Big Rock Lake — Minnesota River Headwaters

20090827 – Big Rock Lake — Minnesota River Headwaters

I've decided to generally follow US12 back West, until Missoula, then head North to Glacier, and from there West on US2 till I cross the Cascades. Unless something comes up.

With that in mind, I went a little South and West today, through Morris and then to Ortonville following backroads. The country was very reminiscent of that from the Rice area and that from Rockville to Osakis. The crops are largely corn, soybeans, sorgum and hay, with some potatoes at one point. The farms are relatively small and seem to be occupied. They are broken up by small woodlots, some rows of trees and the natural trees and shrubbery in low spots and along streams. I did not see irrigation, and few cattle were grazing.

Ortonville is on a large lake, Big Stone Lake, (10th largest in Minnesota) that is unique in that is drains both to the South forming the headwaters of the Minnesota River which in turn drains to the Mississipi and to the North to ultimately end at Hudson Bay. There are some islands in the lake, but the lake's name comes from the Native American name for the area—that of big stones. This area has large scattered rocks, well worn and rounded, and smoothed off rock ridges visible, leading to that name.

I scouted the Big Rock National Wildlife Refuge, expecting to spend time there tomorrow. I was looking for some access to the native prairie and grasslands that are in this area. However the refuge is closed for remodeling, rerouting roads, and upgrading facilities. The roads are walkable, but mostly off limits to cars. It was also quite noisy, with a lot of quarry or gravel pit operations going on just outside the boundary at the North East end. I did finally find a ranger who assured me that the mining had no relationship to the refuge closure. All this made the refuge somehow less attractive, and I settled for a drive through on some of the open roads at dusk.

Then I headed for a campsite at Big Stone State Park, just North of Ortonville. There I had one loop of the campground all to myself. A highlight was some owl calls, similar to Great Horned calls, but with an extra note or two and a wavering quality to the call.