Is this really the headwaters of the Mississippi River?
Indiana Dunes NP to Itasca Lake SP 06-20-25 to 07-01-25
We had to depart from driving the Great River Road (GRR) briefly to make our way to our next National Park, Indiana Dunes.
We found a wonderful Harvest Host, Maplegrove Farms, about 15 miles from the park in La Porte, IN. Hosts Steve and Jo worked a farm with mainly corn and soybeans and had space for 2 RVs to stay with them. It was first time we were provided a firepit with wood and picnic table (as well as other special touches) at a Harvest Host, and as we enjoyed eating dinner at the table, Jo came over with homemade raisin cookies which Tom enjoyed. (Of course, off Paula’s diet.) We ended up talking with them quite a while and really enjoyed their company! They were fellow believers in Christ and we felt an immediate bond with them. Their huge mixed Anatolian breed dog (about 15 times Whisper’s weight) took a shine to Whisper too. He was very gentle with her. The next evening (after visiting the NP), we went over to their house and visited some more and saw the dory (a wooden boat) they had restored.
So, in spite of the heat dome over the area (99 degrees that day), we drove to Indiana Dunes NP. The first thing we did was visit West Beach and hike the Diana of the Dunes Dare up and over to the beach (over 250 “up” steps). The sand was so hot it burned our feet, and we had to carry Whisper until we got to the wooden stairs. (It is one of only a handful on NPs that allow dogs on most trails.) It was the weekend and the beach was packed! Jo had told us to get there early, as the nearby Chicagoans inundate the place. The crowds did prevent us from doing a few things as, at each area, you had to re-enter through a checkpoint, and after going to the visitors center to get Paula’s patch for her jacket, we called it a day.
The day we left Maple Farms we were going to go to another Harvest Host, an Air Classic Museum of Aviation for Paula, but with temps at 97 degrees, we cancelled and went to an IL state park with power to be able to run our A/C without running our generator. We saw huge corn fields compared to what we had seen in the southern states…as far as you could see across large fields. The next night we crossed back over the Mississippi River into IA and spent the night on an island in the middle of the Mississippi River where we could see and hear the geese and barges go by. Whitecaps developed on the river from a heavy thunderstorm.
The next day, we crossed back over the Mississippi River, but this time into WI, and again spent 2 nights on another island, Goose Island. The second night, we were under a tornado watch for about 15 minutes and some of the sites (fortunately not ours) looked like lakes from all the rain that fell.
Enroute to Goose Island, we saw and stopped at the most unique Dickeyville Grotto and Shrines on the grounds of Holy Ghost Parish. Father Matthias Wernerus, a priest, created them out of stone, mortar, and brightly colored materials (shells, petrified wood, etc.) We couldn’t even conceive of how many hours he spent creating it. As you can see by blowing up the images below, there was so much “stuff” that the camera could not really capture it.
We also stopped at the Genoa GRR Interpretive Center, the second GRR center we had visited. It was very nice with a 7-min movie about the river and 4 sections downstairs on the river, Indians, and an aquarium to help with the river’s endangered fish. Paula was intrigued by the button machine for stamping out pearl buttons from mussel shells, a big boon for a time before synthetic buttons arrived.
At the Goose Island Campground, over the period of 3 days we were there, Tom saved 2 turtles in the road and helped 3 raccoons get out of dumpsters! We drove the Jeep to La Crosse and found a wonderful People’s Food Co-op to get Paula organic veggies and drove to Grandad Bluff overlook. It would have been a nice vista if not for the pouring rain and low clouds.
When we left Goose Island for Frontenac SP, we crossed the Mississippi River yet again, this time into MN. At that point, we had touched all 10 states along the Mississippi River on the GRR. (Interestingly, Paula found this article that ranked MN as the #1 road trip destination for summer.)
Winona, just a small town of 26,000, had 2 things of interest to us. First was the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. We tend not to be “museum people” but our interest in water and boating made us think we’d enjoy it. And we did! The two rooms most interesting to us were first, the one with a painting completed over 14 months in1848 by Benjamin Russell and Caleb Purrington called, “Whaling Voyage Around the World.” Benjamin Russell was one of few professional artists who ever went whaling. It was about 6’ tall by 1,275′ long, painted on cotton (1/4 acre of fabric!) and rolled onto spools at each end – only 40’ of which was being shown at a time through this summer. There were 3 scrolls, each about 400 pounds, with a 4th scroll being lost.
Another collection of art objects was called “Waste Not” by Jon Olson, an artist renowned for transforming plastic waste and discarded remnants of manufacturing processes into captivating, quilted pieces of art. It looked like quilted fabric but was actually recycled quilted plastic! Totally beautiful and intriguing! The piece called “Now Streaming,” represented microplastics in our waterways and subsequently our blood systems. And all the scraps cut away while making this piece were reincorporated back into the composition. See more of the collection
here
.
Then it was on to the small but enjoyable Watkins Heritage Museum. How many of you are familiar with Watkins food products, especially Watkins vanilla? The Watkins company began in 1868, celebrating their 150-year anniversary in 2018 at a party that included a 260-layer cake! There were lots of antique tins to look at from their products.
There was one more stop that day before our destination campground at Frontenac SP. Wabasha, MN is called the “Eagle Capital Center of America” and in town was the National Eagle Center. They had 3 live eagles unable to be re-released into the wild and we were 15’ from them. We were really surprised to find out that, as big as they are (with wingspans up to 7’), they are quite light. The largest of the 3 was only about 10 pounds; but eagles that big can only pick up about 2.5 pounds of weight. (Tales of an eagle carrying off a small dog or child are myth.)
The skies let loose again, and we bought a $2 umbrella at a thrift store we passed to get back to WOW without getting drenched. Rain, rain, rain…and a very fun-filled day. The rain continued through the night.
Paula was looking forward to the next day for 2 reasons. First, there was a yarn store near Minneapolis whose mailing list she is on that she wanted to visit. It was a nice store but, alas, didn’t have the specific yarn she was wanting. Disappointingly, no purchase and no new project to work on. Secondly, we were going to Alpenwood Alpacas Harvest Host for the evening, our first alpaca farm after 4 last summer. Lori only had 19 alpacas compared to 1,000 at Nancy Chapel’s Alpaca Country Estates in OR. Paula remains friends with Nancy to this day (and Lori knew of her superb alpaca herd).
In Lori’s shop, she had a cute alpaca mug (which we bought; you are supposed to support the Harvest Host businesses because you stay free and Tom wouldn’t let Paula buy an alpaca because you have to buy at least 2 as they are herd animals). And she had 2 felted soaps, which Paula admired and told her she would like to learn how to make them. Lori said those were her last 2 and she needed to make some more, so agreed to give Paula a lesson. Tom videoed the process (9-minutes) and pictured to the right is her finished felted soap. Who would like it? It was easy.
When we pulled into her site, we brushed against several tree limbs. Tom asked Lori if she would mind if he trimmed some of them before we left. Next thing we knew, Lori turned out in a full chainsaw working outfit – hardhat with ear protection, chaps, and a Stihl chainsaw. And she knew how to use it. She didn’t just trim things, she cut down 2 trees while Tom trimmed some of the taller branches with a pole saw. By the time we left, it was clear sailing through that area.
Once again, pouring rain overnight left very soggy ground in the morning, but before we left, the rain ceased, and the overcast lifted a little.
We left without a reservation for the night (which Paula never liked). Tom had looked at Charles A. Lindberg SP (the famous Lindberg’s father) in Little Falls, MN and there were many openings with power just 2 days before, so he didn’t make one. We got there and no one was at the entrance, so we drove through and found only 2 sites, unhitched the Jeep, and took one. Paula suggested we not even plug in before driving back to the entrance station to pay. We were just about to get in the car when the camp host camp by. When he found out we didn’t have a reservation, he told us he thought every site was full. Sure enough, it was, so we pulled out and started looking for another campground.
God smiled on us and Tom found De Parcq Woods on Camp Ripley military base in the same town, only 18 minutes away. Tom is a veteran so that worked. When he called, they had a site (just 1) for us! We got there shortly after 3PM, having lost a little over an hour, and it was 10 times nicer than the SP – only 18 nicely spread-out sites in a circle with very friendly campers. One even brought Tom 3 smoked ribs after he remarked on their great smell. Paula wished we could have stayed 2 nights, but we did have a reservation for the next night.
Taking Whisper for a walk later, we came upon a most unusual rig. It sat flush to the ground with a pointed nose and had an unusual wrap on it that said, “Employee Wellness Center.” We stopped and talked with the campers outside playing cards. Tom said, “I bet no one has ever asked about your rig, right?” Can you guess what it was? (Hint: we are in MN where it gets very cold, and it is known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” There are actually 11, 842 lakes of 10 acres or more, but we digress.) Did you guess it? It is an ice fishing trailer. Want one? On wheels, it can hydraulically squat down to sit flush on the ice (or ground). Inside were 10 covered holes about 18” in diameter through which one can auger down through the ice to fish, complete with 2 televisions, one of which showed the fish beneath the surface of the minimum 2’ thick ice. Employees of the company that owned it could sign up to use it and it even came with a truck to tow it. Who knew???
Heavy thunderstorms were forecast for the evening and at about 9:30 PM, there was a knock on WOW. Everyone in the campground (including pets) were to go to the shower house due to a tornado warning. 10 minutes later, about 30 people (+ 6 dogs) were crowded into the building with men’s and lady’s restrooms and 4 showers. The radar on Paula’s computer showed ominous storms and heavy rain and though we got lots of thunder and lightning (see the light show), we didn’t get as much rain as we expected. There we sat (or stood) for the next 45 minutes (everyone being very “ho-hum” about the drill as if they had done it many times) until we got the “all clear” sign and went back to our rigs with the caution that if there was another warning, we would be awakened for a repeat (even if it was in the middle of the night). We slept soundly through the rest of the storms.
On our travels we saw the devastation caused by recent tornados, mostly in the trees along the road but also in homes and businesses in the small towns we passed. We were amazed at the power displayed in just the remnant of the storm and wondered what it must be like to be in the middle of it with little to do but pray (not that praying is a small thing)! The picture on the left is an example of miles of roadway where trees were being cleared, and on the right a close-up of how large trees had been snapped like toothpicks. We were thankful for just a bit of rain and a lightning show the night before.
The next day, we looked excitedly to our destination – Lake Itasca SP – the end of our GRR journey and the beginning of the Mississippi River. Well…it is the named official beginning. But was it really Cass Lake as Lt. Zebulon Pike declared, Elk Lake as Joseph Nicollet maintained, Lake Itasca as Henry Rowe Schoolcraft stated or was it Glazier Lake named after himself by Willard Glazier? This is a fun article about the debate of where the Mississippi River really begins.
For a summary of the GRR and its importance, click here .
We went immediately to the “official” headwaters and we can be seen in this video of us wading across the Mississippi River and then Paula walking across the stones dry-footed (well, almost) a little farther upstream where the river drains out of Lake Itasca. Then we drove around the park (the largest SP in MN) to see what else was there. Can you believe we could not find one T-shirt in any of the 3 shops that had a picture of the GRR on it??? They lost our sale. (And of course, a thunderstorm downpour rained on our parade before we could get back to WOW.)
The next day, on the loveliest day we had in weeks, we biked the 15.5-mile paved bike path around Lake Itasca. The journey of our GRR was complete. (On our bike ride we found Elk Lake which clearly drains into Lake Itasca. Seems Elk Lake (right) should have gotten the nod for the headwaters, but it would have been a much harder place to develop into a huge tourist attraction!)
Next, we will travel west to ND and south through SD, NE, KS, and OK to cover the 2,000 miles toward home with 5 more state decals added to WOW’s map and a few more NP patches to Paula’s jacket.
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