1 - the farthest point upstream where the first drop of water flows
2 - the farthest point upstream where the flow and volume first constitute a river
3 - the highest point on the river's watershed
Recently Ron and I went on a quest to find the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The generally accepted beginning is the output of Lake Itasca near Bemidji, Minnesota.
Just outside of Lake Itasca State Park, we saw this tiny stream that is actually the mighty Mississippi - far out!
But we wanted to see the actual headwaters, so we paid the day use fee and entered the park. And here it is! This is the point where water leaves Lake Itasca, becomes the Mississippi River, and begins its 2552 mile trip to the Gulf of Mexico. Surprisingly it's about the width of a two lane road. I guess there's a lot more water flowing through the cattails in the previous picture.
The rocks I'm precariously balanced on are part of a dam constructed in the 1930s by the CCC. A 44 foot long and 7 foot wide concrete piling/rock dam was built to direct the water into a river channel. We were sorry we didn't think to bring our kayaking gear.
Referring back to the question above which was posed in the visitor center, answer #2 seems to be the correct answer.
However that wasn't good enough for us since we thought the answer should be #3 - the highest point in the watershed. Or even #1 - the first trickle of water. So we went looking for another choice.
This is farther upstream where the water flows out of Mary Lake on its way to Lake Itasca. We're calling it our Mississippi headwaters. Of course this is only one of the lakes that flow into Lake Itasca, but we don't worry about details.
I thought this sculpture was striking. It's called Heartwaters-Caretaker Woman. The title refers to the Mississippi Headwaters as the beginning of the Heartwaters of our nation. In Anishinabe (Ojibwe) belief it is the women who are the caretakers of the water. The sculpture is a woman releasing a clutch of turtles. Her flowing hair is like flowing water and the turtles, strong water symbols, also symbolize the cycles of life in Anishinabe belief.
Yikes! There's a bear in the visitor center (panic ensues.)
On our way home, we stopped to say 'hi' to Paul Bunyan and his blue ox Babe. It looks like Babe has fallen in love with Ron.
We're staying at a forest service campground on Cass Lake and today we took advantage of their beautifully paved bike trail. I know, I know, I said I was never doing it again, but Ron raised my seat and we rode 18 miles and I was FINE! (My apologies to everyone who previously told me I should do that. It took hearing it from a complete stranger for it to sink in. You know how that is.)
The bike path left right from the campground, went across US 2, circled Pike Bay (not sure why that's not a lake), through the town of Cass Lake, and back home. It took us 4 1/2 hours. In our defense, we did stop for lunch at a nice little cafe.
Even with all these lovely lakes, I'm having trouble getting any worthwhile water pictures. However, I was amazed to see this alligator in the river.
You might have to click on it to get a better look.
You had me goint there for a minute thinking you'd zip down to FLorida. That's my kind of gator!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I did always wonder wher the Mississippi started.
Been there and done that but now want to go to the other end. We were going to do that when we headed to FL but was told not to go down there as crime was bad from the effects of Katrina. So it's on the Bucket List.
ReplyDeleteGlad you paid the fee to see the headwaters. Now I don't have to! I've seen the tiny stream and thought that it was amazing too.
ReplyDeleteI see Ron straddling the Mississippi, but did you jump across it?
ReplyDelete