You never know where interesting geology will turn up. I've been poking around
the Twin Cities for years and I'm still coming across places I'd never dreamed
were there. Case in point: today's pictorial topic, Fish Creek Canyon. I
know the name sounds like a place you might find in Montana or Idaho, where
the water is cold, the fish are biting, and the bears are waiting for you to
wander away from your cooler, but this particular Fish Creek Canyon is just
about where St. Paul, Maplewood, and Woodbury meet. It's not a huge canyon,
and I don't imagine the fish are very large these days, but it's the kind of
little hidden backyard gem that makes exploring worthwhile. I visited it with
a friend back in late November, not long before our on-off winter hit the "on"
switch for the first time.
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Down in the valley on a great fall day, with Fish Creek in view.
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Fish Creek is spread across two city jurisdictions. Maplewood has
Fish Creek Natural Area, which is mostly the heights above 494 on the south and east and Highway 61
on the west. If you scout around, you'll find that this is one of a handful of
small bluff-top parks between
Battle Creek Regional Park
and 494 overlooking 61. Adjacent on the north is the actual canyon of Fish Creek, which
is within St. Paul and owned by Ramsey County Parks but apparently not
organized at the moment, per se. The area is also largely within
Mississippi National River and Recreation Area
(so I'm also *officially* curious). The bluff-top lands are well worth walking
around in their own right. There are no official access points to the canyon
from the bluff-top, but it is possible to reach the canyon via social trails,
leading to a steep descent into the narrow valley.
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The view from the bluff, with the November afternoon sun on a clear day.
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The canyon itself is not vast or deep. The water power that carved the
original ravine has long since dwindled to a hoppable creek. And yet, what the
creek has cut for itself is such a perfect little feature, complete with a
miniature waterfall.
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You're walking along, and then the creek disappears.
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A miniature waterfall.
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There ought to be gnomes.
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It widens a bit going down (note that this feature was put in by people,
presumably for water management, although it's not bad for aesthetics,
either).
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The rock that has been cut through here is the St. Peter Sandstone in its
case-hardened form, producing the steep-sided, narrow slot. If you've driven
Highway 61 near here, you may have noticed how the St. Peter sinks out of view
for most of the stretch between Battle Creek and Camels Hump in Cottage Grove.
It's still there, it just only shows its face sporadically, and this is the
most picturesque place to find it. Interestingly, the location of Frederick
Sardeson's "Highwood" collecting locality for
St. Peter Sandstone fossils
was supposedly a little north of here, about a mile and a half south of Battle
Creek Park on 61. This works out to about the area where the ravines now
occupied by Highwood Avenue and Springside Drive empty out, so our old friend
was successfully trying his luck out here back in the 1890s.
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Sometimes the St. Peter feels like crumbling, and sometimes it feels
like holding a wall.
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