Itasca Swimming Beach (Grade A-)

Part of this year's State Park Odyssey is my ongoing search for the perfect swimming beach. This isn't it, but it's closer than the rest of this year's contenders.  Starting with extra points for the existence of something you would think would be standard at any developed public beach but shockingly is not: changing rooms. Itasca, with its solid historic park  infrastructure, offers this handsome toilet/changing room combination. There is even one shower among the plain changing cubicles for extra points! And if this is not another example of CCC-era construction it is a very good facsimile. 


The beach itself is no better than B+.  On the plus side, the water is clear and cold, swimming area is decent size with enough room for lap swimming, and there aren't a lot of water weeds. If you wanted to swim outside the buoyed area it would be pretty easy, due to the lack of water weeds and a surprising dearth of motor boats. I'm sure there are boats somewhere, but they don't seem to be buzzing the beach area. On the downside, that beautiful sandy beach is deceiving. From the waterline on, it is the worst kind of rocky entry, almost impossible to walk on without extreme discomfort. It was enough to dissuade Richard from even entering the water, which is sad. It looks like the perfect beach for wading into on a hot day, but it is not. 


Like most State Park beaches, it's located in a lovely picnic area with lots of shade and a few tables overlooking the water. And (as always) NO LIFEGUARD, which is a huge plus from my point of view. 

Preachers Grove, wide angle lens

Preachers Grove is one of the two iconic features of Itasca State Park. It's just a grove of 300-year-old red pines on the shores of Lake Itasca. So simple, but so moving. I decided to experiment with the new wide angle lens in my new iPhone - not sure if I like the effect or not. Apparently it results in a massively larger image than the same picture shot normally. Anyway, it's so big that it nearly exceeds Dreamwidth's size limit for posting pictures by email (which is why there is only one image on this post). 

Although this grove looks like this is just what happens when you leave nature alone for people to appreciate, that is clearly not the case. A big part of the signage here is about fire. This is virgin timber in the sense that it was never logged over, but apparently it did burn to the ground and regerminate back in the early 1700's. Then there is some verbiage about the relationship between fire and pine forest and how there are really only two choices: let it burn periodically and hope the mature pines survive or clear out the brush. Although they don't quite complete the thought on that sign, if you've been paying attention you realize that this is one of the few sections of the park where they are still following option #2. Unlike the overgrown shoreline near our cabin and pretty much everyplace else in the park that is not hardwood savanna, the Park Service has been assiduously grooming this popular spot.

Which makes me worry about the rest of the park. All of northern Minnesota is under extreme fire watch right now, with all fires forbidden in the park (even in fireplaces) so it was hard not to think about fire all the time. Back when the CCC boys were here (which, you may recall, was during a period of historic drought) they constructed a fire break around the entire park. Needless to say, that hasn't been maintained. Nobody likes clear cutting or controlled burns, but consider the alternative. Meanwhile the Greenwood fire in the Arrowhead continues to grow.