Another Great DNR Event, Not Necessarily a State Park

Yesterday was National Get Outdoors Day and as many other families in the Twin Cities, we got out to play as well. This post isn't about a State Park but it does cover one of the events posted on their Events page. It was a joint venture between Minneapolis Parks and Rec, MN DNR, U.S. Forest Service and REI. It was held at Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis.

Almost immediately upon arrival we were offered a free child's life jacket. Of the array of outdoor activities presented for families to try, we bee-lined for the Base Camp archery range. The instructors were knowledgeable and every one got a chance to shoot 5 arrows. Next, we checked out the variety of fish located in Minnesota's lakes and streams. They offered instructor led fishing opportunities from the I Can Fish! Program which we would have tried, had the climbing wall not been calling our names. On the way through the various tents and stations along the walk, we learned about leaving no trace and dangers to be aware of while camping in MN. How many problems do you see in the campsite? Let's start with Timmy, who is a bit close to the fire!

We also checked out a screech owl as well. He was quite cute!

Then we were off to the climbing wall. They harnessed up and I got a few good pics of them climbing the wall together as father and daughter. It's heart-warming to see moments like that. Then the sight of roasting marshmallows brought us to check out the I Can Camp! program site, where we got to make gooey s'mores, roasted over a fire. We picked up a booklet on all of the DNR's Summer event offerings and the I Can Camp! Program. 

Canoeing and paddleboarding were offered at the park, though the wait kept us moving along to see what else we could check out. Our last activity of the afternoon was geocaching. I've always wanted to try it out but not having my own GPS unit has keep me away in the past. Some of the MN State Parks are "demo" parks and offer GPS units that can be borrowed for use within the parks. We went for a virtual cache for the day and after the coordinates were entered in our GPS, we were off walking through the park. It led us to some further education about the fish located within Powderhorn Lake. It also earned the child a shiny Jr. Ranger badge!

I definitely felt the entire family learned a lot about the various outdoor activities available to Minnesotans and had an amazing time. I'll be looking forward to getting out and exploring it more in the future.