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.
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| 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.
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| The bike trail alongside the Des Moines River. |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| This campsite is off the road so campers must use 2-wheel carts to transport their gear to set up camp. |
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| 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.
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| The causeway leading to Loon Island. |
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| This snake was moving FAST through the large rocks on the causeway. |
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| The gravel path that circles Loon Island. |
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| 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.
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| Path to memorial stone at Sloughter Slough. |
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| 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.
