Glacial Potholes

After our trip to Folsom House, we had a little time. My grandfather is buried in Taylors Falls (he grew up there), so we headed to the cemetery for some genealogy. The hosts at Folsom house encouraged us to look for Folsoms in the cemetery as well. We spent some time walking around to view the stones of our ancestors. We also noticed a number of very old stones, read the years, and talked about what was happening in the area at the time. There are many that date from the 1860s to 1880s.



After that we headed down to the St. Croix River and Interstate State Park. I am told I have been here before, but I have little recollection of it. It is a very interesting park geologically speaking. There are at least 10 different lava flows visible in the park and 2 distinct glacial events. There are also glacial potholes.



These holes were formed by the Glacial St. Croix. Here, fast moving waters ground rocks in whirlpools against the rock, wearing it away like sandpaper. The park contains more potholes in a smaller area than anywhere else in the world. These potholes are also some of the deepest known in the world, and they are found right here in Minnesota! There are trails that let you walk amongst them, and one you can even go into--at the bottom, where the rock was worn away at the side, too.



The kids were fascinated by the holes (but they like rocks in general, so I wasn't surprised). The unfortunate part was that there wasn't enough time to explore as much as they would have liked. I will be adding this park to our list of places to visit again next summer!



For more information:
There is a video walking tour of the potholes here. It is meant to be loaded onto a video player and carried through the area, but it gives a information and photos of the potholes. There is a nicely done pdf of the formation of the area here. General information about the park can be found here.