Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Kilen Woods State Park - Lakefield, MN & Mini-Wakan State Park - Spirit Lake, IA


July 10 

This morning we drove to Kilen Woods State Park. The radar showed that a storm was coming but should miss us. The gnats and mosquitos were intolerable here. The spray didn’t really do any good, in fact I think they loved the stuff. We walked close to the car as there was thunder and lightening around and we didn’t want to be caught out in the woods if it did rain. It did rain a bit and we sat in the car and watched the storm pass. We saw several deer this morning. One came running right through the parking lot to get to the woods.

 the park office which was closed
 cabin 
 House Wrens





 Rose-breasted Grosbeak



 the storm passing by

After the storm passed we attempted to do some birding in the woods. The bugs were so bad we couldn’t stop for a second, so birding was not going to work. We did hear a ton of Sedge Wrens but didn’t get a great look at them. We had to turn around a couple of times as the trail would be flooded out. When we got to the campground area we just followed the road back to the car and decided to break for lunch since the bugs made it intolerable. (we read that because of the late thaw they weren’t able to spay before they bred so there are way more than usual. Lucky us.

 Des Moines River through the park




 flooded trail - we had to turn around

cows across the river
We grabbed some fast food at Jackson. (small town with few options)
 Jackson County Court House
 this park was flooded in town
 this ball field was really flooded across the street from the park

 Franklin's Gull in a flooded soy bean field


Our next area to check out was Spirit Lake which was just over the border in Iowa. I have been to the other side of Spirit Lake years ago. Dad used to have a seasonal Old Tyme Photos store at Lake Okoboji and the 2 lakes are close together. It was flooded then too. The bugs were almost as bad here, but we did walk around for a while.








 Downy Woodpecker
 Eastern Wood-Peewee





 Barn Swallows











Rose-breasted Grosbeak

We literally were right on the border between the two states with the park at Spirit Lake on one side of the road and a biking trail on the other side of the road.
We called it a day and drove home.


Tomorrow we are having an easy day checking out the Historic Downtown of Fairmont and then coming back to prepare to move to our next stop in South Dakota.

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