Minnesota: 64 state parks and 7 recreation areas

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All 71 parks

Afton State ParkBur oak and big bluestem hold the ridgetops, and the ravines below fall 300 feet to the river. Every campsite…
Banning State ParkWhitewater runs past Blueberry Slide and the ruins of the Banning sandstone quarry, with Wolf Creek Falls a…
Bear Head Lake State ParkRed and white pine ring a 674-acre lake, with moose, wolves and black bear in the country around it — the…
Beaver Creek Valley State ParkWater rises cold at the Big Spring and runs the length of the valley, holding brown and brook trout the whole…
Big Bog State Recreation AreaA boardwalk carries you a mile out over sphagnum and black spruce into the largest peatland in the lower 48…
Big Stone Lake State ParkTwenty-six miles of water along the South Dakota line, and the Minnesota River starts here. Walleye, northern…
Blue Mounds State ParkA Sioux quartzite cliff stands 100 feet over the tallgrass, and a bison herd works the prairie behind it…
Buffalo River State ParkOne of the largest unploughed prairies left in the state, 250 species of grass and wildflower deep, with…
Camden State ParkA wooded valley folded into open farmland, where the Redwood River holds brown trout and a spring-fed pool…
Carley State ParkBluebells come up in May under white pines that were old when the park was made, and that is reason enough to…
Cascade River State ParkThe river gives up 900 feet in its last three miles, stepping down ledge after ledge through a mossy basalt…
Charles A. Lindbergh State ParkA stone water tower and picnic shelter raised by WPA crews still stand above the Mississippi, and the…
Crow Wing State ParkA townsite emptied when the railway crossed at Brainerd instead; its outline and a length of the ox-cart…
Cuyuna Country State Recreation AreaIron pits abandoned in the eighties have filled with water clear enough for divers, and the stockpile ridges…
Father Hennepin State ParkTwo campgrounds and a long sand beach on the quiet southeast corner of Mille Lacs, with accessible piers and…
Flandrau State ParkA sand-bottomed swimming pond, and stone buildings the WPA raised in the thirties on ground that later held…
Forestville/Mystery Cave State ParkUnderground it holds 48 degrees all year, and naturalists lead you past stalactites and standing pools…
Fort Ridgely State ParkEstablished in 1911, the fourth park the state made, on bluffs above the Minnesota where a frontier garrison…
Fort Snelling State ParkPike Island sits where the Minnesota empties into the Mississippi, and you can walk out to the point inside…
Franz Jevne State ParkA hundred and eighteen acres on the Rainy, looking over at Ontario, with white pine framing the water and…
Frontenac State ParkBluff, prairie, floodplain and hardwood meet around Lake Pepin, and 260 bird species have been counted…
Garden Island State Recreation AreaTwenty-three miles out into Lake of the Woods and reachable only by boat — the northernmost ground in the…
George H. Crosby Manitou State ParkEvery site here has to be carried in, and the trails that reach them are steep. The Manitou drops through…
Glacial Lakes State ParkKettle hills left by the ice stand over 56-acre Signalness Lake, where only electric motors are allowed…
Glendalough State ParkSpecial rules keep the sunfish and crappie big in Annie Battle Lake, and no motor may touch it. The sites…
Gooseberry Falls State ParkThree falls in a row on the Gooseberry, dropping through basalt to Lake Superior past CCC stonework from the…
Grand Portage State ParkThe Pigeon falls 120 feet at High Falls, the biggest drop in the state and the reason the nine-mile portage…
Great River Bluffs State ParkKing's Bluff ends in a wide look over the Mississippi flyway, where eagles, hawks and waterfowl move through…
Greenleaf Lake State Recreation AreaThree hundred and eighty-five acres taking in parts of two lakes and the wetland between — undeveloped, day…
Hayes Lake State ParkThe Roseau River's north fork was dammed to make this lake, backed by the Beltrami Island forest and its…
Interstate State ParkSwirling grit bored potholes into the basalt here, and there is nothing else like them on the river. Climbers…
Itasca State ParkThe state's first park, kept since 1891, and the place you can step over the Mississippi before it runs 2,552…
Jay Cooke State ParkA suspension footbridge swings over the St. Louis where the river pours across slabs of tilted slate laid…
John A. Latsch State ParkOne trail, cut by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933, climbs half a mile up a steep ravine and finishes…
Judge C.R. Magney State ParkHalf the Brule drops 50 feet into a pool at Devil's Kettle; the other half vanishes down a pothole in the…
Kilen Woods State ParkFive hundred and fifty-three quiet acres above the Des Moines River, with Dinosaur Ridge Overlook looking…
La Salle Lake State Recreation AreaTwo hundred and thirteen feet deep — no inland lake in the state goes deeper — inside ground surveyed as…
Lac qui Parle State ParkThe Dakota name means the lake that speaks, and every spring and autumn thousands of Canada geese make the…
Lake Bemidji State ParkQuarter of a mile of boardwalk crosses a tamarack bog where showy lady's slippers, pitcher plants and sundews…
Lake Bronson State ParkNo observation tower in any Minnesota state park stands taller, and from it the prairie and aspen-oak run to…
Lake Carlos State ParkA deep, clear lake at the head of the Alexandria chain, with woodland ponds, marsh and glacial hills around…
Lake Louise State ParkAn old milldam on the Upper Iowa makes the lake, and the paved Shooting Star State Trail runs clean through…
Lake Maria State ParkMaple, basswood and oak on rough moraine — a surviving piece of the Big Woods that once ran across the south…
Lake Shetek State ParkShetek is Ojibwe for pelican, and the birds work the biggest lake in this corner of the state all summer. A…
Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State ParkRide the cage down into the Soudan iron mine, then come back up to six miles of Lake Vermilion shoreline…
Maplewood State ParkWooded hills stand high over small clear lakes, and the maples turn the whole park gold and red each October…
McCarthy Beach State ParkHalf a mile of sand on Sturgeon Lake, with shallow water running far enough out that children can wade it…
Mille Lacs Kathio State ParkNine thousand years of people have passed through or lived on this ground, and it is a National Historic…
Minneopa State ParkWater falling twice, in Dakota — a footbridge crosses the creek between the two drops. Plains bison range a…
Minnesota Valley State Recreation AreaThe Minnesota Valley State Trail follows the river minutes from the Twin Cities, paved as far as Chaska and…
Monson Lake State ParkThree hundred and forty-six acres of hardwood and wetland, quiet enough that the fishing is the loudest…
Moose Lake State ParkRolling hills, ponds and two fishing lakes, with a pier to work from and bass and northern in quiet Echo…
Myre-Big Island State ParkOak savanna, restored prairie and marsh wrap Albert Lea Lake, filling with waterfowl twice a year. Cross the…
Nerstrand Big Woods State ParkOne of the last big stands of the Big Woods, and in spring the floor comes up in hepatica, bloodroot and the…
Old Mill State ParkThe steam-powered flour mill and the settlers' log cabin still stand, and once a year the mill is fired up to…
Red River State Recreation AreaBuilt on greenway made after the 1997 flood, this is a town campground in East Grand Forks — 85 of its 113…
Rice Lake State ParkShallow water and marsh edge make this a staging ground for waterfowl twice a year, watched from sites under…
Sakatah Lake State ParkThe paved Sakatah Singing Hills trail crosses the park on its 39 miles between Mankato and Faribault…
Savanna Portage State ParkSix miles of marsh and swamp took the Ojibwe, Dakota and voyageurs five days to cross, and their portage is…
Scenic State ParkUncut pine still lines the shore of two lakes here, Coon and Sandwick, and a narrow ridge called Chase Point…
Schoolcraft State ParkTwo hundred and twenty-five acres of uncut pine on the Mississippi, one white pine of them past 300 years…
Sibley State ParkMount Tom looks out over forest, farm, prairie knoll and lake — few points within 50 miles stand higher…
Split Rock Creek State ParkNo lake in Pipestone County is bigger, and the Sioux quartzite dam the WPA finished in 1938 is what holds it…
Split Rock Lighthouse State ParkThe light stands on anorthosite cliff over Lake Superior, put there after a November gale in 1905 took seven…
St. Croix State ParkThirty-four thousand acres held between two protected rivers — the St. Croix carries National Scenic Riverway…
Temperance River State ParkSwirling gravel has drilled potholes and a slot gorge through lava a billion years old on the way down to…
Tettegouche State ParkShovel Point, the 60-foot High Falls of the Baptism, six inland lakes you can only walk to, and a mile of…
Whitewater State ParkLimestone bluff and deep ravine over spring-fed water that holds brown, brook and rainbow trout in both the…
Wild River State ParkEighteen miles of the St. Croix, with an easy day's paddle down to the park's southern access and an overlook…
William O'Brien State ParkRolling wooded hills over the St. Croix, an hour out of the Twin Cities, with northern, walleye, bass and…
Zippel Bay State ParkTwo miles of white sand facing Lake of the Woods, and sunsets that are the reason people come back. A marina…

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Minnesota: 64 state parks and 7 recreation areas

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