Where the Mississippi Was Born

The headwaters of the Mississippi,

and I'm walking across it.

A leopard frog suns along the edge of Lake Itasca.

Will I lose my balance?

My sister and her son flew home to Virginia from Rapid City the day after we returned from the Badlands.  Keith and I continued our adventure, heading to Fargo, ND, to visit his mom, brother, and family.  During our visit, we spent a couple days camping with Keith's brother Kent and sister-in-law Marilyn.  We explored Itasca State Park in Minnesota, and I was introduced to the birthplace of the Mississippi.

Keith and I had ventured into the Detroit Lake region of Minnesota last year when we returned from a trip to visit family in Virginia.  Unfortunately, we hadn't the time then to tour Itasca; in fact, I didn't know much about the park except that RV's had been named in its honor.  Our trek, therefore, was a wonderful learning experience for me.  I'd never given much thought to the headwaters of the great Mississippi, but here they were before me, flowing gently from a beautiful lake.   I walked across the river and back again, though here the Mississippi seemed more like a creek than a mighty river just beginning its 2,552 mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico.  Originally, a government expedition led by Zebulon Pike found the source.  Later, a government agent named Schoolcraft confirmed that Lake Itasca (which means "head" in Latin), was indeed the genesis of the Mississippi, but only after the chief of the Ojibwe tribe showed him the lake. 

When I visited, the headwaters portion of the lake was blanketed with yellow waterlilies in full bloom.  Wild rice grew in profusion along the lake edges.  We counted 19 species of wildflowers, including the Minnesota State flower, the showy ladyslipper orchid.  As a cypripedium lover, I was surprised and thrilled with the find.  These flowers were so beautiful with their light pink slipper and snowy white flanking petals.  We saw many patches of them throughout our visit, especially along roadsides.

I'll never forget my first visit to Itasca.  Kent built a fire for us one night and we sat around it, just talking, and listening to loons calling in the distance.  It was a peaceful, lovely moment in life.