Banning State Park was one of our favorite outdoor stops during our Hinckley getaway. The park is…read moreknown for its scenic hiking trails, sandstone cliffs, and the views of the Kettle River, making it a great place to spend a few hours exploring. Our goal was to find the waterfall, but like many first-time visitors, we ended up taking a wrong turn and wandered a little longer than expected. Honestly, it turned into part of the adventure. As we explored, we spotted deer quietly moving, squirrels darting between the trees, and plenty of birds and caterpillars along the way. We discovered quiet trails, beautiful overlooks, and peaceful stretches of the river that we might have missed if we'd gone straight to our destination. The sound of the water, the surrounding rock formations, and the forest scenery made it one of those places where you naturally want to stop and take it all in. If you're visiting Banning State Park for the first time, don't stress if you get a little turned around. Give yourself extra time, wear comfortable shoes, and enjoy the journey.

This is a beautiful state park that offers so many opportunities to commune with nature. Lush…read moretrails, flowers native to shorelines and wet soils, and a waterfall are among some of the many joys here. It is located off I-35 near Sandstone, and 90 miles away from the Twin Cities (about an hour and a half away). It is worth making a day trip to visit. The park stretches along 10 miles of the Kettle River, and has 1.5 miles of churning class IV rapids for those daring kayakers.

This review is only regarding the cliff jumping you can do at the park into the water- this review…read moreis not meant to discourage others to go to this beautiful park - just to make people aware of the risks. If you plan to cliff jump - please read!!! I have been to this park many times in my life, and jumped off the high cliff into the water at least half a dozen times. Last Memorial Day, I went with my friends to enjoy the park. I went to the highest cliff jumping spot and I jumped off into the water. I immediately knew something was wrong with my spine when I hit the water as I could barely breathe and my back exploded in pain. As the signs state at the park - you jump at your own risk. It was clear they do not have a protocol for when people get injuries. It took about 10 minutes to get a ranger to come over and help, who did end up calling an ambulance, but they did not offer anything else. They didn't clear the area, and people continued to climb up and jump around me. My friends had to kick me across the whole quarry to get to the shore to get to the ambulance. At the hospital they did an x-ray and a vertebrae in my spine had compressed due to the angle I hit the water and fractured. It was about a 5-month recovery with a back brace full time. If you go for the cliff jumping just be aware that there is a risk jumping into the water, and the risk gets greater the higher you go. All this to say - the park is beautiful and it is still a lovely spot for swimming and hiking. Just know the risks before you go cliff jumping into the water.

Definitely a gem in this little town. The walking trails are pleasant and go for miles. Wear…read morecomfortable shoes. There's a quarry with cliffs to dive from. Parking fee's vary $5 Sep-May and $10 during the summer.

I have been going to the park almost daily with my mini schnauzer without any problems. Yesterday,…read morehowever, he was attacked by a pair of large dark colored German Shepards. The owner was able to call his dogs off but Chunk was bitten. He is recovering but anyone with small dogs should be cautious. I will in the future. I really like this park still and will continue to let Chunk play there;he really enjoys running free.

Back in the day I watched 4th of July fireworks here. Now I bring my dog here to their fenced in…read moredog park that goes to the Mississippi River. My dog seems to enjoy running around here and sniffing and meeting other dogs. People must take pride in this dog park as I didn't see any dog crap anywhere. Thanks fellow dog owners for being considerate. Free and small but clean and worth it.

The playground could use some updates, but cute concept. The kids seem to really enjoy it, but just…read moregetting a bit old. There is a bandshell and music in the park event in the summer which is a great community event. You can also launch your boats into the lake. The area near the serpent statue no dogs allowed which is a bummer. Skate park and police station all in the same area.

Beautiful park! Super clean and fun! We were visiting from out of town, and this place didn't…read moredisappoint.

My family and I stopped by this park while on vacation in the area in March 2024. We were thrilled…read moreto see there are hiking trails as well as the fire tower, plus there are a lot of interesting things to read about the tower history and fire history in the area. The whole park is nice - clean, well kept, both paved trails and gravel lined trails, well-built steps, and quality railings where steps are located. There is a paved trail that goes to the tower, as well as an unpaved trail that is a good uphill climb. The tower looks neat, and we would have loved to climb it, but it was closed. There is a big fence with a locked door around it. This was a bummer for me - the websites that I found describing the park had said that the park was open year-round, which I (wrongly) thought included the tower. I do understand - it is an unseasonably warm winter, and most people aren't going hiking or climbing giant towers in March. I was just disappointed. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our time there - both the hiking and learning about fire safety in the area.

I stopped by here when visiting the nearby Father Hennepin SP. The park is near lake Mille Lacs,…read moreand is about 2 hours from the Twin Cities. The highlights of the park for me are kayaking the Rum River or climbing the 100 foot fire tower to experience the view of the lake. Bird watching is also a good attraction here.

One of the my best core memories was made here this past weekend. We were able to book one of the…read moregroup camping grounds and have such a lovely place to stay for 4 days and 3 nights. We got to climb the fire tower, fish at the local lakes and dams, dance around with our family and friends, and enjoy the stars at night. Everything is very clean when arriving. Bathrooms are outhouses that are well maintained, but once toilet has ran out we didn't get much of a refill. Parking space was big enough for our party and the other down the hill from us.

Bicycled through the park, stopping to enjoy the views and old farmstead. Real flush toilets…read more(clean-thank you!) and lots of open parking for cars. I enjoyed our stop under the mature trees!

Bend in the River State Park was created after the Graves donated their land to the County of…read moreBenton. The park has benches for sitting, restrooms and manicured walking paths. What was disappointing was the lack of a paper map however the website https://www.co.benton.mn.us/Facilities/Facility/Details/Bend-in-the-River-Regional-Park-2 Has a downloadable map that's very handy. The park has 3 / looks of the river with each overlook containing sign in to detail the history of the Mississippi River end the area of Benton County. it was also interesting learning about the prairie wildfires and how it affected the trees growing in the area. there are also several paths that lead down to the Mississippi River which gives you could access for fishing kayaking and general relaxing along the whispering Waters of the Mississippi River. That is your return to the parking area you can see the Benton homestead which was very interesting learning about life in the 1850s through the early 1900s. however I was disappointed that it seems like the house is not being used for anything and that is a disappointing fact because many young adults could learn about farming in early life if they restore the homes and then use them as a teaching museum. Overall it takes about 35 to 40 minutes to see the whole park and learn about the Mississippi River. It's definitely worth a stop if and only if you're staying in the area however I don't think I would go out of my way to come here unless I was visiting.

I came here to swim in the lake in May 2023. The air temperature was 80 degrees Fahrenheit and the…read morewater was slightly cool but still nice. The water was reasonably clear. Overall it was a great experience!

This was an awesome park! Lots of beautiful, well-maintained trails for hiking. Pretty trees,…read morecreeks, and a really nice lake. It had really nice picnic areas on the beach with BBQ grills, too. Also had some nice primitive camping grounds, too. Also seems very underused...we met almost nobody there!

Prarie Park is a nice place to spend time with your family. It has everything here. There is a…read moreplayground, half basketball court, a skate ramp, baseball field, soccer field, sand volleyball court, splash pad, picnic tables all around, and covered areas to eat. There's portapotties all around the area, but no actual bathrooms with plumbing or anywhere to change. The splash pad is just water spraying from the ground, there are no fun water tables or anything. The playground is pretty nice and there is a smaller one for smaller kids as well. There is also a fairly big parking lot so finding space should be easy. The park is very nicely maintained, the grass is cut and there's pretty flowers planted everywhere. There's no graffiti on the playground and there's no garbage thrown around.

This place is great! The water is cold in the water park which makes it good to cool off in heat!…read moreThere is a big and small park both for certain ages. There are water things that shoot out of the ground in the splash pad. There is one bucket that dumps on you in the splash pad. There is a soccer field and a gagaball pit! There are also pickleball courts that come WITH SUPPLIES! (Balls and rackets.) There is a full-court for basketball! (Even though it doesn't come with a ball it is still fun to bring a ball!) There is a lot of open space to like throw a football or play a game! There are picnic tables and portapotties! The playground isn't the most fun playground, but because of everything else this is 4 stars!!