It’s Friday, and we are on the cusp of the last long weekend of summer. The campground does not appear that it will be full this Labor Day weekend, but there will be plenty of folks around.  The less-than-full prospects for the campground this weekend may have something to do with the weather. It has been very hot and humid lately, and predictions are for more of the same. Temps in the 90’s and dew points in the 60’s and 70’s don’t make for fun tenting conditions. School starts right after Labor Day in many locations, and folks may be getting ready for that event. We are surprised that most of the campers indicate they will be leaving on Sunday rather than staying over until Monday. Maybe it takes an extra day to bury the summer mindset and switch over to thinking about all the new stuff that will happen in the fall and the beginning of school. Or, kids are in mourning and parents are in celebratory moods and neither fit with sleeping on the ground. Anyway, it will be back to a quiet-normal come Sunday night and in the meantime a busy and boisterous Friday night and Saturday.

I've mentioned that Beaver Creek Valley SP is situated in a narrow, steep-walled valley located in the driftless area of MN. Geologically this is an area of karst topography in which the hills are primarily limestone. This means water has dissolved its way through the limestone and has created caves and sinkholes and springs. The source of Beaver Creek is a spring that is found in the campground, but there are other smaller springs all along the valley feeding into Beaver Creek. The picture shows the main spring (source), which produces a crystal clear stream that supports a trout population. We are amazed at how clear the water is and all the water cress growing along its edges. The 13 inches of rain in June had scoured out the stream and tributaries that run through the campground and trout are not found in the streams throughout the campground, but food and trout will return.

The road and campground from where you first enter the campground area until the end of the campsites are about a mile in length.

To enter the campground, you must drive through Beaver Creek. Here you see a Ford fording the creek , but we have also seen Chevys, Toyotas, Dodges, Jeeps and even a Subaru fording Beaver Creek. We have heard and seen the resulting marks left by a number of trailers and fifth wheels that also must go through the ford. The angle of the dip is too steep for the length of the rig and basic trigonometry will get you every time. Ah, the adventures of camping in a state park.

There are 5 stream crossings as you go up the valley through the campground. Walking through the campground involves crossing these fords by using stepping stones on the ends of the cement staves that form the bottom of the fords. Four of the crossings are above the main stream that is Beaver Creek and the water, although spring fed from other springs, is not very deep or moving very fast.

Coming up on the ridge out of the valley, the world changes. It is very different. We are in the midst of agriculture dominated by corn, contour strips, soybeans, and dairy farms. We like the valley but the ridges always make for a pleasant change.

One of the things we enjoy when coming out of the valley are quilt patterns on barns. Here is our favorite, “Kitty Whiskers.” The county has over 80 barns with quilt blocks. There is a brochure with map which provides the locations and names of the patterns. It’s always fun and living on the edge to discover a new quilt block hoping the guy behind you is watching the road and not the same quilt block as you slow down and drive erratically to admire the quilt block. That’s why we have to return to the serenity of the park and sit in the shade of the trees to ruminate on all the rear bumpers that were not rearranged that day.