The sun rose above the tree line as I drove down the
deserted park road and along a large, perfectly calm lake matted around its
edges with floating vegetation. It was lovely and peaceful, with a familiar
solitude that reminded me of our own Milwaukee River Greenway, a similar
natural refuge surrounded by an invisible city. Then I heard a low, guttural
rumbling, which grew suddenly into an earsplitting roar as a jet appeared over
the tree line opposite the dawn as if rising to meet the sun.
This was not unexpected. I had arrived in Saint Paul the day
before the City Parks Alliance
biannual national conference was to begin there. I immediately opened a map on
my phone to look for a likely green spot and latched onto Fort Snelling State
Park. Nestled below the flight path of Minneapolis—Saint Paul International
Airport, it clearly lay in the river bottom at the confluence of the region’s
two major waterways, the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers.
Looking for remote sections of the park, I drove to a dead
end in the shadow of the freeway bridge I’d driven over to get there. Along the
way I saw exactly one fisherman. From the boat ramp at the end of the road
another was setting off down the river. I stepped into the woods. How often, I
thought, have I had this experience in Milwaukee parks? Being essentially alone
in the most densely populated part of a state. Footprints in the sandy
riverbank, however, proved to be an omen for an imminent surprise.
Long story short, within an hour I found myself on a wide,
hard-packed earth trail around Pike Island being passed on both sides by joggers
and dog-walkers. Although the island, accessible by a single footbridge,
appeared to be the most remote part of the park, it was proving to be far more
popular than I had imagined. By nine o’clock the now numerous fishermen were
joined by a diverse army of people out enjoying the paths and beaches that
circled the island. Welcome to Saint Paul, I thought. What a fitting
introduction to a conference about city parks.
This essay was published by Milwaukee Magazine. Click here to continue reading.
