The fire tower challenge

[dreamshark]

On the final leg of our Itasca trip we picked off two more state parks that were nowhere near Itasca, finishing up with Mille Lacs Kathio State Park. This is one of those obscure state parks that focuses on history and birding, so you probably haven't heard of it. Although it is at the southwest corner of Mille Lacs it does not actually have any lakefront on that majestic body of water, and thus does not have a swimming beach worth mentioning. But they do have a fire tower that they seem quite proud of, so we thought we might as well stop and take a look. Although, as I commented to Richard, "it's not like you are going to climb the thing."

"I could climb it," Richard stated. It might take me a while, but I could do it."  "Oh, you could not," said I. 

I then spent about 10 minutes changing shoes and digging out my walking sticks at the van before heading up the little trail to the tower.

And when I got there, Richard was already heading up the second round of stairs. I waited a while to see if he was going to give up and come back down, but he didn't. So what could I do but join him?


It wasn't actually as hard as I thought it would be. According to the timestamps on my photos, it only took us about 5 minutes. Recommended as a source of cheap adrenalin. It's not the least bit dangerous, but it FEELS dangerous. The view was more scenic than it looks here. I guess you need a better camera to make a sea of treetops, a tiny strip of lake, and featureless sky look like more than a very cheap motel painting. It's more exciting when you're swaying in the wind.


While we were slogging up the stairs (there are 11 sets of them, if anyone cares) we were passed by a young boy and his father who had come to leave one of the kid's painted rocks as a memento. Apparently it's their summer hobby - painting rocks and leaving them at tourist destinations around the state. Totally charming. 

Comments

[ihavenoarms]

nice photos

[pameladean]

Oh, intrepid Richard!

Eric and I climbed the fire tower at Itasca. I stalled out at about the level Richard's at in the picture with the tops of the trees behind him. As I mentioned to Richard at St. Croix where we fell into talk of fire towers, there were dragonflies all over the leaves, so I was content, though Eric tried to coax me further with descriptions of the fantastic view.

Yay Richard!

[eileenlufkin]

I know what you mean about the photos; yours look great, but you remember how much better it was in person.

[quadong]

Love it.

[laramie]

Wow! I'm impressed! I would not even attempt that climb.