Editor's note: This is Part 2 of a six-part column series featuring my family's adventures exploring McLeod County parks. You can also read columns about Stahl's Lake Park, William May Park and Buffalo Creek Park.
Variety is the spice of life, so the saying goes. If you like variety in your nature hikes, my family and I strongly recommend a trip to Swan Lake Park, northwest of Silver Lake.
Swan Lake Park entrance
After our visit to Stahl’s Lake Park the previous week, we were really looking forward to this. In just a week’s time, the bit of rain our area received had helped turn things significantly more green, and that was definitely the case at Swan Lake Park. The forest was filled with color and made this hike all the more interesting.
Unfortunately, the recent rain also made the hike a bit more sloppy in places. While most of the area was dry, there were certain spots along the trail where mud was unavoidable. We had to carry our sons over these areas or their shoes never would have recovered. So if you are planning a visit to Swan Lake Park soon or after a recent rain, consider boots and/or shoes you don’t mind getting muddy.
There’s plenty of nature to see at Swan Lake Park, including many types of birds. We spotted this tiny nest that had fallen to the ground recently.
Despite a bit of mud, we plowed ahead and enjoyed our time exploring the 82.5-acre park. Like all McLeod County parks, Swan Lake features a picnic shelter with tables, swings and open space for activities. Unlike the other parks we’ve been to so far, my sons, curious things that they are, discovered the old hand water pump near the shelter, and to our surprise it was still functioning and pumping out water.
That wasn’t the end of our discoveries. As we headed out on the 1.5-mile trail that is also open to cross-country skiing in the winter, we were pleased with how every turn in the trail seemed to offer something new. We walked through tall deciduous trees, and then came upon what appeared to be a tunnel formed by coniferous trees my sons dubbed “The Dark Place” because it was so dense it blotted out the sun. We loved this area for the sweet smell and pine needles blanketing the ground.
This was one of our favorite places on the Swan Lake Park trail. The rows of pine trees create a tunnel for walking through, while the ground is covered with needles. My sons named this part of the park "The Dark Place" because the trees block much of the sunlight.
Then we made our next “amazing” discovery, a culvert built by the Works Progress Administration in 1939. If you haven’t realized by now, my sons, and I assume others, are infatuated by anything with water. So we spent a good 5-10 minutes exploring this area and figuring out what happens if we throw stones into the stream running out of the culvert.
After prying them away, we made our way out to the next part of the trail that opened up to a fantastic view of wetlands where we spotted several birds and startled a large turtle that lumbered away from us into the water. The trail loops around past a small birch wooded area and back through the wetlands area, but then splits off on the way back into another open prairie with plenty of sunshine.
The final thing we passed on our way back to the shelter was a small duck pond home to many birds enjoying the warm weekend.
This turtle heard us coming and didn’t want to stick around to see what we were. Little boys aren’t very good at sneaking up on things.
After our hike, we headed across the highway to another feature of Swan Lake Park, a large fishing pier and boat access. A light picnic lunch was quickly devoured by the boys hungry from our hike and eager to get back to their favorite pastime: throwing rocks into water.
When it was all finished, my wife and I agreed the best part of the entire trip was the quiet drive home after the boys had fallen asleep from their long adventure.
