We hiked Lake Bemidji State Park on July 14th, 2023.
Our adventure began on the Old Logging Trail. The trail would lead us all the way to Lake Bemidji Bog.
The tall trees surrounding the wide trail created a lovely canopy for us to hike under.
Our hike continued on the boardwalk at the bog. The staff at Lake Bemidji helped educate bog visitors by labeling many of the plants and flowers. The purple flower is called a Blue Giant Hyssop.
My new favorite plant that I learned about this summer is the Pitcher Plant. The Pitcher Plants we found along the boardwalk looked so unique.
Orchids can be found growing in the bog between mid-May and mid-June. I was overly ecstatic when we located a Tuberous Grass-pink Orchid. I have never seen an orchid growing in the wild before! To say the least, I was a bit excited and blown away by its beauty.
The boardwalk ends at Big Bog Lake. We took in the views of the lake before heading back to our starting point.
We hiked the Old Logging Trail again taking in all the views we enjoyed the first time around.
We hiked the Northern Unit of the Big Bog Recreation Area July 14th, 2023.
Our adventure began on the Ludlow Pond Trail. Several people were fishing from the dock as we made our way around the pond.
The Big Bog Boardwalk entrance is about halfway around the pond. The boardwalk is a mile long.
Tamarack and Black Spruce make up many of the trees in the bog. The further away from the pond we traveled, the space between each tree increased.
Along the boardwalk there are numerous educational signs about the bog. I will post all the signs at the bottom of this blog.
We found an interesting looking red flower along the boardwalk. It’s called a Pitcher Plant and it eats insects!
A large open field greeted us at the end of the boardwalk. Unfortunately, we did not see any moose in the field. We turned around and headed back towards Ludlow Pond.
We completed the loop around the pond.
After our hike, we drove to the Southern Unit of the Big Bog State Recreation Area to climb the fire tower. The tower is 100 feet high with 135 steps.
The smoke from the Canadian fires was rather strong. Our view at the top of the fire tower was limited due to the hazy air.
Sax-Zim Bog is open from mid Dec through mid March. Owls, hawks and many other winged creatures spend their winters at the bog. The Welcome Center has maps which I highly recommend picking one up or downloading one from their website. They also list different locations where these winged creatures have been recently seen. There are many locations to drive to throughout the bog to look for birds. Who knew birds were so fascinating???
We started our adventure on the trails closest to the Welcome Center.
Bird feeders are located along the trails. It was really cool to see so many birds up close as they ate from the feeders. I am still learning the names of birds, so please correct me if I am wrong as I try to name the birds we saw. The first birds that greeted us were an Evening Grosbeak and a Hairy Woodpecker.
The clouds drifted away and the bright blue sky appeared. We hiked the trail alongside the creek.
We reached the road and decided to head back to the Welcome Center. A Pine Grosbeak landed just a few feet in front of me on a branch.
The feeders we passed earlier now had many Pine Grosbeaks snacking on treats. I never realized Grosbeak came in so many different colors.
We hopped back in the car to begin exploring more of the bog area. Our main goal for our visit was to see the Great Gray Owl and the Snowy Owl. Driving around we looked up and down the trees trying to spot these owls. We stopped at times to hike the trails along the way. At the Yellow-Bellied Trailhead, many Black-Capped Chichadees were flying around the bird feeders.
As we turned down one of the roads, we saw about 8 cars all lined up alongside the road. People were standing in the road with their incredibly long camera lenses taking photos of something. My excitement was overflowing as we got out of the car. We thought for sure we were going to see an owl. Instead, we saw a small brown creature climbing along the branches. Another guest of the bog informed us of what we were looking at, the elusive Pine Marten.
On our next stop we were visited by an adorable red squirrel.
Even though we never saw an owl, I highly recommend visiting Sax-Zim Bog during the winter months. The staff take the bird feeders down at the end of March before the bears wake from their hibernation.
Our friend, the Black-Capped Chickadee waved goodbye as we left the bog.
Neaton Adventures 