Red River State Recreation Area



Welcome to the Red River State Recreation Area!



The park ranger explains the assets of the park

  Red River State Recreation Area is located in the midst of downtown East Grand Forks, Minnesota.  For me this park is like the intersection of triumph and sorrow.  It is hard to imagine this beautiful greenway with trails for walking and biking being anything other than a native grassland meeting the roaring Red River of the North.



The Red River near downtown

East Grand Forks, Minnesota



Following the trail through the park

That was not the case prior to 1997.  That year, the mighty Red River lept out of its banks and flooded the cities of Grand Forks, North Dakota, and East Grand Forks, Minnesota in epic proportions.   The river is floods every year, with flood stage set at 28 feet.  Most years, the residents have little trouble weathering 35-40 foot floods.  Imagine handling a flood 12 feet high!  But in 1997, the flood shot up over 54 feet, easily making it the worst flood for the cities in modern history.  It was so bad that all 3 bridges crossing the river were closed and underwater. It is truly un-imaginable what a 30 foot wall of water would look like as it washed away everything in its path.  The Red River State Recreation area sits on what used to be a city park and East Grand Forks, Minnesota residential neighborhood.  Every home in the park either sustained significant damage or was destroyed.  All the "repairable" homes were moved as it was deemed this area to be highly prone to flooding, and, as a natural resevoir itself, became a sacrifice to protect the rest of the city as new flood walls and dikes were built around the city.  In all, FEMA purchased and moved about 500 homes along the river in the cities.  The price tag of the 1997 flood was about 1.5 billion dollars.



Searching a Geo-Cache



Exploring the Geo-Cache with my sister,

Brielle, and brother, Brock.  Brigham and

 Brett are hiding in the background



The cities have come along way from the flood of 1997.  The cities that were underwater have built a significant flood protection system around their communities.  Businesses that were drowned out have rebuilt.  New businesses have emerged.  Most of the 100,000 residents that were evacuated have returned.  Today these cities are a regional hub for commerce, culture, and education.









I found Stephen Covey's

"7 Habits of Highly Effective
People" in the cache!