PRECIPICE

Jacobson Campground Road, off Highway 10  Ball Bluff, Jacobson, Minnesota—June 2016 47° 0’ 56”N 93° 16’ 15”W Elevation 1,260 feet

The curves of this cairn’s blue glass are no match for the twists of the Mississippi River, south of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The river is relatively narrow river at this site off Jacobson Campground Road, near Highway 10. The map shows the river looping and bending back on itself like an unraveling sweater or cooked spaghetti dropped on the floor. These loops are characteristic of a natural river that wanders wander across the flood plain, depositing sediment on the land and containing  extra water when necessary to prevent downstream flooding.