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| Sunflowers blossom in late summer at Glacial Lakes State Park. |
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| High Peak Trail topo map. Click map for larger version. |
The 3.2-mile round trip trail described here consists of a stem leading to the High Peak Trail’s two connected loops. The trail is mostly flat with some small hills. It sits in the Leaf Hills area, a 19-mile stretch of hills between Detroit Lakes and Willmar.
To reach the trailhead, from Starbuck, take Minn. Hwy. 29 south. Turn left-straight/south onto County Road 41. The park entrance is on the left/east. Once in the park, take the third left and go east to the park road’s end, where there’s a parking lot. The trailhead is on the lot’s east side.
Veer left/east at the next three trail junctions, looping around the east side of Signalness (aka Mountain) Lake, which sits below the path. The lake formed at the end of the last ice age when an esker – a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel left by a receding glacier – trapped the meltwater. It’s entirely spring-fed so is quite clear.
The portion of the trail nearest the lake heads through a woods of American basswood and burr oak. Glacial Lakes State Park is uniquely located in a transition zone between the prairies of the Great Plains and the forests of the Eastern United States, so you’ll find both landscapes here.
Marsh flowers
Close to the lake is a marsh. Two boardwalks cross this wetlands. Along the first boardwalk, look for several wildflowers, including swamp milkweed, Joe-pye weed and arrowhead.
Swamp milkweed blooms in summer. Its tiny rosy-red and white flowers grow only a quarter inch across. Each flower consists of five downward-curving petals and five upward petals, looking vaguely like a crown. The flowers appear in flat clusters. Milkweed is a host and nectar plant for monarch butterflies. It appears in every one of Minnesota’s county except Cook.
Joe-pye weed’s miniscule mauve-colored flowers each are no more than a quarter-inch wide, but hundreds of them grow together in large, flat clusters. A tall plant, it attracts a number of butterfly species when blooming in summer. It’s found throughout Minnesota but is rare in the southcentral counties.
Arrowhead is abundant in the wetlands. Blooming in summer and fall, its white flowers are a half-inch to an inch wide, each consisting of three white petals around a yellow center. Three flowers blossom per stalk. The plant produces tubers loved by ducks, geese, trumpeter and tundra swans, so migrating waterfowl often can be seen here and on the lake in autumn. Native Americans and pioneers both enjoyed the tubers, called wapatoo, as well. Arrowhead grows across most of Minnesota except in the Lake of the Woods and is rarer in the southwest corner.
Jewelweed also can be found along the first boardwalk. The second boardwalk offers up sedges and cattails.
By 0.4 miles, the trail leaves the lake behind and arrives at the campground area. Go right/north at the next two trail junctions, passing the Council Ring amphitheater along the way. Upon reaching the Oak Ridge Campground road, turn right/east then after Campsite 30 take the trail that goes left/southeast. You’re now on the High Peak Trail.
The trail splits at 0.5 miles. This is the beginning of the first loop. Go left/northeast.
Sunflower, lead-plant
Prairie and oak savanna surround the trail. Waist-high grasses – including big and little bluestem, Indian grass, and side-oats grama grass – dominate, as well as shrubs and aspen, but there are plenty of flowers as well.
Most noticeable among them are sunflowers, growing between 3 to 10 feet high. Its large 3-6 inch wide flowers consist of 15-20 yellow petals that surround a large, almost black center. They bloom in summer and fall. Sunflowers do not track the sun, as many claim, but you still can use it as a compass – the flower faces the morning sun and so is turned to the east. Sunflowers mainly are found in the state’s westernmost counties.
Pasqueflower blooms in early spring. Its flowers are white to pale blue and about an inch wide with 5-7 petal-like sepals growing around a yellow center. Often it’s the first flower to bloom, heralding the arrival of spring. Soft hairs on its stem and the sepals are thought to trap warm air so it can survive the colder stretch of spring. Look for it on sunny slopes. It is found mainly in the state’s western, central and southern counties.
The lead-plant blooms during spring and summer. A 1- to 3-foot high shrub, it boasts a spiky cluster of small blue-purple flowers. Its roots dig deep into the ground, up to 10 feet, and the plant can live for centuries. The lead-plant grows across all but the northeast third of the state. It so named because when lead ore deposits were found, the plant grew on the dry soils overlaying them, but there is no relationship between the location of lead ore and where the plants grow.
The yellow coneflower blooms during early summer. Its flower consists of around eight narrow yellow petals that droop downward, revealing a brown button The plant stands between three- to five-feet tall. Native Americans used the flowers to make yellow-orange dyes; its leaves and blossoms can be brewed to make tea. It is mainly found in the lower third of the state
The tall prairie blazing-star, also known as gayfeather, also blooms in summer. Growing 2-5 feet tall, it offers a spiky purple cluster of flowers. The spike can grow up to 18 inches tall and is loved by deer and butterflies. It grows mainly in the state’s western and southern prairie regions.
Purple closed gentian, goldenrod
Prairie onion, also known as wild onion, from July to August yields a miniscule pink to rose flower that’s a mere quarter- to a half-inch wide. They form a round cluster about 1-2 inches wide, atop a single, straight stem that can reach two feet high. The flower is so named because it smells like an onion, but it actually is a member of the lily family. It grows across much of Minnesota but is largely absent in the southeastern corner and the wooded areas immediately north of the Twin Cities.
The purple closed gentian’s flowers are 1 to 1½ inches long, and tubular with pleats between each of the 5 fused petals. They never open and resemble large buds. The flower’s color can vary greatly but is typically blue to purplish. The closed gentian blooms in late August along the trail. It is found all across Minnesota except for the Lake of the Woods and the Arrowhead regions.
Goldenrod blooms in summer and fall. It has small flowers that appear to make one large one. The Canada goldenrod’s small quarter-inch yellow flowers cluster together into a large, arching spike that produce plenty of nectar. When its roots shoot up through the ground, it can create clones; some goldenrod patches can be 30 feet around. It grows mainly in the state’s southeastern and southwestern counties.
The trail winds up and down a ridge, crosses a wetlands, and passes a pond to the northeast. At 1.3 miles, it reaches another trail junction. Head left/south.
High point
You’ll begin the second loop at 1.5 miles. Go right-straight/southeast. The trail gets a bit rocky, as it ascends to the park’s highest point.
A bench marks the high spot at 1352 feet. Form the vista, you can see for miles. How the ice age shaped the landscape is evident here. Kames – sand, gravel and till left in small mounds and hills by melting glaciers – and kettles – small lakes created by trapped meltwater – can be seen to the west. Two kettle lakes are to the south.
The vista also is a great place to take in a sunset. The grass on the kames glow golden while the lowlands between darken to purple.
Continuing the loop, you’ll head through an oak forest. At 2 miles, you’ll come to the end of the second loop. Go right/northwest.
The trail arrives reaches the first loop at 2.2 miles. This time, you’ll take the part you didn’t walk on by going left/northwest onto a wide, mowed path. Here the oak trees are much shorter and younger, as you re-enter the prairie landscape.
Glacial landscaping
Before the last ice age, the Leaf Hills area consisted of much higher terrain. Glaciers leveled those hills then redeposited the sand and gravel in kames and moraines. Moraines mark the farthest advance of a glacier where it dumped all of the debris it carried before receding.
At 2.7 miles, the trail reaches the end of the first loop. Go left-straight/west.
You arrive back at the campground at 2.8 miles. Take the campground road left/west then after Campsite 27 pick up the trail heading left/south.
From there, retrace your steps around Signalness Lake back to the parking lot.
