day hike!
🌷 nerstrand big woods state park!
more spring blooms, please! on april 19 we traveled to rice county, minnesota — home to indigenous speakers of the Lakȟótiyapi (Lakota), Dakȟóta (Western Dakota), Dakhóta (Eastern Dakota), and Yankton languages — for some hiking and wildflower peeping.
i haven’t been using my plant-identifying “seek” app lately due to frustrations with vague results, but i’m pretty sure we encountered dwarf trout lily, false rue anemone, bloodroot, marsh marigold, and dutchman’s breeches.
while it wasn’t the primary purpose of this visit to nerstrand big woods state park, we couldn’t leave before checking out the waterfall there; a gorgeous sight in any season. if you’ve never been, you should definitely check it out.
and last but not least… although we follow “take only pictures, leave only footprints” principals, we later found that southern minnesota guy unwittingly brought some park fauna home with us: A TICK! he probably picked it up while walking through the prairie restoration area. thankfully there was only one, and it was discovered before attaching. phew!
my trail name’s mythic and in 2026 i’m continuing my multi-year thru-hike (m.y.t.h.) of the pacific crest trail. as i prepare to return to the pct (and hopefully tackle other section- and thru-hikes in the future), i'm going on day hikes to help keep in trail shape!
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