Franz Jevne State Park

Today Noelle, Sierra and I made last minute plans to head over to our nearest state park: Franz Jevne State Park. We arrived at the park just in time for lunch, and so we started our visit with a picnic along the banks of the Rainy River.

As we ate, we admired the proliferation of wildflowers in bloom nearby, including nodding trillium, bellwort, lots of violets,

and others.

After lunch we headed to the campground and started a hike of the Hiking Club Trail
near campsite 15.

The trail led down to the banks of the Rainy River where we found a few boundary markers.

Due to the middle of the river being the international boundary, the markers are placed on land on the American side of the boundary with the understanding that the actual boundary is measured a set distance from the marker. From the trail we spied an intriguing island in the river that I'm guessing is American.

We saw a yellow lady's slipper in bloom,

along with some bunchberry.

We also saw a few frogs

which Sierra appreciated. Soon enough we got the Hiking Club password and turned around to head back to the car.

It was a pleasant visit to Minnesota's smallest state park.