We had our first time visit to St Croix Park this past weekend and we are already planning our next trip back to spend more time! The park is located just an hour and a half from the twin cities area so made for a great day trip destination! We did the recommended scenic drive to the 100ft fire tower which gave us some awesome fall color views! The park had many beautiful trees and we saw so many blue birds! We really want to check out camping here but will have to save that for another trip! Overall a great park to check out the fall colors! read more

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I can't believe it took me this long to explore this state park. Close enough to the cities for a day trip, big enough to make you want to come back and keep exploring -- it helps that the weather was perfect during our camping trip. The park itself is incredibly large. Be prepared to drive 5-15miles to get to different areas of the park. Plenty to do from the largest area of electric campsites I've seen at a state park, to river access for canoes/kayaks, to a beach to swim and relax, to the famous observation tower if you want the most scenic view of the park. Campsites are not super private, but very spacious -- so spacious you could easily fit a large camper (30ft+), a tent or clam, and your vehicle, and still have room for activities. Also, poor to no cell service at campsites (so you can disconnect!), but they do have wifi in park buildings. PS: climbing the tower isn't for the faint of heart -- steep. read more

St. Croix State Park - Parks Near Me - Hinckley, Minnesota

We scheduled this camping trip not realizing how massive this state park is. We learned it is the largest state park in Minnesota at a whopping 33,000 acres. About 25 minutes in from the Tobie's exit off of 35, this park is a not-so-little oasis. We lucked out and the weather was perfect - a nice breeze, minimal bugs, and cool evenings. The electric campsites are spacious with plenty of room for a camper, vehicle, and Clam. The sky was so clear and nearly free of light pollution that you could see an incredible amount of stars. I've never seen stars quite like that. The St. Croix Lodge and Visitor's Center had seating as well as loads of information about the area and its indigenous heritage. The river and canoe launch was a short (but steep) walk from there. We were impressed by the number of canoes and kayaks available for rent. Expect to drive throughout the park to really take advantage of what it has to offer. It was about 4 miles from the ranger station to the beach and 9 miles to the fire tower. Be prepared to have minimal or no cell service. The visitor's center had wifi, but it didn't reach the campsites. The dump station was close to the campground, but was at such a high elevation that it proved difficult to dump from our camper. read more

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This is a large park that sprawls in different directions with many different side roads and amenities. The overall map is a jumble of lines and trails and the road signs are not always complete. The word is I'll have to return and be organized myself and pick out a few of the unique sites I want to explore. There are many paved trails from the few I saw and those unpaved appeared easy. There are trails made for bikes, horses and hikers. read more

St. Croix State Park - Main entrance off Hwy 48. - Parks Near Me - Hinckley, Minnesota

I splurged and got a MN park pass this year so wanted to explore a new state park last weeked! St Croix is only an hour and a half from Minneapolis so felt out of the cities but not too far. Campsites: They are so-so. The sites are pretty close to each other and some don't even have coverage from your neighbors. Pros include plenty of drinking water stations & flushable toilets. Cons include less privacy and noise. They allow dogs in this state park so unfortunately the night was punctuated by barking. It feels more like you're group camping even though you didn't book a group site. Trails: There are 2 things worth doing. Go to the top of the firetower. It's the one unique thing about this park. It's exciting aka terrifying going up and was pretty windy at the top. Note that you won't be rewarded with an amazing view though after climbing like 14 flights of stairs. Instead it's just a bunch of tree tops & burning calf muscles. It might of been better if we timed it at sunset. The second thing worth seeing is Kettle River Outlook. It has a good view of the river. The walk along the river is nice but short and pretty high traffic on the weekend. Overall, it is convenient being fairly close to the cities and has nice restroom facilities but I probably will check out a different park next time that feels more like I'm in nature. If you have a dog that likes joining your camping adventures though, I'm sure you'd appreciate that option here. read more

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This is a great MN state park. All the staff, Park Rangers we met were super friendly and easy to get along with. They drive around a lot just making sure everything in the park was ok. The park was clean and well maintained. They added a facility In the horse camp which including hot showers which was very nice (it wasn't here last here). It's right on the St Croix river and you can rent canoes. The water was high though due to all the recent rains (not the fault of the park). The rain held out until we packed Monday morning (Memorial Day weekend). We didn't really notice much for mosquitoes even though it's rained a lot, so this was nice. We have and will continue to comeback. read more

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If you have a large group - like a Boy Scout troop or any 100+ gathering - check out Norway Point. There are some buildings with electric, the main lodge (with a kitchen, tables and benches, max. Occupancy of 100 at one time, per fire regulations), a staff quarters with 3 rooms for two people and one for 4 plus two individual bathrooms, an infirmary with a sitting area and 3 rooms for 2 people plus one large completely handicap accessible bathroom, a craft cabin with ledges and lots of chairs, a counselors cabin with 3 rooms (no beds). There are 4 villages. Each village has no electric, a number of cabins (maybe 6?) with 4 bunk beds, a bathroom with toilets and private showers and a building with a fireplace and a porch area. The park is beautiful and the arrangement of buildings lets everyone have a view of the woods that surround you even though there are so many buildings. Enough modern conveniences, i.e. running water, to make it quite comfortable and still be in a grwat natural setting. There are other camping areas and places to kayak in the park. There are also guest houses available that are far more modern for those who wish to have an area with it's own kitchen, fully electric, and completely indoor bathrooms. read more

I camped here for three nights last summer, at one of the electric sites. Upon driving into the park, I was a little discouraged. All of the trees appeared to have burned down, which created a pretty dismal atmosphere and bad first impression. However, the park improved as we kept on driving, and it was much more vast than I imagined. The fire tower is a must see, and is a great climb with a great view! The campsites are pretty spacious, but there were SO many mosquitos, making it hard to do anything outside! We were lucky enough to find a river tubing place called parduns just a 20 minute drive away in Danbury, WI. Overall, this park was nice, but I will definitely be trying some new parks this summer! read more