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.

Manthey is a nice park on the north edge of Owatonna with a lot to offer both kids and adults…read more There's a nice playground, good parking, pavilions, and a wooded area. The majority of the park though is cleared for sports activities. Visitors can play baseball/softball, basketball, tennis, and horseshoes. In addition there are picnic tables, grills, trails, and restroom facilities. There's a large and small pavilion that can each be rented for full or half day events. This a very nice clean park. I prefer parks with water and more trees, but gave it an extra star because of the many sporting options and it has something for the whole family.

This park has quite the variety! Playgrounds and gazebos as well as ponds to fish in. The parking…read morelot is plenty big enough for quite a bit of parking, especially if you're throwing a party here. The bathrooms weren't the cleanest and there was some trash throughout the place, but otherwise it seemed pretty decent. It doesn't seem to be as heavily patrolled as other places, considering there were people parked at one of the gazebos, where you clearly should not be driving your vehicle; they drove up the foot path and through the grass to get to it. It is a pretty fun place though. Lots of shade as well.

Morehouse is a beautiful park in west-central Owatonna. It probably offers more things to do than…read moreany other in town. The Straight River borders the park to the north and west. In the northwest corner there is a dam with a pedestrian bridge across it. This part of the park is a reasonably short walk from much of the downtown area and is a popular spot to relax and watch the ducks and geese. On a nice calm day I like to sit there and read. The park has a pavilion as well as places for picnics and grilling. It's the only park in town that's active during the winter, other than cross-country skiing. There are ice skating rinks as well as skating on the frozen river. The chalet is great place to get skates on and off, as well as warm up. I think they rent out cross-country skis there too. The park also offers, softball, horseshoes, pickleball,and volleyball. There's also a skate park and a playground. Morehouse Park is also the hub of the paved trails that extend to other parks: the walking and bike trails at the north edge of town, and south to Lake Kohlmier (swimming, beach, fishing, canoeing) and Kaplan's Woods Parkway ( woods with 6 miles of hiking trails and 2 miles of paved trails). It's got something for everyone that wants to be outdoors.

Park has a nice walking trail, it is relaxing walking along to pond and listening to the critters…read more There is a baseball field, gazebo, soccer field and basketball courts.

Use to come here as a kid when we were in town. There is a nice beach, playground, gazebo, tennis…read morecourts, volleyball and basketball ball courts.

Lake Chase is a modest little park on the northwest corner of Owatonna. It doesn't have all the…read moreattractions of the larger parks, but it does have one thing the others don't offer. It's also a dog park. The eight acre park has a large enclosed area to let your dog burn off steam. Aside from the dog area, there's also the small spring-fed lake for which the park is named. The lake is stocked and managed by the DNR for fishing. There's no boat access to the water but a canoe or kayak could easily be carried from the parking lot. There's also a path to a fishing dock. The park has picnic tables, both inside the dog area and down by the lake shore. The only restroom is a port-o-potty, but it's gender-neutral ! I discovered this park by accident a couple years ago. Most of the people I've mentioned it to had no idea it existed. It's a nice little place, but if you're not there for the dog park or the lake, it doesn't offer anything else. * There are plans to further develop the park. ** Land adjacent to the park has been purchased to become the new home of the Steele County Humane Society

The price is good, but the life guards act like drill Sargents at times. Some of the rules are…read moreridiculous and silly. For example, not being able to go into the lazy river without an inter tube. I have never seen that be a rule anywhere else, and I have been to water parks across this country, I have even seen a lifeguard yelling at a man who was clearly mentally disabled. She was yelling at him because he was going into the lazy river with a 2person inner tube instead of a one person inner tube. Just seems like the life guards are on a power trip. And why does there have to be a 10 minute break where everyone has to get out of the water EACH and EVERY hour?

Water park is ticket are average price. The food and drink were cheap in price and taste good…read more There was lazy river for tubing. There was the lifeguard were fantastic. The body and tubing slide were fun too .

Cool place to check out of you or your kids are into snakes, lizards or gators! Kinda small and you…read morecan get through the place in about 30 minutes. The best parts of our visit were: 1. Watching staff feed the animals 2. For $5 you can hold and get a picture with a small gator or large snake Parking is free. The zoo is within an outdoor shopping mall so it took me a minute to find it. My GPS was leading me to the wrong building. It's in the front left corner of the shopping strip.

The first glimpse is a little deceiving. The front area is pretty good, but there are a substantial…read morenumber of displays in the back. They brought out a huge snake and a young alligator for us to see up close. You can also get pictures with some animals for an extra charge. Fun for everyone, but especially little kids.