Itasca State Park

We had an exhilarating evening with our adorable grandchildren at Itasca State Park’s Lantern Lit Ski and Snowshoe Event. Afterwards, we stopped at the Jacob V. Brower Visitor Center for some hot chocolate and looked at the educational exhibits.

Itasca is Minnesota’s oldest, and one of the state’s largest parks. St. Croix State Park is currently the only state park with more acres than Itasca.
There are large tracks of old-growth red and white pine forest. I didn’t think to take photos of the trees, but they are big and beautiful.
Itasca State Park is more than 32,000 acres and includes more than 100 lakes. It covers a huge area and has tons of things to see and do – camping, lodging, trails, multiple visitor centers and gift shops…
Since we were only here for the evening walk, we didn’t have an opportunity to explore the many other amenities the park offers.

“In the late 1800s, Jacob V. Brower, historian, anthropologist and land surveyor, came to the park region to settle the dispute of the actual location of the Mississippi Headwaters. Brower saw this region being quickly transformed by logging, and was determined to protect some of the pine forests for future generations. It was Brower’s tireless efforts to save the remaining pine forest surrounding Lake Itasca that led the state legislature to establish Itasca as a Minnesota state park on April 20, 1891, by a margin of only one vote. Through his conservation work and the continuing efforts of others throughout the decades, the splendor of Itasca has been maintained.” MN DNR online source

In 1903, following in Brower’s footsteps, 24-year-old Mary Gibbs stood off armed timbermen in the defense of the Mississippi River and the surrounding land. We didn’t visit the Mary Gibbs Headwaters Center, but the brochure says it has more information about the Mississippi River. There’s a spot where you can walk across the headwaters and be on the live stream camera. https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/Itasca/headwaters.html
The Mississippi River begins at Lake Itasca and ends in the Gulf of Mexico. The river is listed as a total of 2,340 miles (a post marker from the 1930’s at the headwaters says 2,552 miles, but since then there has been some shortening, flooding and channeling.) This is a road trip on my bucket list, following the Mississippi from beginning to end.

Lanterns lighting the evening for our snowshoe walk.




Jacob V. Brower Visitor Center contains local information, educational exhibits and interactive play areas for children. After our Lantern Lit Walk, we went into the Center and explored. We sat in cozy chairs, in front of warm fireplaces, and drank hot chocolate. The gift shop, vending machines, and restrooms are open year-round.


The exhibits and interactive area help to educate visitors about the pine forest system, Ojibwe life and times, and the Civilian Conservation Corps.


Minnesota’s state bird, the loon.

One of the most interesting and unusual wildlife species in Minnesota, the porcupine. Behind it is Minnesota’s state flower, the Showy Lady’s slipper (the bottom left corner).

There were so many neat exhibits, it was difficult to decide what photos to include.

Tools used by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
“The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a work relief program that gave millions of young men employment on environmental projects during the Great Depression…. the CCC planted more than three billion trees and constructed trails and shelters in more than 800 parks nationwide during its nine years of existence.” Online source

One tool very familiar to me, was the drawknife. When my stepdad was building our home, (I was 9 years old at the time) the drawknife was a tremendously helpful tool. The drawknife removes tree bark, making the wood underneath usable for building. Peeling the bark off of trees was fun and satisfying work, but the blisters were painful.


Near this “Know Your Conifers” display was a fun interactive game. The grandchildren and their poppa played through many of the questions.

Our grandchildren noticed many state parks have information about the Ojibwe. My grandbabies have Ojibwe ancestry. This was another opportunity for us to discuss my hopes that they learn as much as they can and carry forward some of those traditions. All of that history was nearly lost in early American times.
I love that they have such a wide and varied ancestry. I think this makes them perfect people to represent how people of any heritage, ethnicity, gender, religion, political party… can get along.

The grandkids entertained us with a hilarious puppet show. We laughed and giggled a lot.
We’re so fortunate to have such fun and funny grandbabies!

Grandchildren – almost visible during their puppet performance.