-Lee here. We visited Blue Mounds Minnesota State Park for a 3-day weekend July 12-15. The weather was ideal for southern Minnesota. The park is a four hour drive from home. The highlight of Friday was a 6 mile hike to the park interpretive center. On Saturday morning Jeanne attended a meeting of the local quilting club in Luverne MN, while Lee did some coach maintenance. Late that afternoon we were able the get some nice pictures of the resident Bison Herd. Bison, cactus, and a mysterious line of rocks are all part of Blue Mounds State Park. The park is named for the cliff of Sioux quartzite (which you see in one of the accompanying pictures here), nearly 100 feet high and 1.5 miles long, which, to settlers heading west, appeared blue in color. Today, the area is very popular with rock climbers and provides a great vantage point from which to view the surrounding prairie. The park is a remnant of the tallgrass prairie. Prickly pear cactus bloom in late June and early July, and wildflowers present a colorful late summer show along with the changing colors of the prairie grasses including the big bluestem prairie grass which, by that time of the year, stands about 7 feet tall. On the park's southern end is a 1,250-foot line of rocks, which align with the sun on the first day of spring and fall. No one knows who laid the rock "marker" or why. A big favorite with visitors is the park's resident bison herd that can be seen from the park's observation tower as well as other areas in the park.
