The plan was to camp at parks along the Mississippi River, this time in Minnesota
This is the third of a 5-part posting. Each one will concentrate on a different campground that we visited during the trip. You can start at the beginning with Along the Mississippi River in Minnesota – May 2021 Part 1
We left Itasca State Park and headed further north but this time the drive was very short. We arrived at a park that was nearly deserted. We would be the only ones arriving, my sister headed home from Itasca as did their friends.
LaSalle Lake State Recreation Area
We had reserved site #38 way down at the end of the road. The thought was that we would be away from most people walking by the campsite and Crosby would be calmer. We looked at the other sites and decided to move to site #10 with a little view of the lake. A phone call to the Itasca park office confirmed that we were able to make the change. This recreation area is not regularly staffed on its own. It is overseen by Itasca State Park.
The site was downhill but mostly level left to right. The tongue bottomed out when trying to adjust the trailer front to back for an even floor. Luckily, it was level when it bottomed out. A big advantage in this campground was the full hookups. It is rare to get those at a state park. The state purchased a former private resort in 2011 to create this recreation area and that is the reason there are full hookups here.
It was cold and windy the rest of that day. Luckily, our dinner was planned to be cooked in the oven, a Lou Malnati’s Chicago-style pizza. After dinner we watched the remainder of the “Great American Songbook” DVD.
The next morning we slept until 7:45AM. We are normally early risers so this was an unheard of time for us. It was also 31ºF outside, so staying under the covers was a good idea. We did have WiFi available, so online shopping resulted in a number of things arriving at home after we returned.
The pepperoni pesto flatbread pizza that was planned for the campfire was cooked in the oven. We were unable to get firewood to create a campfire. It was locked up in a cage near our site. A call to the office told us that they did not have a camp host, so they could not have any firewood sales. It was too cold anyway, so we hibernated inside the trailer.
We drove to the picnic area to access the Hiking Club trail. The trail took us to an overlook of the Mississippi River and La Salle Creek. It was our first there-and-back Hiking Club trail.
In the evening we tried to watch The Voice using our Roku. After a long, slow setup process, the Xfinity app told us we had to be on our home network! I guess the Roku will be used for other streaming services.
The next morning we found frost on the gnome. I guess draining and taking the water hose in the night before was prudent. Leaving it connected would have risked breaking the hose, the trailer plumbing, or both.
Since we had a short drive again this day, we had a lazy morning. Who says you have to jump up, get outside, and be active in the morning when camping? If you wait until you have 2 cups of coffee, a Cheerios breakfast, empty your email inbox, do some coding, and take a shower, you get to wear a short-sleeve shirt instead of a sweatshirt.
This trip will be continued in the next post: Along the Mississippi River in Minnesota – May 2021 Part 4
Hiking Club mileage
| Date | Park | Hiking Club Trail Length | Cumulative Miles | Actual Hike Length | Actual Cumulative Miles | |
| Previous miles | 6.3 | 7.1 | ||||
| 5/10/2021 | La Salle Lake | 2.9 | 9.2 | 2.9 | 10.0 |
Trailer mileage
| Date | Start Location | Start City | End Location | End City | Miles |
| Previous miles | 1669.7 | ||||
| 5/9/2021 | Itasca State Park | Park Rapids, MN | La Salle Lake State Rec. Area | Becida, MN | 16.1 |
| Total miles | 1,685.8 |
Meals Planned
The meal list was designed to incorporate leftovers to reduce the amount of ingredients we needed to pack for this longer trip. We also always incorporate some stable items for backup in case the main plan goes out the window.
| Date | Meal | Menu |
| Sunday, May 9 | Dinner | Lou Malnati’s Pizza |
| Monday, May 10 | Breakfast | Eggs and Canadian bacon on the griddle Coffee |
| Lunch | Flatbread pizza on the campfire | |
| Dinner | Tuna Spaghetti Peas | |
| Tuesday, May 11 | Breakfast | Cheerios Blueberries Coffee |
| Lunch | Hot Dogs Chips & Salsa | |
| Alternates | Breakfast | Cheerios |
| Lunch | Grilled cheese & tomato soup | |
| Dinner | Pasta w/pesto Homemade chili (frozen) |
Man of Wy 