemidji.

Trip date: August 12-September 5, 2016