from Grand Forks, ND to Duluth, MN

We set out this morning for the headwaters of the Mighty Mississippi, located in Lake Itasca State Park (Minnesota).

Had this portion of the trip not been a late addition, we might’ve made arrangements to stay a day or two. Just in the brief time spent in the visitors’ center, where we bought our car pass, I noticed some really cool exhibits explaining the lake and surrounding area from several different scientific aspects. It would have been fun to do more exploring.

Among other things, I did note that Lake Itasca is little changed from its natural state, and I loved that! In the past couple of hundred years, there have been major undertakings to protect Lake Itasca’s old-growth pine forests from logging.

There were a number of families there to enjoy the various recreational pastimes of summer … though from the snowmobile and cross-country ski trails that we saw, this park gets use year-round. Which is WONDERFUL!

Here’s a glimpse of a boat tour on the lake:

We headed up to the headwaters site. Which is very different from other headwater sites I’ve visited, because there’s no bubbling spring or anything that you can point to and say, yes this is where it starts. Which kind of explains how there was so much “controversy” over locating the exact headwaters … and, as a side note, there are STILL geologists who challenge this location as THE headwaters of the Mississippi!

Apparently, all the fuss over finding the source of the Mississippi – what the Ojibwe called “Gichiziibi,” or the “Great River” – was quite amusing, perplexing, even, to the Ojibwe. To them it was unimportant where it started; they considered the whole river to be of importance, the whole of the river to be beautiful and powerful. I kind of see their point. The river just Is, and where or how it began is not significant.

Notice how crystal-clear the water is!

But all the same, it’s fun to visit the Mississippi before it becomes Mighty. There are steps leading down on either side of the river, and you can wade across or, if you don’t want to get your feet wet, you can cross a footbridge. Since Henry loves playing in rivers, we thought it would be fun for Sue to take him down the steps on one side of the river, and I would call him from the other side of the river. So that’s exactly what we did. Here are the photos of Henry Burns Ford, fording the Mississippi:

We both got our feet wet as well; here’s Sue:

And a couple more pictures of my dog. He is such a great little traveling companion, so whenever I find such a "Henry-friendly" site, I like to give him as much time as possible to enjoy it. 

Back to the patio of the Mary Gibbs Mississippi Headwaters Center, named in honor of the 24-year-old park superintendent who, in the early days of the park, faced down armed lumberjacks to protect the Mississippi. We enjoyed a picnic lunch and some ice cream. And I learned that wild rice harvesting is a big deal here.

Back on the road, we decided to follow the Mississippi for a while, which led us to Bemidji

Paul Bunyan, and Babe, the Blue Ox

Both were built for a winter carnival in 1937. They are permanent symbols of Bemidji and its most colorful era of logging and lumberjacks.

Niiemii

Part of Bemidji's Sculpture Walk, Niiemii -- "he dances" -- is dedicated to all pow-wow dancers.

and past the Big Fish Supper Club, which is unfortunately closed on Mondays.

And now we’re spending the night in Duluth, Minnesota, after having pizza and beer at Thirsty Pagan Brewing in Superior Wisconsin.

And since we’re on the banks of Gichigami – Ojibwe for “Great Sea” – we have decided YES! to make yet another change to our itinerary, to see the beginning of US Highway 41, way up on the Keweenaw Peninsula which juts into Gichigami (Lake Superior).  

More photos from the Forces of Nature Tour at Flickr.

Click here.