Eyes to the Sky

With the warm, muggy July weather, day outings to bike or hike just haven't been happening. But...too much "home time" definitely affects my mental health in a negative way. Bob has a keen sense of when it is time for me to have a change of scenery and will often suggest an evening car ride. Getting out of the house for even an hour or so seems to be just what the doctor ordered.

One night this week we didn't pull out of our driveway until around 10 pm. The late hour was necessary because both of our goals required darkness.

First plan...watch the International Space Station (ISS) go overhead. Following the ISS has been something we have enjoyed for years. A NASA website gives exact times and dates for when the ISS will be passing over any location. The station is not visible everywhere on every night, but the sighting information is so precise that unless you are dealing with overcast skies, you should easily be able to spot the ISS. For example, here is the sighting info for that night in our area:

Time: 9:48 pm
Visible:  6 minutes
Max Height:  33º
Appears:  10º above SSW
Disappears:  12º above ENE

The ISS doesn't cross the sky from horizon to horizon, but rather appears and then likewise disappears exactly where the stats predict. It is one of the brightest objects in the night sky and easy to spot. 

A special memory of our ISS viewings happened quite a few years ago when the space shuttle was being used to transport astronauts back and forth. It was on a Thanksgiving evening and the shuttle had just detached from the ISS for its flight back to earth. With only our eyes, we were able to see the bright ISS traveling across the sky with the dimmer shuttle following closely behind!

Act #2 of our evening sky show began about an hour after sunset...~10 pm here. Comet NEOWISE  (the name is short for Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Space Explorer) came into view in the NW sky just below the Big Dipper. At first it was necessary to use binoculars to see the comet but as the sky darkened and we knew where to look, it was possible to see the comet and its long tail with the naked eye. 

(Photo Credit: nasa.gov)

Comet NEOWISE is currently about 70 million miles from Earth, which is about 3/4 the distance from the Earth to the sun. The comet is about 3 miles across and is moving at about 40 miles per second or 144,000 mph. I assumed watching a comet would be like trying to spot a meteor or falling star in that it would only be visible for a brief second. But...I was wrong. The comet remained  right above the horizon for as long as we were watching. So glad we got to see it, because it won't be back for another 6,800 years! 

I wish I could post an awesome photo of what we saw, but alas...my camera isn't up to the challenge. I even tried holding my iPhone up to the lens of the binoculars, but no luck there either. Instead, you can search for Neowise photos online or even better, check out the photos tagged #neowise on Instagram. These are truly incredible!!

There is a little more to our skywatching story, however. 😏 We had invited some friends to go along with us. Because of social distancing, we each drove separately. Bob had found a location away from town on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere where we could avoid distracting lights and trees that would block our view. 

As soon as we stepped out of our cars, the mosquitoes surrounded us in a cloud...thousands and thousands and thousands of the blood-sucking critters.

Anticipating this, we had all worn hoodies which immediately got cinched up around our faces. But this wasn't enough to avoid the onslaught. The four of us then also donned face masks (a pandemic staple in our cars.) These provided a little more protection but also made us look like a group of terrorists. 

Other than a couple of cars who drove past us on the dark road, no one else was around. Until...the county sheriff's deputy arrived with lights flashing. I guess one of the passer-bys suspected we might be up to no good and reported us. 

The deputy requested the guys' drivers licenses to run a check. Fumbling through his fat wallet in the dark, our friend did not hand over the drivers license as requested...but by mistake, his Costco membership card instead! 😆 Once the actual license had been found, and no past criminal records discovered, the deputy left us to go about our star gazing and mosquito feeding.

The evening was a good reminder in this time of limited travel. Sometimes the best souvenir memories are the little things in life. Not the exotic trips or big adventures...but just a time shared with friends that made you smile. 😉

Lake Shetek State Park

Click here for a video of our day at Lake Shetek 
on my YouTube Channel

After living in SW Minnesota for over 40 years, it took a pandemic to get us to visit a state park less than an hour away!

Another gorgeous weather forecast spurred us to get on the road and head to Lake Shetek State Park for a day outing. (Shetek is a Sioux word meaning "pelican".) The lake is the largest in SW Minnesota and the headwaters of the Des Moines river.

A little research revealed that a portion of the Casey Jones Bike Trail connected the state park to the tiny town of Currie, MN (population 215). A normal day at home for us includes a seven mile bike ride around our lake each morning so the six mile loop from the state park, to Currie, and back again would be a perfect ride. (Note: Bob's bike riding encompasses MANY, MANY more miles per day than the seven we do together. His day starts with a couple of hours of tennis, our 7 mile bike ride together and then he does another 20 - 25 mile bike ride in the afternoon!) 

I've mentioned in past blogs that we ride recumbent bikes. Although there are many different models of recumbents on the market, Bob built our Tour Easy style bikes by combing two bikes into one. There is still considerable cost (and a LOT of time involved) in building these bikes, but no where near the $3,000 price tag it would cost to purchase a new model.

Once we started riding recumbent bikes, both of us decided we would never go back to a traditional style bicycle...EVER! We joke that it is almost like sitting in a Laz-y-Boy chair as you pedal! But...the one major drawback to recumbents is that they are hard to transport. The bikes are too long to carry on a regular car bike rack so Bob used his ingenuity to design and build a car top carrier for his bike. Mine is a shorter model so by taking off the front wheel, it can fit inside our SUV.

Traveling to Lake Shetek would be the first time the bike carrier had been put to use, so we were a bit nervous. We hadn't even made it out of town before Bob pulled over to adjust the tie-down ropes, but after that all went well.

Some last minute adjustments.

Our annual park pass got us into the Lake Shetek State Park. A welcoming committee of several deer greeted us as we drove to the interpretive center (closed due to the pandemic) where we parked. 

The bike trail begins right by the park office. After deciding to ride clockwise around the loop it didn't take long before I was convinced we had made a mistake. Right away there was a long up-hill section that had me off my bike and walking. Fortunately that was the only tough section and the rest of the ride was either fairly level or downhill (wheeee!)

I was thankful that it was a cool day. There was no shade as we biked between soybean fields and the highway.

Once we got to the edge of Currie, we veered off the trail and into town to make a brief stop at the End-O-Line Railroad Park & Museum. We didn't take time to go through any of the buildings or the museum, but it looked like an interesting place...especially for train buffs!

Flanked by trees on one side and fields on the other, the trail was a little more scenic once we left Currie. Eventually the trail intersected with the Des Moines River.

The bike trail alongside the Des Moines River.

Currie Dam on Des Moines River

Just before the trail ended back at the park, we stopped to see the Shetek Monument. This monument was erected in 1925 at the site of a mass grave for 15 people killed in the U.S. - Dakota War in 1862. After learning more about the uprising, I realize what a tragic time this was for both the settlers and the Native Americans living in this area.

On the date of August 20, 1862, a group of Indians attacked the settlers of Shetek. They started from the North end of the lake and made their way down, killing men and women along the way. When the settlers found out they were coming, they all gathered together in the house of Mr. Wright, which was located on the south end of the lake. Soon after they arrived, the Indians came. The women and children were put into a wagon and they tried to escape. It didn't take much for the Indians to catch up. The settlers thought that they could find shelter in the tall prairie grass that was near by so that is where they laid for hours. The place is now called Slaughter Slough. The Indians outnumbered the settlers by such a quantity, they did not have a good chance of survival. The monument below is now standing in memory of the many people that lost their lives that day.

Names of 14 people buried in mass grave, many of which were young children. A fifteenth victim, a boy, was unidentified.

It was well past noon when we returned to our car, so we grabbed the sandwiches we had packed and rode our bikes to one of the "cart-in" campsites. The shaded table by the lake was a pleasant spot to have a picnic lunch.

This campsite is off the road so campers must use 2-wheel carts to transport their gear to set up camp.

Besides tent and RV sites, there are several camper cabins available to rent at Lake Shetek State Park.

Rested and no longer hungry, we were back on the bikes exploring more of the park. Just a short distance away was the Koch (pronounced "Cook") cabin which was moved to the park from its nearby location. Andreas Koch, a settler, was one of those killed by the Dakota (Sioux) Indians in the 1862 uprising. His wife, Mariah, fled with other settlers to Slaughter Slough where she was captured by the Indians.

In total we rode about 8 miles on our bikes before loading them back into (and onto) the car. We drove around the park checking out the campgrounds and then parked near the boat dock. (Map of park.)

From there a causeway leads across the water to Loon Island where we hiked the one-mile trail that circles around the perimeter. A couple of people went by us on bikes at one point, but otherwise we had the island to ourselves.

The causeway leading to Loon Island.

This snake was moving FAST through the large rocks on the causeway.

The gravel path that circles Loon Island. 

Such a peaceful place to listen to the birds and enjoy the view of the lake.

It was late afternoon when we crossed back over the causeway to get to our car. Intending to drive straight home, Bob quickly changed plans when he saw the sign to turn off to Slaughter Slough. The slough was no more than a small parking area, much like we had seen at Touch the Sky Prairie that we visited on a recent trip.

A display provided information on the history of the area and then there was a path mowed through the prairie grass. I was wearing out and decided to wait in the car while Bob hiked out to the monument.

Path to memorial stone at Sloughter Slough.

Inscription on rock:  This site is the approximate location of a battle which occurred on August 20, 1862, between Dakota (Sioux) Indians and settlers fleeing to New Ulm from their cabins along Lake Shetek. Eleven settlers, all women and children died in captivity, another child and adult later escaped. Through the heroic efforts of ten young Teton Lakota boys, the remaining eight captives were later rescued.

Although it took us decades to finally visit Lake Shetek State Park, we have promised ourselves that we will return much sooner...perhaps in the autumn to see the changing colors. In the meantime, we still have a few more places nearby that we hope to see this summer. If nothing else, this pandemic has taught us to not put off travel to places we want to visit. I am so grateful that we have had the opportunity to do as much traveling as we have, and look forward to the day when we can cross off a few more destinations on our bucket list.