A Weekend at Glacial Lakes State Park, Starbuck, Minnesota

 

Camp on an esker!  Check out our experience at this gem of a park with one-of-a-kind geography, located in the Leaf Hills region of Minnesota.

  2020 created many challenges.  One challenge we ran into was that Minnesota State Park campgrounds were FULL … ALL THE STINKING TIME … which is great that folks are enjoying the outdoors, but it was a challenge to find sites.  So, we branched out to neighboring states (you’ll read more about those parks in future blog posts),  but we finally snagged sites at Minnesota State Parks: Lac Qui Parle and Glacial Lakes in late August/early September.   Of this two-park adventure, I’m focusing on Glacial Lakes first (even though we travelled there second during this trip).  Why, you might ask?  Just because, I’m currently inspired to write about Glacial Lakes at this exact moment.  [Insert smiley face emoji]   And because we have a stunner of a sunset up from this park AND a campsite photo tour so you can visualize the sites (before reserving yours) on our YouTube Channel already.  PS – Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!     On our drive from Lac Qui Parle State Park to Glacial Lakes State Park, we had on and off rain showers which brought forth some pretty pictures and views.  When we arrived the campground host came to greet us (while we were in the middle of parking) which seemed a little odd, but we soon realized that’s when he greeted every new camp group that arrived.

What is Leaf Hills?

It is a 10-19 milewide area that features glacial hills and there’s no other place within the state with this assortment of geography.  When the glacial ice shifted south, these hills and bluffs were ground down to the bedrock.  As ice retreated the rocks and dirt that were frozen within it were deposited here…this is called glacial till.

You Used the Camper Oven?

You betcha!  We decided to use the camper oven [SHOCKER, I know] to cook a frozen pizza…Lotzza Motzza, if you must know….and we always add pineapple [fight me….].   My sarcasm related to the oven is that I was absolutely stunned to learn that, within some Facebook Camping Groups I’m in, (are you sitting down?…) there are people who do NOT use their ovens or showers…I had no clue…   My instant thought is, you purchased it, why not put it to use?  But as with anything, maybe folks don’t know how to use or why they’d use them…. [drop us a note in the comments if you use or do not use your camper’s oven.  I’m fascinated to try to understand reasonings behind it] Anyway back to the park:   We relaxed in the camper while the pizza cooked.  We had to turn it a couple times, to be sure it cooked evenly.  But, we check our pizzas at home too so this is not unusual for us….having both worked in pizza joints [and MET in a pizza joint] we’re pizza lovers and prefer to perfect it every time….and yes, perfect means pineapple!  [insert laughing face emoji or nerdy glasses emoji]

How to decide what site to camp in?

We often get asked about how we go about selecting a campsite.  I’ll be writing a future blog post on the details.  But, here’s a MAJOR tip if you’re considering camping at Glacial Lakes State Park, we have a campsite photos video on our YouTube Channel for you or we also dropped it in just below this paragraph!  You can check out the sites before you reserve yours!  The state park reservation system does offer photos of most campsites when you reserve, but this can help you get a better visualization of the sites. Of course, we had to wander down to the lake to check out the sunset.  You’ll learn, if you don’t already know, Amanda considers herself a sunset sniper…(and sunrise sniper, if she’s up and moving that early).

What does glacial till do?

In this area, glacial till formed the park’s rolling hill and steep terrain.  Some of the greatest depths of till within the state of Minnesota are found right here, in Glacial Lakes State Park. The next morning I enjoyed coffee in bed and we snooped on the new folks pulling in and the campground host introducing himself to them.  Be honest, how many of you watch other folks pulling in?   Tell us in the comments below!

Hiking Club Trail, what’s that?

  This day we planned to hike at least part of the Hiking Club trail.  If you love Minnesota State Parks and plan to visit more than one, you need to join the Hiking Club.  Each Minnesota State Park has a trail designated as The Hiking Club Trail; it typically takes you through the best parts or the most distinctive parts of that park.   You can purchase this from any park office. Because Glacial Lakes State Park’s Hiking Club Trail technically begins at the parking lot by the lake, our thought was to leave from the campground and do the longer part of the trail first [because the long part is 2.4 miles long and the short part is .4 miles one way] but I [Amanda] misread the map…AND misread the Avenza app map, I guess. So, we ended up doing the short part of the trail first and then continued onto the long portion. Prairies tend to be quite a bit warmer than wooded areas.  This hike temped out a little warmer than we both prefer, especially Cole.  We were thrilled to get to the shaded part of the trail, where we sat and cooled down for a bit.   It’s fascinating to find such an assortment of geographical features: kames, kettles, eskers, moraines, and glacial erratics, throughout the park’s 2,423 acres.  Hiking through the ridges, valleys, native prairie, and steep hills is just a phenomenal experience. We found some coyote scat on the trail.  Bet you weren’t expecting to see that today…haha.  Neither were we!  It’s always interesting to see what they’ve been feeding on.  Also found a soft, pretty feather. During the hike you’ll wander through the rolling hills onto High Peak Trail.  Once you make it to the Hiking Club Password you’ve reached the highest elevation in the park at 1,352’!  Gorgeous views of lakes and hillside prairies.

Have you ever camping in a hike-in campsite?

Partway back, the trail brought us close to the Oak hike-in campsite.  The hike-in sites were a heck of a hike (for us) but what a beautiful place to camp.  We’ve never done hike-in or cart-in camping, but we will one day.  The Oak campsite we stopped at was right along the trail, so if I was reserving one in advance; I’d probably go for one even a little further out, just for more privacy while we camp. There’s so much more to share but we’ll answer a few more questions:

What did we enjoy most?

The peaceful rolling hills and Mountain Lake sunrises and sunsets – and of course, the prairie itself!!  I really loved that behind our campsite we could look north over the esker.

What kind of wildlife could be viewed here?

Birds are a big one for us.  We always look for new-to-us species.  And since part of the Hiking Club trail takes you through the marsh, frogs were exciting to sit and listen to.  This park has so many different features and I’d expect quite the assortment of birds, from woodland to prairie to marsh.  Other animals you can see include: chipmunks, squirrels, deer, beaver, coyotes, and raccoons.  Woodpeckers might be one of my favorite birds to watch, they’re so entertaining!

Is there any foraging opportunities here?

We found wild grapes right in our campsite!  We also found a variety of mushrooms but did not identify any that were edible, from our current knowledge of edible mushrooms.

Would you return?

Definitely!  Next time we look forward to hiking different trails and we’ve already figured out what campsite we’ll book.  That’s one thing I recommend to folks who are camping each park, make a note of what site you’d like to book next time.  We also plan to do some fishing and bring the canoe next time.  The lake by the campground is known for sunfish (which we saw), crappies, large mouth bass, walleye, northern, and one of my favorites…perch!

Any other little tidbits?

This park also features a connection to the Villard-Starbuck Trail which is a paved bike or walking trail that leads to the town of Starbuck and once you get to Starbuck, and continue on, you’ll get to Villard. Next time we’ll take time to visit Starbuck and check out their community too. There’s also a group camp, a few more camper cabins, and a horse (equestrian) campground.

What did we eat on this adventure?

Pizza was mentioned earlier, in the oven… but we also cooked homemade bacon over the fire, eggs, and toast.  For supper we had freshly caught walleye (from Lac Qui Parle State Park) and potato packets.  Lunch was pasta salad, sunchips, and spam sandwich (like a BLT but switched out bacon for another Minnesotan favorite).  What do you eat on camping trips?  Let us know in the comments!

Have you camped or hiked here?

Let us know in the comments what site and what trail was your favorite and why.  Maybe we’ll try it out next time! Thanks for supporting us by reading this post.  Follow our social media channels for more inspiration!  Cheers!