Lake Bemidji State Park: Sundew Pond Hike

Today Noelle, Sierra and I made the drive down to Bemidji for a taste of civilization and a hike at Lake Bemidji State Park.

There's been a rash of owl attacks in the park, and so one of the trails we had planned to hike was closed. Still, we were able to hike a portion of the paved Paul Bunyan State Trail to the trail that leads to Sundew Pond.

It was a pleasant hike under mostly cloudy skies. We crossed a small wetland

on a bridge and then followed the paved trail

past a seemingly random dead fish (I hypothesized that it was dropped by an eagle) to the natural surface trail. There were a few late summer wildflowers still blooming: goldenrod

and bergamot

among others.

Sundew Pond itself was pleasant.

There was a bald eagle's nest in a tree way off in the distance on the other side of the pond. We saw a few sundews and lots of snails.

We ate a snack at the bench there

and then started to make our way back to the trailhead.

We took a slightly different route back to the trailhead, hiking a natural surface trail closer to the lake.

We were rewarded with a closeup view of an eagle.

Then it was back to the car for the drive into town.