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TRIP DETAILS
LENGTH 2.5 miles
DIFFICULTY Easy
DATE May 27, 2016
MAIN FEATURES Pink Trilliums and Historic Lindbergh landing site
Woke up this Friday of Memorial Day weekend, got the kids off to school, made a huge to-do list for myself and then decided to BURN IT DOWN (metaphorically, of course) and grab another Hiking Club Trail. Woke up a hiking buddy, told him to get dressed and within an hour we were headed to Charles A. Lindbergh State Park and Crow Wing State Park! I have the best friends…
Our adventure led us through the small town of Little Falls, past the Mississippi dam and all things named Lindberg and “Lindy”. Lots of history in this town. Unfortunately, the visitor center and Charles Lindbergh museum were closed this day, but we made ourselves at home in his State Park and started off on the trail shortly before lunch.
The first thing you’ll see at the trailhead is the cool brick water tower that resembles a castle! It was built by the WPA, Work Projects Administration. The WPA provided jobs for millions of unemployed Americans for 8 years during the late 1930’s-40’s and most of those project still stand today. We immediately headed down the WPA stairs to Pike Creek, which has a nice bridge connecting the trail. In addition to the park’s namesake, Charles A. Lindbergh State Park is known for bald eagles and blue birds. We didn’t see any on this hike, but kept chugging through the muddy trail to the historic spot where the famous pilot landed his “Jenny”.
There were several spring woodland flowers in bloom, but the most prevalent and impressive were the PINK TRILLIUM! They were EVERYWHERE and THICK! Rarely, we’ll see white Trillium on the trail, but never PINK, it was a special treat to see a new variety! I don’t know why I was so crazy about these flowers, but I resisted the urge to pick them and bring them all home.
We missed our turn on the way back and got a little lost for a few minutes. We laughed about it and eventually made it back to the car with another Hiking Club Password. Next stop, Crow Wing State Park, just another 25 miles up the road!
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