Fargo Marathon and Northern High Points
At the end of May we planned to run the Fargo Marathon and then continue to the Great Lakes to do the high-points in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Illinois.
On the way to Fargo we stopped by Omaha to visit Staci’s son Keegan. Like last time, we camped at Beautiful Lake Cunningham.
We didn’t want to do anything too active the day before the marathon so we spent the day hitting golf balls, bowling and playing mini-golf. This was the first time we tried any of these activities in the 5 years we’ve been together. Omaha was a great city for this !
Driving from Omaha to Fargo we stopped at the high point in Iowa, which is called Hawkeye Point. Although it isn’t a mountain or hill, they did a nice job recognizing it.
In Fargo we stayed at a Harvest Host called 4E Winery. Harvest Hosts is web application that allows you to book campsites at businesses and stay for free (although we had to buy some wine). We really enjoyed this winery - the wines were nice and the hosts were very friendly.
Waiting at the start of the Fargo Marathon. Unfortunately we had poor air quality and a lot of smoke from the Canadian wildfires.
The Fargo marathon was our 19th state marathon together. We both had a great day and ran under 3:42.
After Fargo we drove to Grand Marais - a quaint little town on Lake Superior. It had the feel of a summer beach town but it wasn’t crowded since peak season hadn’t arrived yet.
Near Grand Marais was the Minnesota high point - Eagle Mountain.
Eagle Mountain was a 7 mile roundtrip hike on a rough trail. Staci got an introduction to real mosquitos. We had a swarm of mosquitos follow us the entire hike. Rich had dozens of bites by the time we got back to the car. We brought head nets and mosquito repellant for this hike, but forgot to pack them. We will never do that again.
The top of Eagle Mountain - which was in a Forrest.
Eagle Mountain is located in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and comprises more than a million acres of forests, glacial lakes and streams.
We drove from Minnesota to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where we hiked the Michigan Highpoint, Mt. Arvon. The hardest part of this high point was finding it. It is in a remote part of the Huron Mountains and can only be accessed by rough logging roads.
The view from Mt. Arvon.
The largest city in the Michigan Upper Peninsula is Marquette. We wish we had been able to spend more time there.
From Michigan, we drove to Wisconsin where we climbed Timms Hill - the Wisconsin high-point. The tower in the distance in this photo is the high-point.
Staci walking toward the Timms Hill tower.
Timms hill is surrounded by beautiful forests.
From Wisconsin we drove to Western Illinois. We stopped at Devil’s Lake State park where we went for a nice trail run. The Wisconsin Ice Age Trail goes through this area.
Devil’s Lake.
Running along Devil’s Lake.
We stayed at another Harvest Host Winery in Illinois. This winery was on 100 acres where they grew all of the grapes for their wines. It has been owned by the same family for 20 years.
Our camper had a beautiful view.
Our final high point was Charles Mound in Illinois. This high point is on private property and only open 4 weekends per year. It was about a 3 mile roundtrip (their driveway) on a beautiful property.
Charles Mound - the Illinois high point.
The view from Charles Mound.
We also visited Mississippi Palisades State Park where we went for a trail run. The park is located on a bluff above the Mississippi.
Starting our run in Mississippi Palisades.
We had to cut our trail run short because the southern park trails were overgrown with the largest Poison Ivy we have ever seen. We did learn from the park ranger that the best soap to wash off Poison Ivy oil is Dawn ! We both took showers using Dawn after the run and neither of us got it.
Our last campground was at Fort Kearny, in Kearny Nebraska. Fort Kearney was a US Army outpost founded in 1848 and is now a historical museum, campground and a popular Winter site for viewing Sandhill Cranes.
