THE ADVENTURES OF PLATY AND THE GANG
2005  Volume 6 Minnesota

The North Country Trail

(click on pictures to see a larger size)

After biking into Minnesota it was the Memorial Day Weekend and the only available campground was at Wahpeton, North Dakota.  We stayed at the municipal campground at the Kidder Recreation area that is the home of the “Wahpper”, the world’s largest catfish.  The campground is along side the Red River.  www.wahpchamber.com

While there we took some time off and went to the Chahinkapa Zoo that was small but very nice.  Judy said hi to the tigers and sat and watched the otters for quite a while. 

There was also an old wooden carousel from l926 that had been lovingly restored.  Bob and Judy paid their money and took a ride.  Been a long time since either had ridden a merry-go-round. 
Back on the road again, Adele and Judy biked to Maplewood State Park where there is a very pretty trail with some interpretive signs along the way. Back on the bikes again for more road. 

Along the way every town had a giant statue of something.  Prairie Chickens, Pelicans, Turkeys to name a few. 

We then stayed in Vergas at a commercial campground and did some more biking.  Adele and Judy then entered the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge where they did biking and also some hiking on the Auto Tour Road.  Along the way they saw the egrets nesting and had some difficulty as the road was being worked on as they tried to bike it. 

We then moved to Itasca State Park.  After arriving we toured the park and visited the sights.     We saw the largest White Pine and the headwaters of the Mississippi River. 

We ate at the Douglas Lodge, built in 1902

See Judy crossing the Mississippi River on a log bridge. . 

Along the way we saw this nice family of geese crossing the road. 

On June 4^th, which was National Trails Day, Adele and Judy went for a hike coming toward the State Park boundary.  After losing the trail in a  relocation they met up with the local chapter out for a hike for trails day.  They joined them and had a lovely hike. 
 The trail was longer than reported on the map and did not agree with the map so it was nice to have the local chapter with them, as the trail had not been completely blazed.  Adele met a couple whose child is a teacher in Thailand as is Adele’s and they exchanged information.  As usual it is a tick check when arriving back at the campers.  This was our first certified trail in Minnesota. 

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