Veritas Caput

Thursday, June 6, 2024

We devoted today to exploring Lake Itasca State Park. (Thanks for the suggestion, Jeff.)  Because the lodge restaurant wasn’t open for breakfast (and the room coffee was inadequate in quantity and quality), we started the day by driving about 30 miles to Park Rapids. There, we had a mega-breakfast with plenty of coffee at the Great Northern Restaurant, then returned to the lodge.

Our park explorations began at the Mary Gibbs Mississippi Headwaters Center in the northern part of Lake Itasca. The weather was chilly and blustery while we read the outdoor displays about the source of the Mississippi River. During the 19th century, many explorers embarked on quests to find the source of the Mississippi River. The search ended in 1832 when Ojibwe chief, Ozawindib, guided Henry Rowe Schoolcraft to Lake Itasca. The Ojibwe people called the lake Omushkos or Elk Lake, but Schoolcraft renamed it Itasca from a combination of the Latin words for “truth” and “head”, veritas caput. The river, which the Ojibwe called Misizibi, or Great River, actually begins its 2,552-mile southern journey to the Gulf of Mexico by first flowing north out of Lake Itasca.

We then went inside the gift store to look around and warm up before taking the short hike to the Mississippi River headwaters. There were many other visitors at the headwaters, especially schoolchildren, and as the morning weather improved, many ventured into the water. There was a live webcam (with a few minutes delay) at the  headwaters and Jane managed to obtain a screen capture of our visit from the web site.

Here are a few additional interesting facts that we learned about Misizibi, the Great River: 

• it forms the borders of ten states but only flows through the interior of MN and LA,
• it flows at 20-60 gallons/second at the headwaters but 4.5-5.5 million gallons/second at its mouth,
• it is only 18 inches deep at the headwaters but 100-200 feet deep at its mouth,
• the first city on the river is Bemidji, MN.

After visiting the Mississippi headwaters, we drove south toward the lodge along Main Park Drive stopping at each turnout and taking short hikes to see vistas and other park features. Our first such stop was Indian Mounds. These were overgrown with vegetation and not very discernable or interesting. 

Our second stop was Wegmann Cabin, a 1977 replica of a store built by settlers during the early 1900s. The ruins of the original store were adjacent to the replica and had been left to decay naturally.

We continued on the trail toward the lake and were surprised to find the Lakeside Museum and even more surprised to find that it was opened. We enjoyed reading its displays about the natural and cultural history of the area. 

—— Wegmann Cabin and Lakeside Museum —— 

We returned to the car and continued stopping to observe various attractions and also drove around the University of Minnesota Biological Station and Bear Paw Campground.

—— Pioneer Cemetery ——

—— UMN Biological Station —— 

—— Peace Pipe Vista ——

—— Preacher’s Grove —— 

At the southern end of the lakeside drive, we stopped at the Jacob V. Brower Visitor Center and then the Forest Inn Gift Shop across the parking lot from Douglas Lodge.

—— Visitor Center —— 

—— Forest Inn Gift Shop —— 

After freshening up in our Lodge room, we headed down to the restaurant at 4 pm, having learned that it would close at 5 pm. We had a nice meal at a window table and enjoyed conversing with our young waitress, Skylar. After dinner, we lingered awhile watching male and female hummingbirds using a feeder just outside our table’s window.

—— Dinner at Douglas Lodge Restaurant —— 

After dinner, we decided to walk off a few calories and embarked on Dr. Roberts Trail to Old Timer’s Cabin. The weather was nice and the interesting hike covered several different types of terrain.

—— Dr. Roberts Trail & Old Timer’s Cabin —— 

Back at the Lodge after our hike, I was able to secure some coffee for tomorrow from the staff who were closing the restaurant. (No room service here.) We lingered awhile in the den working on a jigsaw puzzle. But eventually the lighting became too poor to continue, so we went upstairs to our room and retired for the evening.