Spent a weekend camping & hiking here and it's lovely! This state park occupies a large swath of…read morethe coastline of Lake Albert Lea, and is very convenient to the city of Albert Lea and 35-W. As such, this is a very easy park to get to. I camped in one of the two large drive-in campgrounds, both of which are very well-appointed with amenities. There are drinking water faucets distributed liberally throughout the campgrounds, and there are large restroom facilities at each, which are kept clean and have plenty of toilets, sinks, and showers. They even have little stations to plug in devices to charge them. Probably my biggest gripe with this park is that the restroom facilities are so brightly lit, right next to where the campsites are, that it strongly impacts the outdoorsy ambience. Many campers might not mind that & might even prefer it. But between that and the audible proximity to the Interstate, I prefer to feel a little more isolated. I saw lots of big trailers plugged into outlets, and there are also group camps, rentable cabins, and backpacking sites. I definitely want to return here to try one of those backpacking sites along the east side of the lake. Speaking of the lake, I did spot a number of fishing and canoeing options being taken advantage of. With all the beautiful lakefront area here, this is a really cool place for that kind of activity. I was surprised that the office wasn't staffed when i arrived mid-afternoon on a Saturday in June (2022) to check in; I wasn't able to get my hands on a physical map, and I had to put cash in an envelope to get some firewood. But other than that, it felt like a well-staffed park. All things considered, I will defintely return from the Twin Cities, and if it's more convenient to where you live, you can consider that a good thing! EDIT: I did indeed return two weeks later and try out a packpacking site. Loved it! It's way more remote over there. Really beautiful and lots of cool, well-posted trails. There was a big stash of firewood they'd prepared for free; do they do that for everyone? It's great! You can get to all the backpacking sites via canoe. Bumping my rating from 4 stars to 5!

Beautiful, large park with trails for walking and bike trails. Wetland areas, big trees, and well…read moremaintained public areas

This has got to be one of the most fun parks I have taken my boys to in awhile!…read more There is free street parking and a small parking lot down the street. This park has all kinds of things to climb, swing and explore but it also has... TOYS!! What kind of a park has toys!? The best kind of course!! As far as what is surround the playground, it's wood chips and the vast majority of the playground it wood. The entire playground is fenced in with only one way in and out, truly a parents dream haha!! There is a big sand pit to the left and alllll kinda of trucks, push toys and things to ride! There are several benches and picnic tables as well! This was a clean and well maintained park! If you are in the area, it's definitely worth the stop!

I know this place as "Wood Park". As in "Can we go to Wood Park, please please please ...". After…read moreall, its made mostly of wood. But to the city of Rochester and the kind people that made it happen, its know as the Field of Fun. Its located just a hop and a skip from the Soldiers Field Veterans Memorial. This park is small, but is a great place to take younger children. The play area is enclosed so they cant stray to far. There is a separate area for the toddler set with toddler sized play gear. For the 4-8 crowd there are more advanced slides, poles, and other climbing do-dads (even a climbing wall). There are even some picnic tables up front. if you were 4, wood it get any better than this?

Although this place is amazing, very beautiful, but this place is so shady and so insecure for…read morepeople last night when we went there with the family the moment we parted, there was a huge bunch of people who came in different cars mostly African-American. People are not US based Somalians or somewhere from that side of the country Because I could not hear them talk properly. They were dealing with illegal drugs and the park was so dirty and nasty that you could see used condoms all over the place. If you're going with the family I strongly recommend you avoid this side of the park because it's not very safe. We feel really insecure and left that place although the park is very pretty we could have stayed longer, but we didn't feel safe with the amount of people coming in there with the law-enforcement can make rounds in this area. They can have a good check on what's going on in there

Here's a weird fact. When I lived in Rochester, I never dropped by Silver Lake Park. I always drove…read morearound it to get to and from my home to the downtown area and beyond. The only explanation that I can muster is that I had a park within walking distance from my home. I visited that park often that I didn't think of visiting others. After having a decent lunch on Saturday afternoon, I decided to drop by the park to finally check it out. There are a number of parking spots. I backed my car into an available spot and walked around. Rochester is unique in that it's the only city in Minnesota that has manmade lakes. I believe that the number of lakes in Rochester is in the double digits these days, but the lakes were designed for cooling. Specifically, Silver Lake cools the Rochester Public Utilities power plant. The park surrounds Silver Lake. You can get quite the workout walking around it. I walked maybe a quarter of it. I had spotted a swing that had enough space to comfortably seat two adults. There were indeed two people on it, so I decided to walk somewhere else. When I noticed that they were walking towards me, I headed over to the swing. I like a good swing. This one faces the lake and it was enjoyable taking in downtown Rochester and the view while swinging on it. There are geese in the area. They are known as Canadian honkers. They have longer necks than your traditional Canada goose, which I didn't know about until I learned that Canadian Honker, the restaurant in town, was named after it. Cool! If you do see these birds, you can feed them. There isn't a bylaw that says that you'll get fined for feeding them. During the Fourth of July, fireworks happen in this area. It's definitely a smaller version of the Victoria Day fireworks at Ashbridges Bay in the Beaches in Toronto, but it's pretty decent. I never watched it from the park, but admired the display from afar. This park has a memorial dedicated to fallen firefighters. I also like that each tree has a sign that identifies what you are looking at. It's a cool place to walk around, and learn and discover on your own. It was great getting to know this park instead of driving around its perimeter! I look forward to returning and checking out the rest of it. (140)

We continued our quest to visit all of the Minnesota state parks. Lake Louise was a recent visit…read more The main trail was wide and well marked. It followed the water until we took an extra snow mobile trail that brought us out into the prairie. The prairie had lot of birds, butterflies, and grasshoppers. Most of the trail was smooth walking with a few areas of rocks and prairie uneven land. Overall it was a nice area. We saw a few people along the way but mostly it was quiet and l peaceful. Nice stop.

What a nice gem in LeRoy, MN. I went during the cold weather so it was a quiet peaceful trail…read more There are some tables under the tall trees and a swimming area available. I saw a few woodpeckers and plenty of squirrels gathering food for the winter. Great place for all ages.

This is a great place to go to for multiple occasions, wether you need a place to go for a get…read moretogether of any kind, or need a quiet place to relax or refocus! East park makes a beautiful place for pictures as well!

I'm feeling homesick for Oregon today, so I decided to go park hoping today. This is such a nice…read morepark. Clean and well maintained. There are actually many playground sets within this park to choose from. Lots of picnic shelters and benches to enjoy a lunch at. Nice walking paths wandering through the whole park and Pleanty of resting benches to sit at if you get tired. If you enjoy Frisbee golf, they have a nice set here to play with too. Check out the water fountain by the flower gardens or bring some bread to feed the ducks or geese. If your kids have never seen a deer up close, well...this park also has a deer enclosure for the kids to enjoy. Pleanty of things to do here on a nice spring day.

Beautiful well kept "preserved " park. No bison were around to see though, all our cars driving up…read moreand down , they're smart to stay in the woods! Kind of a joke really. No matter trails great, parking ample.

I like Minneopa for easy access to beautiful scenery, you can visit the buffalo on the other side…read moreof the highway and have a few cute nature filled trails.

Parking, cleanliness, presentation was 5 stars. However, the condition of some of the animals had…read moreme a little concerned. The bear we saw was pacing and panting back and forth. I'm not a zookeeper by any means, but considering the heat and kids screaming, maybe stress and hot! The same was for the mountain lion. He actually was pawing at his enclosure door to get out of the sun, but seemed unable to do so. Other animals were even seen pawing at empty bowls, which again, assuming this to be for water. I grew up on a farm, not a zookeeper, but the animals looked very uncomfortable.

This was unexpected. Like, really unexpected. We drove here after camping at a state park nearby,…read moreand the roads made us think we were headed towards someone's backyard and we might be the only ones there. We could not have been more wrong! Buses full of field trip kids! So many granny nannies! Plenty of older kids, including a few groups of teenagers! This is a legit nature center, quality playground, and perfectly nice little zoo. I don't know what it's like to live down here, but apparently the locals love this place. That said, it wasn't too crowded at all, and the bathrooms were clean. Parking was easy. We stayed for about an hour, but plenty of people looked like they had packed lunches and intended to stay all day.

This is a great little park that we've stopped at a ton of times on the long distance hauls from…read moreKansas City to the Minneapolis area. The bathrooms are closed in the winter time so keep that in mind. Great park to let the kids burn off some of that pent up energy.

What an experience! We did the 4 hour Mystery Cave wild cave tour (the longer 4 hour one). Mystery…read moreCave is not only a super cool place to see (being 450 million years old, having fossils, being rather "untouched", etc) but the tour itself was amazing. Jake was a friendly, knowledgable, and engaging tour guide. He was very willing to answer questions (and I had a lot) and had lots of knowledge to share. His genuine interest and energy, along with the cool-ness of Mystery Cave made this unforgettable experience. If you're physically able (and do read the disclaimers/etc on the website), I highly recommend doing the wild caving tour!

Mr. cave was a fun and interesting and informative place to go check out if you're in South East…read moreMinnesota. The state Park pass and the two tickets for myself and my girlfriend to go to the caves tour, which took about an hour ended up being just under 40 bucks. Our tour guide Dayton. Took us through a whole group of well plotted out tunnels that are easy to maneuver in and also safe for the most part as long as you are somewhat capable of maneuvering. From what I saw, it was also mostly handicap accessible. Remember to wear a jacket it can get cold down in there.

The location is great and the staff is friendly, but the mosquitos are the worst we've experienced…read moreat a state park. Half of the campers we saw had bug netting or a fan which would've made our experience much more enjoyable. We usually hike at parks, but couldn't bear the idea of more mosquito bites. We camped in B and appreciated the trees between the campsites for a bit of privacy. If you have an awning, use it if you're going to sit by the camper - the tree over us dropped 10-20 acorns just on the awning while we were there for a weekend. If you need a dump station, this location does not have one. There is a free spot a few miles up the road in Owatonna (pic for reference)

Very flat easy trail hiking. I bumped up the rating a bit because of lovely hike along the lake…read more The trail goes right past all the camp sites but, fortunately, no one was camping when we walked by so it was quiet and peaceful. We did the main trail but added a snow mobile trail section to make it a bit longer. That section took us out of the woods and into a grassy field. Lots of wild flowers and butterflies. We did not see many birds but the lake views and reeds were lovely.