Spot wild turkeys on Sunrise Prairie Trail

Wild turkeys don't look much like
their domestic counterparts. Illustrations
courtesy Wisconsin DNR. 

The odds are good that your Thanksgiving turkey came from Minnesota. The state raised about 46 million turkeys in 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and leads the nation in production of our Thanksgiving meal’s main entrée.
So what better way to enjoy autumn then taking a hike in Minnesota where you just might see a wild turkey?

The chances of that are high on the Sunrise Prairie Trail, which runs for 23 miles from Hugo to North Branch northeast of the Twin Cities. A 4.5-mile (round trip) segment of the trail in Chisago County makes for a great day hike and provides an opportunity to spot a wild turkey as well as other wildlife.

To reach the trailhead, from Interstate 35 take Exit 135 onto U.S. Hwy. 61/County Road 30. Head east for 0.2 miles to the trail parking lot in the city of Wyoming.

The trail runs north-south past the lot. Head north on the trail, which used to be a Burlington Northern Rail corridor that in 1998-99 was turned into a hiking trail/biking path. Crossing the northern reaches of the Great Plains, the trail is flat and in fairly good shape. At 10 feet wide, it’s also bi-directional, but there’s no painted center line.

Though starting in a built-up area, this segment of the trail remains fairly free of urbanization. Upon leaving Wyoming, you’ll pass a few farm fields, which soon give way to wetlands and native prairie.

The prairie section of the trail is squeezed between two disconnected sections of the Carlos Avery State Wildlife Management Area to the west and east. Watch for various waterfowl, whitetail deer, grouse and wild turkeys.

The best time to spot wild turkeys is early in the day, as they feed from sunrise until mid-morning. They’re likely to be out when the weather is clear and warm or in a light rain (No one ever said a turkey was smart.).

Turkeys roost in hardwood trees, so they often can be seen in grassy openings amid woodlands. As approaching such areas, listen for gobbling.

Don’t be surprised if they notice you before you do them, however. Their field of vision is an impressive 270 degrees and their hearing excellent. And despite an awkward appearance, they run up to 20 miles per hour – which is faster than the average human – and can take off into flight at speeds topping 50 miles per hour.

A good turnaround point is where the woods ends just north of when the trail passes 287th Street to the east. You’ll have walked about 2.25 miles one way. If you’re feeling a little invigorated (or you just want to ensure you can eat more turkey come Thanksgiving), keep going and turn back where the trail passes County Road 36/295th Street to the east, for a 2.7-mile hike from the parking lot (or 5.4 miles round trip).

Read more about day hiking Northeast Minnesota in my Headin’ to the Cabin: Day Hiking Trails of Northeast Minnesota guidebook.

Day hike forest to site of Wisconsin’s first Thanksgiving

Trailhead to the site of Wisconsin's first Thanskgiving.

Primitive trail runs through Chequamegon National Forest

Day hikers can walk through the area where Wisconsin’s first Thanksgiving took place just a few decades after the Pilgrims held the very first one at Plymouth Plantation.

The unnamed trail – which I’ve christened the Forest Road 1919B/BA Trail because of the jeep trails it follows in the Chequamegon National Forest – takes hikers on a 1.14-mile round trip to the headwaters of the Chippewa River. Near that waterway in what is now the southeastern corner of Bayfield County, local Native Americans rescued three starving French explorers by providing a feast in a story with remarkable parallels to the Pilgrims’ harvest banquet.

To reach the trailhead, from Clam Lake, Wis., take County Road M northwest. Once past Day Lake, rather than turn left to head for Cable, continue straight onto Forest Road 191 (aka as Old Grade Road and on some maps as Taylor Lake Road). Then turn left/southwest onto Forest Road 1919 (aka Job Corps Road). Follow this to its terminus above Chippewa Lake, parking off the road.

A jeep trail heads to a campsite on the shores of Chippewa Lake. Though expansive at 280 acres, the lake is fairly shallow at only 11 feet. From it rises the West Fork Chippewa River.

Starving to death
Near the lake in late 1658, French explorers Pierre Esprit Radisson and Médard Chouart Sieur des Groseilliers ran out of food during the particularly harsh winter.

To survive, they ate their dogs then retraced their steps to former camps so they could dig the refuse of their previous meals from snowbanks for food. Then they crushed bones into powder and boiled guts and skin for sustenance. Finally, they ate wood. “…the rest goes downe our throats, eating heartily these things most abhorred,” Radisson wrote.

From the lakeshore, walk back to Forest Road 1919 and turn right/south onto Forest Road 1919B. The trail heads through a Northern hardwood forest, a beautiful hike in autumn when gold, orange and crimson leaves dominate the skyline.

In 1659, a group of Odowa (Ottowa) Indians came across the two explorers. The Odowa gave them new clothes and most importantly provided a banquet of wild turkey and rice as well as other fowl. Groseilliers gave “a speech of thanksgiving.”

Saved from certain death
Where the trail splits, go left onto Forest Road 1919BA. This heads to the edge of the West Fork Chippewa River. The bulk of the hike is on FR 1919BA.

Upon reaching the river, to the northwest are marshlands surrounding Chippewa Lake. Downstream, the fork meanders before joining with the East Fork Chippewa River and forming the Chippewa River proper, which flows for 130 miles into the Mississippi River.

Just as the Wampanoags had saved the Pilgrims from starvation by showing them how to raise crops such as corn and squash, so the Odowa similarly saved the French explorers from certain death by the sharing of food. With that gesture, Radisson and Groseilliers were able to return to their base in eastern Canada. The Wisconsin Historical Society considers it the state’s first Thanksgiving celebration involving Europeans and Native Americans.

From the West Fork Chippewa River’s shoreline, return the way you came to your vehicle.

FR 1919BA is a primitive trail, so you'll need to wear jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. Being so near to the lake and wetlands, you'll also want to don and carry mosquito repellent.

Read more about day hiking Bayfield County, Wisconsin, in my Day Hiking Trails of Bayfield County guidebook.

Hike new trail through region that celebrated Illinois’ first Thanksgiving

Made-up news story
leads to celebration
in Sangamon Valley

These days, suburban housing developments are filling the broad flat fields of western Springfield, Ill. Nearly 200 years ago, though, it was dotted with prairie homesteaders who first celebrated Thanksgiving in Illinois – largely because of a hoax.

Day hikers in the Springfield area now can cross this historical region via the Sangamon Valley Trail. A 1.6-mile (3.2-miles round trip) segment of the trail makes for a perfect hike to reflect upon Thanksgiving blessings.

To reach the trail, from Interstate 72, take exit 91, heading north on Old Route 54/Wabash Avenue. Turn left onto County Road 3 South/Bunker Hill Road; after passing Lenhart Road, take the next right into Centennial Park. The parking lot is to the right of the entry road.

From the lot’s north end, walk west between the two holding ponds. Then cut across the grass, following a makeshift dirt trail to the SVT.

Former railroad bed
Paved and flat, both walkers and bicyclists use the trail, which opened in summer 2011. The pathway used to be tracks for the Chicago and North Western Railroad.

Before the railways crisscrossed the country, this area was home to the few Yankee settlers among the Kentuckians and Virginians who pioneered central Illinois. The Southerners saw little reason to celebrate the “Yankee” holiday of Thanksgiving.

Then in autumn 1838, the Chicago Democrat newspaper published a proclamation, issued by Gov. Joseph Duncan, declaring Nov. 29 as a day of Thanksgiving. Simeon Francis, the Connecticut-born editor of the Sangamo Journal that covered these parts at the time, reprinted the article, heralded the bringing of a great New England tradition to the Prairie State, and asked for anyone who had a pumpkin to deliver it to him as such a squash was an essential part of the celebration.

And some did celebrate it.

Unfortunately, the proclamation turned out to be a hoax. In the Dec. 1, 1838, edition of the Sangamo Journal, Francis ran a retraction.

“A large lot of pumpkin pies”
The push for Illinois’ first official Thanksgiving soon followed, however. On Nov. 4, 1842, the Presbyterian State Synod meeting in Bloomington adopted a resolution calling for Thursday, Nov. 25, to be an observance of Thanksgiving. Feeling the political pressure to respond, on Nov. 12, 1842, Gov. Thomas Carlin named the last Thursday of December as “a Day of Thanksgiving” throughout the state.

That gave Frances the last laugh. On the pages of the Sangamo Journal, he hailed the two proclamations, and to educate his Southern neighbors, he wrote that the Thanksgiving meal required turkey, chicken, geese, partridge and “a large lot of pumpkin pies.”

As to the Sangamon Valley Trail, trees nicely wall it through Centennial Park. Upon leaving the park at Lenhart Road, the trail opens to farmland. The trail does cross two roads – Lenhart and West Iles – so watch for traffic.

Greenbriar Drive marks a good spot to turnaround. If you have a little more energy, however, keep walking to Archer Elevator Road, which is 2 miles one-way (4 miles round trip), or all the way to Stuart Park on Springfield’s northwest side, for a 5.5-mile one-way (11 miles round trip) hike.

Find out about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.