Old Mill State Park

I left Lake Bronson State Park and moved south to Old Mill State Park yesterday afternoon. I arrived at the park, made camp and then headed across the Middle River

to the nearby mill

to explore a bit.

The mill is not powered by a water wheel, but a large engine. I guess at one time there was a water powered mill at the site. Besides the mill, there was a cabin representative of what early settlers to the area might have lived in

and a garden outside featuring day lilies.

It reminded me of the type of cabin one might expect to find in the Appalachians.

Back at camp I ate a cold dinner since I forgot to bring my camp stove and then read in the tent before retiring to sleep. This morning I awoke and broke down camp before heading out to explore the Hiking Club trail.

The Hiking Club trail was pleasant, especially the prairie portions.

There were lots of flowers in bloom among the grasses, including closed gentian

and fringed gentian.

The trail also passed through some aspen clones that were visually pleasant.

However, lots of mosquitoes lurked in the wooded portions of the trail. It was so bad I struggled to enjoy my hike, stopping only to check out an interesting feather I found

and some snowberry.