Our first stop was at Blue Mounds State Park. The park is named after a giant mound of Sioux quartzite, the second hardest rock known to man. The quartzite in the park forms a giant cliff, rising over 100 feet high in places. The park is also home to an amazing example of tall grass prairie. We are learning all about the tall grass prairies from the workbooks that we took home so that we can be junior rangers of the prairie parks in Minnesota.
We started out by visiting the bison viewing area.
We didn't see any, so we took the Cliff Line Trail up the mound.
You see a lot of the quartzite sticking up through the ground, like this.
After a while, we decided to loop back on a different trail. This meant sending Mom and Ainsley back the way we came, while the boys took a different route - down the cliff.
Finally, we made it to the bottom. This is what the far side of the cliff looks like, hidden amongst the trees and the prairie.
On the other side of the park, there is a visitor's center that used to be the home of a well known author. Inside, there were lots of neat exhibits, like this bison.
Love,
Ainsley, Ben, and Cameron
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