Seeing The Most Of Wishek By Hiking
When a place has the motto “Explore the Outdoors”, you should maybe take the hint. This little city in the heart of the Great Plains is surrounded by locations of natural beauty and interesting agricultural history.
If you’re visiting Wishek with your family, or just exploring North Dakota on your own, there are several places around Wishek where you can enjoy a leisurely and scenic hike.
The Beaver Lake State Park
You’ll find the Beaver Lake State Park approximately 16 miles north of the center of Wishek. The park is a great place to enjoy fishing, kayaking, mountain biking, and, of course, hiking.
Along the lakeshore and through the surrounding countryside are 6 enjoyable hiking trails that showcase the history and nature of this beautiful place. The trails are of varying length to suit the tastes and abilities of different hikers.
The trails are hard-packed single-track, dirt, or grass. There are a few steeper sections, but most of the tracks offer manageable grades.
#1. The Beaver Lake Nature Trail
This is the most popular of the park’s hiking trail and ideal for families with children. You’ll find this 0.32-mile trail at the northern end of the park. It’s the most northerly of all the trails.
The nature trail follows a loop that starts and finishes at the swimming area. The trail follows the shoreline, winds across the prairie, and meanders through woodlands.
Along the way, you’ll find informative signs that help you interpret the nature around you. If you’re a keen naturist, pick up a trail guide from the park headquarters, entrance station, or trailhead. The guide provides easily followed information about the local ecology, vegetation, wildlife, and geology.
#2. The Lake View Loop Trail
This trail in the southern area of the park offers you the best views of the lake. It’s a little more challenging than the Nature Trail, involving more slopes. If you wish, you can ride a mountain bike along this 0.36-mile trail.
However, you can only reach this trail by first taking the Morraine Loop Trail (see below), so be prepared for a minimum 0.87-mile initial easy hike before you begin your scenic Lake View hike.
While hiking along this trail, keep your eyes open for beaver, birds, deer, rabbits, raccoons, and squirrels. The green ash and American elm that pepper the trail provide an ideal environment for local nature.
#3. The Old Settlers Trail
This 0.49-mile trail also provides scenic lake views and is more accessible than the Lake View Loop Trail since its trailhead is just south of the amphitheater in the northern area of the park. However, it is not a loop trail, so you’ll have to choose between repeating your path back to your starting point or returning along the 0.67-mile Woodland Trail (see below).
This trail takes you past the monument to the founders of the park. The stone cairn bears a plaque identifying the park’s founders and the foundation date of July 24, 1932. The trail also passes the original stone cabin used by the first park caretaker. You may choose to hike or mountain bike along this trail.
#4. The Woodland Trail
This is the best trail for anyone interested in birdwatching. The 0.67-mile trail wanders through grasslands and woodlands that provide ideal habitats for many species of birds.
In the summer, watch out for chickadees, kingbirds, meadowlarks, woodpeckers, and yellow warblers.
You can choose to bike or hike along this trail. However, when you return you must either retrace your steps or use the Old Settlers Trail to return to your starting point.
#5. The Rolling Prairie Loop Trail
This is the most inaccessible trail, which means you’ll have to endure a minimum 1.12-mile hike before you reach the trailhead. However, it’s worth it! You can hike or bike along this trail.
This 1.02-mile trail is the most southerly of the trails and explores wooded ravines and rolling prairie in the wildest area of the park. Keen botanists will appreciate the rich variety of plants in this area.
Watch out for the wide variety of common prairie grasses, including big bluestem, green needlegrass, little bluestem, needle-and-thread grass, porcupine grass, prairie junegrass, and western wheatgrass. In spring and summer, the wild prairies come alive with a riot of color when the prairie wildflowers bloom across the rolling prairie.
#6. The Moraine Loop Trail
Keen geologists will love the views along this 2.28-mile trail. The local landscape was carved by a glacier, and the scars and rubble left behind are clear to read.
This is another great place for birdwatching, and there are butterflies, too. The going is rocky, but you can mountain bike along the trail if you wish. You also get great views of the lake from the higher points along this trail.
A combined loop
If you’re a keen hiker, you can easily combine all of the above hikes (with the exception of the Beaver Lake Nature Trail) into a single, 5.22-mile loop trail taking in a wide variety of the beautiful scenery and nature of the park.
Begin at the amphitheater headed south along the Old Settlers Trail, then follow the more easterly route at each fork. On return, choose the westerly forks as you return north.
Prairie Bells Grotto
This is a short and sweet hike from Highway 13. About 18 miles west of Wishek, just north of the highway, stands an impressive bell tower and small shrine upon a picturesque, grassy knoll.
The tower and grotto are a monument of faith established by the Vetter family, one of the many German-Russian families that settled this area a little over a hundred years ago. If you press the button at the grotto, you will be rewarded with an audio history of the site. By pulling on the rope, you can ring the bells in the tower so they peal across the prairies.
Not only is this a great place of peaceful reflection, but a wonderful viewpoint to admire the prairies and observe the local wildlife. If you’re lucky, you’ll spot some of the flickertails (ground squirrels) that gave North Dakota the name “The Flickertail State”. In fact, just west of the Prairie Bells Grotto is the Flickertail National Wildlife Refuge.