August 8-11, Paul Bunyan Trail

i arrived at Crowe Wing State Park in Baxter Minnesota around 1 pm so was able to make inquiries about the trail and parking for my van.  Of course I hadn’t realized that very few people plan to ride the whole trail so the services weren’t in very good shape for my initial plan.  Crow Wing was willing for me to park at their place for several days but other campgrounds along the way weren’t willing to reserve for less than two nights.  I had not realized thatAugust is the most booming time in Minnesota.  This is their  brief opportunity to make some tourist dollars so they were less cooperative to a tent camper who brings in very little revenue.  Apparently this year has been rough for them too because of the amount of rain and chilly weather making the season even shorter.
Since I didn’t want to spend two nights in any of the towns along the way, I changed my plan.  I began at Crow Wing and rode to Nisswa one day which round trip was about 60 miles, very flat miles.  There was a festival happening in Nisswa.  I stopped and had lunch and looked around at the festival. No real arts and crafts but lots of purse vendors and sock vendors.
Crow Wing was a pretty Park along the Mississippi River, but had the worst water I’ve ever tasted.  The ranger told me to fill my bottles from the filtered water that they had at the ranger station.  Even filtered it tasted like rust right out of the Mississippi.  Consequently I didn’t drink enough water in the beginning of my ride and was finally able to find better water in Brainerd and filled up again.  I ended up with a UTI from that day, I think that was the cause.  Dehydration and really bad water.
I drove the next day to Hackensack and rode out from there for another 25 miles making the round trip 50.  I then drove to the Leech Lake Forest Preserve for a night of camping. It was lovely.  It is operated by the corps of engineers so I was at a pretty site by a lake with showers and a laundry for $14.  No charge for the laundry.  Great for biking clothes.  I’m keeping an eye out for those facilities.
The next dayI had reservations for two nights at Lake Bemedji State Park which is the northern end of the Paul Bunyan trail.  It’s also a lovely park at the headwaters of the Mississippi.  I rode from the park to Walker, Minnesota for about 55 miles total.  The upper end of the trail is pretty but around Walker, not so much.  I ended up missing some of the trail from Walker to Hackensack and some of the trail that follows the Heartland Trail that goes to the statue of Paul seated.  I had to be satisfied with the several photos I got of Babe and Paul and of Lucette, Paul’s girlfriend.  I believe the state parks were $20 a night but had showers, the push button kind with timers but showers nonetheless.  Tyler calls them prison showers  for some reason.  I don’t think he’s been in prison to have this knowledge but I’ll give it to him.
Realizing that Minnesota is quite busy in August I made some more reservations on my Hackensack Day so that I would be better prepared for the Lake Superior area in a few days.

Along the Paul Bunyan Trail