Frontenac State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, on the Mississippi River southeast of Red Wing. The park is notable both for its history and for its birdwatching opportunities. The centerpiece of the park is a , steep limestone bluff overlooking Lake Pepin, a natural widening of the Mississippi. The bluff is variously called Garrard's Bluff or Point No-Point, the latter name coming from riverboat captains because of the optical illusion that it protruded into the Mississippi River. There is a natural limestone arch on the blufftop called In-Yan-Teopa, a Dakota name meaning "Rock With Opening". Park lands entirely surround the town of Frontenac, once a high-class resort at the end of the 19th century. Geology Limestone was laid down 500 million years ago as organic sediments settled to the bottom of a shallow sea that covered much of the Midwest. Much later Glacial River Warren carried torrents of runoff from the melting glaciers of the last ice age. Flowing out of Lake Agassiz, Glacial River Warren carved the Minnesota River valley and the Mississippi River Valley, leaving steep bluffs along the latter's banks. At times Glacial River Warren overflowed its bed and Garrard's Bluff would have been an island. The area is near the northern extreme of the Driftless Area of Minnesota, a region that remained unglaciated during the phases of the last ice age. In the present day, a creek flows through the eastern end of the park into Lake Pepin. Wells Creek carries substantial amounts of sand eroded out of the nearby hills. As it hits the slow-moving river water, it drops its sediment load, creating a delta and Sand Point, a sand spit jutting perpendicularly out into the lake. Downstream the Chippewa River performs the same action on a larger scale. This sediment blockage is what causes the Mississippi to widen into Lake Pepin. Flora The forest on the bluff is a mix of maple, basswood, elm, oak, and aspen. The back of the bluff transitions from this forest to lightly wooden meadows to prairie. The eastern end of the park is a bottomland forest of cottonwood, maple, and willow. Fauna The park is home to mammalian species of deer, raccoon, coyote, opossum, red fox, woodchuck, beaver and various ground squirrels. On the Mississippi Flyway, the Frontenac area has been known for birdwatching since 1900. 260 bird species have been sighted in Frontenac