Friday, September 1, 2017

Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre (Manitou Mounds)

Since my days off have changed, Noelle and I decided that today would make a great day to head across the border and check out the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung mounds along the Rainy River. We've seen the mounds before; from across the river at Franz Jevne State Park, but we've always wanted to get a closer view.

It was a long, uneventful drive to the historical centre. We arrived to find an empty parking lot, ate a quick snack, and then headed inside to explore. There was a pair of sturgeon in an aquarium that we watched for a bit.
Then we checked out some of the other exhibits inside,
before heading outside on the trails.
There were some wildflowers in bloom like gentian,
asters,
sneeze weed,
black-eyed Susan,
goldenrod
and others.
We passed by a cemetery that I believe was part of a mission.

The side trails all had animal names and included the Ojibwe name.
There were a few big bur oak trees along the trail
and we saw some deer on our walk.

To be honest, we hadn't planned on walking all the way to the end of the trail, but to see the mounds we had to walk that far. We arrived at a distant overlook of one of the major mounds
and decided that since we had come that far, we might as well walk to the end of the trail. There was a plaque marking the historic site
and a trail that meandered through the prairie
by another large mound
with views of the Rainy River.

It was a fairly quick walk back to the car.
Sierra was tired though, so I had to carry her on my shoulders about a third of the way back. It was an interesting visit.

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