Created to preserve the glacial landforms and rolling prairies that previously covered much of the state, Glacial Lakes State Park has wooded areas surrounding spring-fed Signalness Lake, two small campgrounds, and 16 miles of hiking trails through mostly rolling open prairies. Although most campsites were taken on the busy weekend visited, we had the hiking trails almost to ourselves. Located 5 miles south of Starbuck and the best Dairy Queen in the state (a fact given to us by someone who was raised in Starbuck), this park is a great weekend get-away.
I was excited to get out in the woods, camping for the first time this summer. This weekend was the equinox, with the sun rising at 5:30 am and setting at 9:14 pm, so we had plenty of daylight to explore this park BUT our camping game was just a bit rusty since last year and this trip was a good reminder of a few key camping lessons we will take with us for next time.
1. We have yet to perfect the art of reserving the right tent + hammock campsite.
Let's just agree on this. Car camping generally sucks, but we do it anyway in the hope that it might not be as bad as we think it will be. We are usually wrong. Last year, we were fortunate to be able to get state park campsites only several weeks in advance, and without a lot of planning, they were decent sites. This year, the MN State Park reservation system revised the reservation system and limited booking to 90 days out, demand is up, and sites are taken very quickly.
If you can start your trip earlier in the week (Thursday for instance), you will have better odds of getting the best sites. But which are the best sites is a whole another issue to contend with. There is usually one photo of the campsite on the reservation site, but it is hard to get a complete picture of the nature of the site. Kevin likes to hang and sleep in a hammock, so finding trees with the right spacing can be tricky. If it’s a state park we haven’t yet visited, I usually check a few websites to see if anyone has left tips on which specific campsites are the best. BUT, there are few people that leave specific details on campsites and numbers---so it’s a bit of a guess. Here are a few places I check:
For Glacial Lakes State Park, I picked campsite 39 in the Oak Ridge Campground. Looking at the map, it looks like a spacious and more secluded site, but in reality, it was the most cramped site we’ve had in a state park yet. The loop drive-through took up most of the site and it was very small. A better bet in the Oak Ridge Campground would be site 37, 33, or 32. For the Lower Campground, site 6 or 7 for tent camping would be the best.
2. A non-electric campground doesn’t mean no RVs, in fact, it might just mean RVs with generators that run all fricking day long!
It hadn’t even occurred to me that people with RVs would want to stay in the non-electric sites of Oak Ridge Campground----but the sites inside the loop are quite large and it was full of the big RV rigs--- all with generators going from morning until the 10:00 pm quiet hours started. These generators are annoying even to those using them, so they place them as far away from their RVs as possible (so thoughtful). So much for peace and quiet in the campground! After 30 years of camping in state parks, this is the very first time we encountered this issue.
3. The best hiking just might be between 6:30 and 8 am
I often take our dog, Ozzie, on a little walk first thing in the morning around the campground. Because there were multiple trailheads from the end of the Oak Ridge Campground loop, we started off on the High Peak Trail just to check it out. It was so pleasant and beautiful, we just kept going and did the loop. The temperature was very nice (in the 60s but in the sun, my sweatshirt was not needed), we saw deer, the sky was a deep blue and we had the trail to ourselves.
We hiked throughout the day, but with the hiking loops (to Kettle Lake) having little shade it became hot very quickly (even when temps were in the low 70’s). The dog was not happy and the 14-year old wasn't either (see #8).
4. The first camping trip of the year always results in forgotten items.
I made the critical mistake of forgetting THE S’MORES INGREDIENTS! Sure there was likely a place to buy the s’more fixings somewhere close, but we didn’t have time or the energy to make the extra grocery run. We also forgot our mugs (I drank my chai tea out of the smallest saucepan), the tools for the Solo Stove, and the ziplock of sporks. Lesson learned: lists are good even for seasoned campers like us. We did remember the camp chairs and the beer, so we can celebrate that.....
5. Teenagers will always forget almost everything.
Cormac is 14 and sometimes leaves for a weekend trip with no bag, no change of clothes, no toothbrush. Nothing but his teenage self. He did bring a toothbrush this time, but no sweatshirt and not the proper hiking shoes. Lesson learned: packing lists for teenagers are just as important as for aging parents.
6. Bringing the Solo Stove shouldn’t be a high priority when camping at MN state parks.
We love our Solo Stove—the easy-to-start smokeless fires are just great---but most state park campsites have newer campfire rings which are also double-walled and designed to minimize smoke. We can’t cook over our Solo Stove, so we had to use the campfire ring anyway. The 2nd night we had a Solo Stove fire but had to end the fire earlier than wanted because the forecast predicted rain. We needed to let it cool down and then empty and store it out of the rain (pain in the ass).
7. Sometimes it’s hard to have a dog when camping.
The 9-year old dog with mostly black was very hot on the prairie and not excited to hike as far as we wanted to. In addition, we wanted to eat out somewhere on Saturday night---but needed to find a shaded parking spot so we could leave Ozzie in the car. This proved to be more difficult than you’d think! We ended up parking so that the car got little direct sun and kept checking on him while eating pizzas and trying some local wine at Rolling Forks Vineyard. There was a patio- but they do not allow dogs, unfortunately.
8. Woodticks greatly prefer bright blue shoes with white soles.
We had heard that wood ticks were very bad this year, but even that warning didn’t prepare us for what we’d encounter. The hiking paths were mostly mowed grass and in my experience, if you stay in low grass, it’s usually not an issue. Not this time and not if you are wearing bright blue shoes with white soles (Cormac wore his Nike athletic shoes). He had to stop every couple of minutes to brush the ticks off his socks. He got over 30 ticks on our hike to Kettle Lake and back, while Kevin and I only got 1 tick each (Kevin was particularly offended. He rarely gets ticks - in fact, he reckons he has had fewer than 10 ticks on him his entire life.) The only explanation I can think of is that Cormac's footwear was brighter than ours (this is a very silly notion, of course). I had used Frontline for Ozzie and although that didn’t stop the ticks from finding him and latching on, many of them fell off during the night and the next day---but we are still finding ticks crawling around on Ozzie a day later.
It's a serious situation this year and we need more preparation on that front next time. If Kevin could ever get the rest of us to give him our clothing a few days prior to the trip, he could treat them with permethrin and mostly avoid the issue entirely. Good luck with that.
9. Give your fellow hikers tips!
When on the High Trail loop for the 2nd time, we ran across a family who wanted to pet Ozzie. They also shared they had seen Lady Slipper flowers where the trail bends by the lake. I had been by this area this morning but had not seen them, so I really appreciated the specific tips. This is my first Lady Slipper spotting in the wild! We didn't tip the guy, though.
10. Radar weather is your friend.
We knew it was going to rain on us during the night and there was a good chance of having to pack up wet and in the rain (that’s the worst). We packed up everything except tents the night before. I woke up about 6:00 and after looking at radar weather, I realized we had a 40-minute window of no rain before the next rain showers moved in for the rest of the morning. We scrambled to break down and pack away the wet tents before the downpour. I used the Dark Sky app and Kevin uses the weather.com app and the NOAA local weather band radio channels. It’s actually a good thing to have several different sources, as none are 100% accurate,
All in all, it was a great experience at Glacial Lakes State Park. With a better campsite selection and some tick repellent, next time will be even better!