Itasca State Park
Minnesota State Parks Guide

Minnesota State Parks Guide

As you may have guessed, we really love hiking and camping 🙂

We like being able to plan out our weekend trips ahead of time – especially when it comes to weekend trips to State Parks in our great state of Minnesota. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website provides a wealth of information regarding all 78 of the Minnesota State Parks, including information on hiking trails, camping, recreation facilities and maps.

However, we had trouble making our weekend plan decisions without all this information in one spot. So we developed this convenient table that summarizes most of this information. 

Park Name Size of Park (acres) Body of Water City Near Backpack Sites Canoe Sites Walk-in (Cart-in) Sites Drive-in Sites Total Hiking Trail Distance (mi)
Afton State Park 1,600 St. Croix River Afton 20 1 0 0 20
Banning State Park 597 Kettle River Sandstone 0 4 0 33 17
Bear Head Lake State Park 3,013 Bear Head Lake Ely 4 2 0 73 17
Beaver Creek Valley State Park 715 East Beaver Creek La Crosse 0 0 6 42 8
Big Bog State Recreation Area 9,170 Red Lake, Tamarac River Bemidji 0 0 0 31 4.5
Big Stone Lake State Park 980 Big Stone Lake Morris 0 0 0 37 3
Blue Mounds State Park 1,567 Mound Creek Worthington 0 0 14 73 13
Buffalo River State Park 1,068 Buffalo River Fargo 0 0 0 44 12
Camden State Park 1,855 Redwood River Marshall 0 0 0 80 16
Carley State Park 209 Whitewater River Rochester 0 0 0 20 5
Cascade River State Park 2,867 Lake Superior and Cascade River Lutsen 5 0 0 40 18
Charles A. Lindbergh State Park 417 Mississippi River Little Falls 0 0 2 38 7
Crow Wing State Park 2,335 Mississippi and Crow Wing Rivers Brainerd 0 0 0 59 18
Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area 6,850 Chain of small lakes and streams, filled pit mines Brainerd 0 0 0 25 6+ (paved)
Father Hennepin State Park 275 Mille Lacs Lake Mille Lacs 0 0 0 103 4.5
Flandrau State Park 840 Cottonwood River New Ulm 0 0 3 92 8
Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park 3,163 South Branch Root River and tributaries Rochester 0 0 0 73 17
Fort Ridgely State Park 537 Fort Ridgely Creek Sleepy Eye 0 0 3 31 8
Fort Snelling State Park 1,825 Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers St Paul None       18
Franz Jevne State Park 118 Rainy River International Falls 0 0 3 18 2.5
Frontenac State Park 2,226 Lake Pepin on Mississippi River Red Wing 0 0 6 58 13
Garden Island State Recreation Area 715 Lake of the Woods Lake of the Woods None       0
George H. Crosby Manitou State Park 6,200 Manitou River Silver Bay (North Shore) 21 0 0 0 24
Glacial Lakes State Park 1,857 Several kettle lakes Glenwood 4 0 0 37 16
Glendalough State Park 1,924 Six kettle lakes Fergus Falls 0 2 22 0 9
Gooseberry Falls State Park 1,741 Lake Superior, Gooseberry River Two Harbors 0 0 0 69 20
Grand Portage State Park 278 Pigeon River Grand Portage None       4
Great River Bluffs State Park 2,122 Mississippi River Winona 0 0 4 (bike-in) 31 9
Hayes Lake State Park 2,118 Hayes Lake, North Fork Roseau River Roseau 2 0 0 35 13
Hill-Annex Mine State Park 634 Filled pit mine Grand Rapids None       0
Interstate State Park 288 St. Croix River Taylors Falls 0 0 0 37 6
Itasca State Park 3,553 Lake Itasca Park Rapids 11 0 11 223 52
Jay Cooke State Park 8,125 Saint Louis River Cloquet 4 0 3 79 50
John A. Latsch State Park 409 Mississippi River Wabasha None       0.5
Judge C. R. Magney State Park 4,323 Lake Superior, Brule River Grand Marais 0 0 0 27 9
Kilen Woods State Park 202 Des Moines River Worthington 0 0 4 33 5
Lac qui Parle State Park 897 Lac qui Parle, Minnesota and Lac qui Parle Rivers Benson 0 0 3 67 7
Lake Bemidji State Park 1,653 Lake Bemidji Bemidji 0 0 0 95 15
Lake Bronson State Park 2,806 Lake Bronson, South Branch Two Rivers Thief River Falls 3 2 0 152 14
Lake Carlos State Park 1,175 Lake Carlos Alexandria 0 0 0 121 14
Lake Louise State Park 849 Lake Louise, Upper and Little Iowa Rivers Austin 0 0 0 20 12
Lake Maria State Park 1,475 Several kettle lakes Monticello 17 0 0 0 14
Lake Shetek State Park 1,109 Lake Shetek Marshall 0 0 8 70 14
Lake Vermilion State Park 2,875 Lake Vermilion Viginia None       ?
Maplewood State Park 8,127 Several kettle lakes Pelican Rapids 3 0 0 71 25
McCarthy Beach State Park 1,908 Sturgeon and Side Lakes Hibbing 0 0 3 86 18
Mille Lacs Kathio State Park 9,786 Mille Lacs Lake, Rum River Mille Lacs 4 0 3 70 35
Minneopa State Park 1,617 Minnesota River, Minneopa Creek Mankato 0 0 0 61 4.5
Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area 6,442 Minnesota River Chaska 0 0 8 25 47
Monson Lake State Park 343 Monson and West Sunberg Lakes Willmar 0 0 0 20 1
Moose Lake State Park 829 Moosehead and Echo Lakes Moose Lake 0 0 2 33 5
Myre-Big Island State Park 1,578 Albert Lea Lake Albert Lea 4 0 0 93 16
Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park 1,646 Prairie Creek Fairbault 0 0 4 51 11
Old Mill State Park 287 Middle River Thief River Falls 0 0 0 26 7
Red River State Recreation Area 104 Red River of the North and Red Lake River Grand Forks 0 0 4 109 7
Rice Lake State Park 712 Rice Lake Owatonna 0 5 9 42 5
St. Croix State Park 31,775 St. Croix River Hinckley 2 10 4 211 127
Sakatah Lake State Park 810 Sakatah Lake on the Cannon River Fairbault 0 0 5 (bike-in) 62 5
Savanna Portage State Park 15,227 East and West Savanna Rivers, numerous kettle lakes McGregor 6 1 0 61 27
Scenic State Park 2,370 Sandwick and Coon Lakes Grand Rapids 2 5 0 93 14
Schoolcraft State Park 141 Mississippi River Grand Prapids 0 2 0 28 2
Sibley State Park 2,540 Lake Andrew and other kettle lakes New London 0 0 0 132 18
Soudan Underground Mine State Park 974 Lake Vermilion Ely None       5
Split Rock Creek State Park 947 Split Rock Lake Luverne 0 0 0 34 7
Split Rock Lighthouse State Park 2,112 Lake Superior, Split Rock River Two Harbors 4 0 20 0 12
Temperance River State Park 1,134 Lake Superior, Temperance and Cross Rivers Silver Bay (North Shore) 0 0 6 52 22
Tettegouche State Park 8,998 Lake Superior and Baptism River Silver Bay (North Shore) 5 0 19 28 23
Upper Sioux Agency State Park 1,065 Minnesota and Yellow Medicine Rivers Granite Falls 0 0 3 34 18
Whitewater State Park 1,672 Whitewater River Winona 0 0 6 104 10
Wild River State Park 6,574 St. Croix River North Branch 7 4 0 96 35
William O’Brien State Park 1,783 St. Croix River Scandia 0 0 0 120 12
Zippel Bay State Park 2,826 Lake of the Woods Lake of the Woods 0 0 0 57 6

Now get out and enjoy your weekend!

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