The area surrounding massive Leech Lake, which now includes the town of Walker, Minnesota, has been visited by Native Americans for centuries. When European fur traders arrived, the Ojibwe occupied the area. The railroad came through in the late 19th century and a small lumber town was established and named after Thomas B. Walker, a lumber baron and one of the wealthiest men in America. Logging was king in those early days, but the beauty of Leech Lake soon started to attract tourism as well. Today, tourism is the main draw to the area but Walker also serves as the Cass County seat. Leech Lake is beautiful and I can certainly understand the draw. The town itself is also very attractive with a cute downtown area and some wonderful parks along the lakefront. While Walker was on one of my lists of photogenic towns to visit in the state, when I found out one of my friends grew up there I definitely knew I had to pass through. While she lives in Moab, Utah at the moment, her parents were kind enough to take me in for the night and show me a good time. When I went to take these photos the next morning, the sky was so blue I found it hard to leave. I hope you enjoy these photos of beautiful Walker, Minnesota, a pleasant town worth checking out on the shores of fabulous Leech Lake.
Hello Everyone! It’s been a beautiful week out here in central Minnesota. The skies have been clear and blue and the lakes have been flat and calm. I’ve seen some beautiful small towns this week and spent a day in Itasca State Park, my favorite stop in the state so far. I’ve also had some company this week as I’ve caught up with the families of some old friends of mine which has been really wonderful. The fall colors have been hanging on pretty well for me and this week brought me into tamarack country – those beautiful pine-like trees which turn a beautiful orange this time of year before they drop their needles for the winter. A lot of sites and museums I wanted to see have been closed for the season which continues to be disappointing – especially those at the state level. In my opinion, any site you deem important enough to designate a State Historic Site should be open year-round. Most of these places are staffed by local volunteers anyway and I can’t imagine they wouldn’t make enough money to keep the lights and heat on. It just seems strange to me that these sites are closed the vast majority of the year. I did get into a couple of great museums this week, though, including the wonderful history museums in Grand Rapids and St. Cloud. I’ve also noticed this week that most public restrooms I’ve encountered in the north of the state don’t have locks on the doors to the stalls which seems very strange to me. Not that anyone has barged in on me while I was using one, but I’ve never really seen that as a rule anywhere else. Regardless, it’s been another interesting week on the road, so let’s get into it.
When I left you last week, I was in Moorhead on the Red River and the North Dakota border. After I finished up my newsletter, I headed over to Murphy’s Pub for a songwriters’ round which I really enjoyed. The four people playing that night, all local to the Fargo-Moorhead area, did a great job and I loved seeing some live local music. I woke up nice and early on Thursday morning and headed back to the Stave Church Replica at the Hjemkomst Center near the river. The sun was just coming up and while it was definitely cold out there, it was really beautiful at that time of day. I took a lot of photos and then had some breakfast and headed into the museum. I spent some time checking out the incredible Hjemkomst Viking Ship which is quite a sight to behold. It is a scale replica of an old Viking ship which was built by high school guidance counselor Robert Asp in the 1970s. His plan was to sail the ship to his ancestral homeland of Norway, and while he died in 1980 before he could make that journey, his children took up this dream and made the trip over the course of a month in 1982. It’s a phenomenally inspiring story all around and I loved seeing the ship and the video about the voyage. I also got a tour of the interior of the Stave Church which was also very cool. There were other exhibits in the museum as well, including one about the Native Ojibwe and Dakota People in the area and a “healing through art” exhibit of military veteran artwork. It was a wonderful morning and definitely one of the must-see places stops on any trip to Minnesota. From there, I headed back to the Sons of Norway Lodge since it was Pie Day and had a local specialty of Tater Tot hotdish (a mix of veggies and cream of something soup topped with Tater Tots and baked) and a slice of coconut cream pie. I hit the gym to try and work that off a little bit and then got on the road to Detroit Lakes, a beautiful little historic town on its namesake lake. The town used to be called Detroit, but too many postal errors caused them to add the “Lakes” part in the 1920s to help rectify the problem. It was a beautiful afternoon and I enjoyed wandering the downtown area and then strolling along the lakefront until sunset. The sunset was really beautiful that afternoon, and the beautiful clouds were perfectly reflected in the lake. I hadn’t planned on eating out that night, but the smell of pizza wafting from Zorba’s on the Lake drew me in. Their pizza was quite good and I washed it down with some local beer before calling it a night.
I was up early again the next morning and on my way to Itasca State Park further into the central part of the state. This is where I really started to see the orange tamarack trees which have been so phenomenal this week. I passed by some beautiful mirror-like lakes and got out and took some awesome photos (if I do say so myself). I pulled into the historic Douglas Lodge around 11am and took a nice 3 mile hike down the Deer Park Trail and back up the Ozawindib Trail. I also detoured to the Aiton Heights Fire Tower which had amazing views out over the park from the top. The hike took me through some beautiful forest and past several phenomenal lakes and was one of the better hikes I’ve made in a while. The day was a perfect day to be there and I really enjoyed this hike despite my knee still giving me some trouble from last week. I finished my hike, had some lunch and then headed to the highlight of the park – the headwaters of the mighty Mississippi River which begins its 2,552 mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico right there in central Minnesota. There was a pretty big crowd at the headwaters, waiting to take their photo with the sign and to walk across the rocks where the lake empties into the river. It’s probably about 15’ wide at that point and while you can’t quite jump across it (well maybe you can, but I certainly couldn’t), it was only about 8 stepping stones across. Seeing the Mississippi at its humble beginning was like visiting an old friend as a child – you know what they’re going to grow into and you can marvel at how small they once were. In the nearby museum I learned that the lake and the park took their name from combing the Latin words Veritas (truth) and Caput (head) which was coined by Henry Schoolcraft when his Ojibwe friends led him to the source of the great river. Others before and after claimed different sources, but this one seemed to be the “true head” to Schoolcraft and is generally agreed upon today. There are small creeks that feed into Lake Itasca, but none is really big enough to be considered a river.
