ADVENTURES from Pg 1
Park, by the St. Croix River in eastern Minnesota.
“That was fun,” remembered Jill.
Brian said he enjoys visiting the parks year-round,
because at different times of the year, “you see things
differently.”
In the summer, their travels bring them more adven-
tures, including standing at the source of the Mississippi
River in Lake Itasca State Park, and into Ontario and
Wisconson on the Circle Tour around Lake Superior.
Despite that, “we think of ourselves as homebodies,”
Jill said.
In fact, after they completed the Passport Club, they
had no plans to make a return visit to some of the far-
ther-fl ung parks.
“But, we’ve been back almost every summer,” said
Jill, and, now, “most of the parks we’ve been to more
than once, and many of them numerous times.”
When planning trips for the upcoming camping sea-
son, the Duncans note which parks they’ve visited least
often, and make sure to incorporate a few of those into
their schedule.
There are now few parks they’ve visited only once,
and they hope to return to each of them in the future.
Garden Island is one of those, Minnesota’s northern-
most state park, 20 miles off the shore of Lake of the
Woods. It can only be reached by a two-hour boat ride,
in summer, or by snowmobile in winter.
“When we accomplished the Passport Club, we had
not been to Garden Island, and I felt bad about it,” said
Jill. The Island is so hard to get to that, along with one
or two other diffi cult-to-reach parks, it’s not actually a
requirement for completing the Passport Club.
But the next summer, “we came back, and we found
a way out to Garden Island, and I’m so glad we did,”
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2
Senior
Jill said. “It’s just wild,”
she added, of the pristine
island.
The Duncans like wild
places, prefering camp-
sites in the woods, among
the trees and away from
crowds.
There, they’ve had their
fair share of camp visi-
tors, including a raccoon
who insisted on drinking
out of their water buck-
et, and a mysteriously
tipped-over trash can that
ended up containing an
adventurous skunk, who
evenutally “just toddled
away” on his own, after
the Duncans wisely left
him to it.
They also see a lot of Jill and Brian Duncan of Lester Prairie have completed the Minnesota State Park Passport
PHOTO BY HEIDI MIRTH
birds, which they love to Club by visiting every park in the state.
watch, and squirrels and
chipmunks, who “tend to
love Brian,” Jill said.
Of course, camping
isn’t all peaceful glades
and chipmunk watching,
even for the most expe-
rienced. It takes some
knowledge and planning,
and has its share of frus-
trations.
Even so, the Duncans
are overwhelmingly pos-
itive about their experi-
ences in the state parks,
noting that they are quiet,
clean, and well-main-
tained, and that the big-
gest problem they’ve had
so far was caused by the
weather, when the awning Brian and Jill Duncaname face-to-face with these three bears in Zippel Bay State Park.
PHOTO BY JILL DUNCAN
on their camper ripped off
parks,”
Jill
said,
adding
that
the
parks
offer so much
in high winds, not once,
in
the
way
of
history
and
notable
scenery,
and contain
but twice.
“layer
upon
layer
of
interest.”
“You’d think we’d learn,” Jill laughed. “But if that’s
“We have a lot of favorites for a lot of different rea-
the worst, that’s not so bad.”
sons,”
Jill said. “They’re new every time.”
They said they haven’t encountered many bad storms,
That
sense of newness seems to appeal to the adven-
though once, they remembered, “We were outside, hang-
turesome
Duncans, who are always on the lookout for
ing on to the posts of our awning as the wind was blow-
unique
state
park experiences.
ing at us, and I said, should we be out here?” said Jill.
Most
recently,
Jill signed up for the Hiking Club,
“It was just adventurous,” countered Brian.
which
is
similar
to
the Passport Club. Each state park
Other than the obdurate awning, simplicity is impor-
has
a
designated
Hiking
Club trail.
tant to the Duncans. “Our guiding principle is to pack
“Most
of
them
really
give you a feel for what about
as light as we can,” Jill said, though she noted her many
that
park
is
special,”
said
Jill, who has gotten her 25-
bird and wildfl ower identifi cation books as a necessity, a
mile
patch,
and
has
completed
18 out of 68 hikes so far.
fact which Brian gives her a hard time about, but doesn’t
“I
don’t
have
a
25-mile
patch,”
said Brian, who joins
dispute.
Jill
on
some
of
the
hikes,
but
didn’t
offi cially join the
Jill is on a quest to fi nd all the wildfl owers she’s “nev-
club.
er seen before,” and she said “the parks are a great place
“Well, it’s ours,” said Jill, encapsulating their relation-
for that,” among so many other things.
ship,
and their camping experience, in three words.
“We’re always encouraging people to visit the state
Connections Jan/Feb 2020
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