We stopped at Crookston with plans to stay again at a town park. This time however we were skeptical. Situated along a river, in town, near several run down buildings, The park has quite a few spots with electric hook-ups, but the bathrooms were locked and old looking (code to be provided later by an attendant). While sitting having lunch, a couple guys drove very fast around the camp area, then as they left, seemed to be snapping pictures on a phone. A short while after, a woman walked through the area aimlessly, then left. That was enough. Moving on………..
Once again, we added on to a reservation we had already booked and headed to Lake Bemedji State Park. The lake is a small glacially formed lake which is fed by the Mississippi. The name Bemedji is an Ojibwa name that means “lake with crossing waters” because the water flows from West to East. The area is also known for legendary Paul Bunyan and Blue Ox. A giant replica of the two are a prominent feature in town.
The campground is wooded with a few different areas and a mix of private and more open sites. Our site #14 was good. Woods behind and to one side – a friendly family from the Twin Cities on the other side whose kids were gone all day for a summer program to learn Spanish. The beach area is smallish, with a lot of grass and weeds washing up on shore and rocky, so not great for swimming or throwing sticks. The comfort station is large and clean with individual shower stalls. We drove into the town of Bemedji which lies along the lake and is a very pretty tourist town.
On our way to the next destination, we added an extra hour to our day in order to get to the nearest PetSmart in Duluth, to buy yet another crate for Cedar – number four! We had replaced the last one with a metal crate, but he couldn’t sit up properly and he whined quite a bit more. So, we returned it, and bought the same canvas one that he did like. Full credit to PetSmart for their excellent return policy.
From Duluth we headed south, quite a bit off our original Route 2 trip, and took a round about drive to St. Croix State Park. The park is 34000 acres, with 2 rivers, and Clayton Lake with a large day use and swimming beach. There are trails of all sorts throughout the park, group campgrounds, and the St. Croix River is a scenic waterway popular for kayak and canoe travel. The waterway used to be part of the fur trade routes. With a short drive coming up, the next morning, we walked one of the trails along the river and then drove to Clayton Lake to check out the beach. As there was no good swimming spot for dogs, we had a bite to eat and hit the road.
The roads in this state are not in the greatest shape, and we unfortunately missed a turn-off and ended up taking a very rutted rural route for about 20 miles, before getting onto an interstate. Thankfully we haven’t made too many ooopsies on this trip.