Lost Forty SNA
Ever since I read about the Lost Forty SNA in northern Minnesota I’ve wanted to visit it. As a longtime lover of trees, I wanted to experience walking in an old-growth forest. It was worth the effort to get there, fend off all the mosquitoes, and dodge the rain showers.
I’d like to go back in the fall and again earlier in the spring to experience this forest (I have no desire to visit it in winter — it’s way too far north and isolated for a winter outing for me). It’s truly a hidden gem though, well worth a visit if you’re in the area.
Lost Forty SNA
Lost Forty SNA is an area of about 30 acres of old-growth red and white pine forest that survived the logging boom in Minnesota because a surveyor mistakenly showed the area as a wetland on the map he drew back in 1882. Because it was never logged it’s one the best places in Minnesota outside of Itasca State Park and the Boundary Waters Canoe area to see old-growth forest.
Wildflowers and ferns dot the forest floor of the Lost Forty SNA. It looks like some kind of primeval paradise (except for the mosquitoes).
The logging company’s loss in the 1880’s was our gain today. Red and white pine 240-250 years old can be found on the site as well as maples, birch trees and other native Minnesota trees. Minnesota’s state red pine “Big Tree Champion” is found here and is 120 feet tall with a circumference of 115 inches.
Green, glorious green!
Under overcast skies last Sunday we headed north on state and county highways towards the Lost Forty. Everywhere I looked as we drove all I could see was green—that kind of vivid almost glowing green that you see after a long rainstorm in June. It was wondrous and beautiful!
As I gazed at the glorious green all around us I couldn’t help gasping with delight. Oh my stars!!! Such beauty all around us!
When we finally found the Lost Forty, despite it’s isolation, there were other hikers there—not a lot—just 2 other cars in the parking area. Mosquitoes were buzzing all around the car when we arrived. So we got our protective clothing on (long sleeves, long pants, hat, raincoat, and insect repellent). I grabbed my camera and we headed out on the trail.
Raindrops keep falling on my head…
Within minutes a few raindrops began to fall. Drip, drip, drip. The speed of the raindrops falling accelerated and it began raining hard. We headed back to the car and drove to Bemidji (a little over an hour away) to check into our hotel.
Rain continued to fall off and on throughout the rest of the day so instead of returning to the Lost Forty, we headed to Itasca State Park. The rain stopped long enough for us to take a short hike through Preacher’s Grove, visit the Mississippi headwaters, take the scenic drive around the park, and see the Minnesota champion white pine tree (350 years old).
Itasca State Park is another magical, well worth the journey destination. Lakes and trees abound throughout the area.
When I Am Among the Trees
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
— Mary Oliver
The next day we returned to the Lost Forty SNA to hike the trails there and experience the tall tall trees. I felt like I was dancing with infinity. These old trees have seen so much more than I even though they are rooted in one spot. I feel like they are wise old beings full of benevolence and patience.
To learn the benevolence and patience of the trees is a lesson I may need many lifetimes to learn. Still, I bask in their glory soaking up the goodness I experience with them.
Nature and trees are healing. When was the last time you headed out to listen to the trees?
May you walk in beauty.
Lost Forty SNA
Lost Forty SNA
Preacher’s Grove at Itasca State Park
Minnesota’s Tallest White Pine Tree (Itasca State Park)
Headwaters of the Mississippi River
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