Monday, October 20, 2008

Mille Lacs Kathio State Park

Mille Lacs Kathio State Park is located in north western Minnesota. About a three hour drive from my place, I got up to the park about noon on Thursday.

Mille Lacs Kathio is 10,500 acres of natural beauty! The Rum River dips in and out of this park, magnificent Lake Mille Lacs is across the road. You will find four other lakes within the park; Ogechie, Shakopee, Tamarak and Black Brass. This park has 22 miles of beautiful horse trails.

The trails are dirt and grass with rocks here and there. Great for a barefootin' horse!

Friday night my hubby came up for a few days, what a nice treat! Dan really does not like to camp, so I appreciate it when he joins me for a day or two. Saturday morning Dan biked around the state park. Later that day, Steve joined Dan for a drive around Lake Mille Lacs, I think it's almost 90 miles all the way around the lake. Lake Mille Lacs is HUGE...207 square miles... 132,500 acres!





















I rode Huginn for about an hour on Thursday (with a lady I met up there), but then had to return to camp, as he was off.

Poor ponykins. <;o[ It was a very slight "off". Huginn loves to paws and being a slightly off did not prevent him from pawing a huge hole to China. Dixie as always, was a sweet girl and a good camper. On Thursday, I ponied her with Huginn. Dixie loves to trail ride!



















On Friday, I rode my friend Dawn's beautiful TWH gelding, Tucker. Tucker is my old walking horse, who I sold a few years ago. I had a wonderful ride on Tucker, he is such a awesome horse. I forgot how tall he is compared to short Huginn. Tucker is 16.2 and Huginn is 13.2. HAHA!

Here's an old photo of Tucker.
Saturday morning Tara (massage therapist) worked on Huginn's shoulder and wow...he was sound again!!

TARA.....THANKS A BUNCH!!!!! You're the sweetest. >;p]

I rode Huginn that day. Boy...I could tell he was feeling better, he gave me some "bucks & farts" up a few rolling hills. HA! I was so happy to have Huginn under saddle again. I'm not sure what caused him to be a bit stiff the day before. I'll have to keep an eye on that. Tara was so sweet to take time out of her day to work on Huginn. it was also cool chatting "barefootin" with Tara and her girl pals.





On Saturday, we hiked to the park's fire tower. I wanted to climb this tower for two reasons; test my legs/lungs and to help conquer one of my fears. Fear of falling.

The steel fire tower is 100 feet tall, about 133 or so wooden steps to climb. It's not for the fainthearted. I have a great fear of falling, but I was determined to climb to the top.




Thanks for the moral support from my hubby Dan, and my good friend Pat, I climbed the tower to the top!






















Boy, I had butterflies...queasy in my tummy ...all the way up and down. And to make the climb harder, it was very WINDY!! And even worse at the top of tower. And cold! It was so worth the climb, the panoramic view (from what I remember) was spectacular. You can see all the way to the other side of Lake Mille Lacs, 22 miles away. The trees were a beautiful patchwork of golds, bright sunny yellows, honey amber, velvet browns, and orange. I was so glad that I have been running/working out ...my legs did not fail me as I climbed. This made me very happy! Last year I would have been just dead from the exertion. All the way up...folks have left graffiti messages on the steps ...I read a few, but I just didn't have the nerve to look down to read more of them. It's a must do on the next trip there.
Saturday nite our group headed to the local casino for the yummy buffet. On the way out...while waiting for those who needed to use the potty, I dropped a $1.00 into the slot machine and won 22 cents! HA! What a gambler I am..huh? NOT. After dinner, we returned to camp for the campfire.

It was a great weekend spent with wonderful freinds. For more photos, please visit my Picasa photo web site.

What are you favorite things about Fall?

Go play in the leaves!






















1 comment:

  1. What a beautiful area to camp in. I would have been scared silly up in that tower..You are brave..

    ReplyDelete

WOW! Thanks, you made my day! Doggie & Pony kisses sent! Please come back....real soon.