Barn Bluff

We have hiked Barn Bluff before in Red Wing, Minnesota, but I had not known the Native American He Mai Can name meaning Hill, Water, Wood. And I had not heard the Native American legend before.

A sign at the beginning of the Barn Bluff trail tells of this legend, and it also lists names of a few famous people who have hiked the trail, including Henry David Thoreau.

The legend is told by Henry Lewis (1819-1904), an artist famous for his paintings of the American West. It reads:

Many hundreds of years ago a mountain twice as big stood in this place. The inhabitants of two Dakota Villages quarreled over possession of the mountain, and to settle the dispute without bloodshed, the Great Spirit divided it into two parts. He left one part here and moved the other half downstream to a second village. The portion that was moved, according to Lewis's interpretation, rises above today's city of Winona and is called Sugar Loaf.

I have not climbed Sugar Loaf Bluff, but I have seen it while visiting Winona.

We had a perfect weather day as we hiked up Barn Bluff: sunny skies with puffy white clouds, low humidity with temperatures in the 70’s.

We enjoyed our hike to the West Overlook, which offers great views of the Mississippi River, Red Wing and Wisconsin.

Henry David Thoreau’s quote on the sign described the view as, “Verdant plains, fruitful meadows, and numerous islands abound with the most varied trees,…But above all, reaching as far as the eye can extend is the majestic, softly flowing river.” I imagine the river is much the same, although the landscape is very different since Henry spoke those words. I like his description of the mighty Mississippi River, as softly flowing.

After our hike we drove through Colvill Park along the river in Red Wing. This is a great eagle viewing area in the wintertime. We thought we’d check for eagles on this summer day, and we did see two eagles perched high in a tree. 

We ate lunch in Lake City, at a restaurant that has an outdoor patio on the shores of Lake Pepin. There we saw another eagle. This one sat in a barren tree, keeping an eye over the patrons the whole time we were at the restaurant. 

On our hike we encountered a woman with four young children. She may have been a grandmother (but seemed more like a daycare worker). I thought to myself, “good for you to bring these kids out for a hike in the woods”. It was encouraging to see children enjoying nature.

Later, while in driving through Colvill Park, we saw this same woman with the four children having a picnic lunch. Colvill Park is a large park, with a massive playground, and it struck me that they were the only ones in the park. These four children are very fortunate to have a caretaker who values the out-of-doors.