Minnesota is bisected east to west as can be seen in the image below. To the south lie the vast prairies which extend from the Red River Valley, through South Dakota, down through the southern half of Minnesota, and into Iowa and Illinois. This is corn country today. It was the land of the Sioux (Dakota, Lakota).
At Lake Minnewaska we are on the boundary. Drive to the north and you are quickly in forest lands. Drive to the south and the Great Plains awaits you.
Imagine how it must have looked before the settlers from Norway, Sweden, and Germany swept into this part of the world. When the first settlers arrived at present-day Glenwood, the "ground was strewn with buffalo bones".
Actually, one can get a real appreciation for the prairie lands even today. Just around the corner from us a state park provides the look and feel of a time gone by. The bison are gone but the white-tailed deer are plentiful.
Glacial Lakes State Park lies right near us, just a few miles from Lake Minnewaska. It was called Mountain Lake when I was a kid and my father and grandfather took me there.
This park features small lakes and vast views of prairie grasses and flowers. There are great hikes here.
The prairie grasses and flowers bring a raw beauty to the plains.
As the glaciers retreated, they left the lakes and potholes of Minnesota. Mountain Lake is just one of 10,000 lakes. But it is a special lake because my dad and grandfather brought me here often. The memories linger. I will wrap up this segment with some pics of Mountain Lake.
Weekdays, this is a quiet place. The campsites are empty. There are remote campsites out along the trails for those who seek the isolation. One evening soon, I will slowly walk the high trails with binoculars in hand. At about sunset the deer begin to move about.
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