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www.thelandonline.com — “Where Farm and Family Meet”
THE LAND — JUNE 28/JULY 5, 2019
This week’s Back Roads is the work of The Land Correspondent Tim King. Photos by Jan King.
Celebrate a centennial milestone
M
ount Tom in Minnesota’s Sibley State Park is 1,358 feet high. That doesn’t sound like much, but you better be in pretty good shape if you want to take the fairly long hiking trail from Lake Andrew through the forest to the towering WPA-era stone observatory at the summit. The trail is steep and physically challenging. For the less athletically inclined, the narrow paved road through the thick oak forest will get you within 500 feet of the summit. The climb on the paved path from the parking lot is steep, but not particularly challenging. There is a bench half-way up which can be used as a place to catch your breath. You can also take in the incredible beauty of a central Minnesota hardwood forest and to listen to bird species such as the Great Crested Flycatcher and the Eastern Wood Pee Wee. If
you do sit on that bench however, beware of the poison ivy curling around one side of it. They say Henry Hastings Sibley, the Minnesota governor the 100-year-old park is named for, came to the area around Mount Tom to hunt elk. It’s hard to imagine elk in Minnesota, but the governor may have found them on the oak savannah which was typical of the area when European settlers arrived. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Kandiyohi County
has attempted to recreate the open feel of prairie interspersed with tough barked and fire-resistant oaks near the summit. For a flat lander, the thinning of the forest exposes the steep sides of the hill as they fall away in a cascade of greens. Those exposed hillsides can cause a giddy sense of vertigo. The feeling increases when one reaches the summit and decides to go even higher by climbing the weathered but sturdy steps to the top of the observatory. The observatory’s summer view, in all directions, is like one of those aerial photos of the Amazon forest — an endless and verdant sea of green. Some humans have to reach the absolutely highest point available. Visitors of that need, in 2013, inscribed the rafters of the observatory’s roof. To do this, someone had to get on the shoulders of a partner and, wind whipping in their face, make their high altitude mark.
Sibley State Park is celebrating its centennial this summer. Its walking and bicycle trails, interesting visitor center, picnic grounds, camp grounds and, of course, Mount Tom are well worth a visit. A number of special events have been scheduled throughout the summer — including day-long festivities with music and activities on July 27 and Aug. 24. For a complete listing of events at the park, visit www.dnr.state.mn.us/state parks/events.html or contact Kelsey Olson at (320) 354-2002 or by email at kelsey.olson@state.mn.us. v