Finding spring in the river world of Fort Snelling State Park Finding spring in the river world of Fort Snelling State Park A morning walk revealed nature's slow churn and the stark beauty of flood plain forest. By Bob Timmons, Illustrations by Mark Boswell April 23, 2021 — 12:35am Text size Copy shortlink: I quickly found it. At first blush and from a distance, I thought I was marveling at waterfowl, bunches of them swept slowly along in the eddies of a coffee-brown Minnesota River. But my idea broke apart like the white objects before me. They weren't more swans like the pairs anchored in a nearby backwater pond. Turns out they were the remains of winter upriver: small flotillas of ice and dirty snow in their last throes. I clearly had found a marker of spring, and it was fitting. Water is a dominant theme in the flood plain forests of Fort Snelling, one of the most visited of Minnesota's state parks to hike, picnic, bird watch and explore.