Fall frosts have killed off the wood nettle, allowing trailing practice
to return to Fort Snelling State Park this month. We'll practice
following fresh trails, with the goal of seeing the animals that made
them. The
deer at Ft. Snelling are habituated to people, giving us opportunities
to observe their behavior closely and compare observed behavior with
fresh tracks and trails. Please note that the current executive order limiting outdoor social gatherings is set to expire on Friday, December 18. If the order is extended, we may shift from in-person practice to an online gathering to share stories. Stay tuned. Please
wear a mask and plan to maintain spatial distancing of a bit over one
deer's length. If we are successful, we may again be able to use actual
deer to check this. Sunday, December 19 9:00 am - 12:00 pm We will gather in the parking lot south of the Thomas C. Savage Visitor Center: Thomas C. Savage Visitor Center Fort Snelling State Trail St Paul, MN 55111 This
is an all-weather event and we spend time off trail. With COVID, the
Visitor Center is not open and there are limited amenities: Outdoor
biffy, no drinking fountains. Please bring appropriate gear and dress
for several hours outdoors in whatever weather we may have that day. Please also take precautions for ticks,
as we expect to follow deer trails through prime tick habitat. Ticks
are active all year and we have friends who have contracted Lyme disease
in Minnesota in January. We
will meet at 9:00 in the parking lot. We will head out on the trail
shortly after 9:00 and return to the parking lot by 12:00 pm. If you
need to reach us the day of the outing, please call Kirsten's cell phone at 651-785-4650. Please note that once we are trailing, our phones will be on vibrate and we could easily miss an incoming call. Road
construction on Highway 5 complicates travel to Ft. Snelling. We
strongly recommend checking current highway and ramp closures. You need a State Park pass to drive to the Visitor Center. The parking lot at the Historic Fort Snelling visitor center is currently closed for construction. You can also avoid both of these issues by coming by bicycle (if you have good snow tires!).
Click Here for Directions--which should account for the road construction: |
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