Itasca State Park

The Mississippi begins here at the outlet of Lake Itasca and it is genuinely small - a few metres wide and ankle-deep, crossed on a line of stones that visitors walk over, which is the reason most people come. The name was invented by Henry Schoolcraft in 1832 from the middle syllables of the Latin veritas caput, true head, after Ojibwe guides led him to it; the lake had names already. The stream runs about 3,700 kilometres from here to the Gulf. The park was created in 1891, the oldest in Minnesota, and protects some of the finest remaining stands of old-growth red pine, some of the trees over two hundred years old, which is scarce in a state logged very heavily.

The landscape

• The Mississippi as a stepping-stone stream - a few metres wide.
• A coined name from 1832 - Schoolcraft's Latin invention.
• Old-growth red pine - some over two hundred years old.
• Minnesota's oldest state park - created 1891.

When to go

May to October; colour in late September. A full day.

Before you go

The headwaters stone crossing is crowded in summer with queues to cross. Mosquitoes in early summer are heavy. Winter closes much of the road system. The headwaters area has been altered by CCC work - it is not entirely natural.

Nearby

Bemidji is north-east; the Mississippi runs on from here.

Key facts