Great River Bluffs State Park

Great River Bluffs is one of my absolutely favorite parks in Minnesota. In my opinion it is vastly under rated and under visited. After college I had gone a few years with out spending much time at parks. One weekend, I just up and went to GRB, after that I was hooked, and determined that I needed to do some exploring. The picture on the Left is Queens Bluff as seen from Kings Bluff with the mighty Mississippi in the background.

One of may favorite things about GRB is that it usually is not buggy, which is ironic, because on this particular visit, it was really bad. I don't think that is common though.

If you have no been to the bluff country before, I can only say that it is breathtaking. GRB gives you a great place to see and explore the bluffs. The park map shows 10 view points, and I recommend that if you go, you take the time to see all ten. If you do so you will have hiked about 8 miles. If you just do 1 trail, do the Kings Bluff Trail. There is also a campground that is fairly private and not crowded, some cool wildflowers and migratory birds. This is a great place to see eagles.

The park offers both goat prairie and hardwood forest. The park makes for some good Timber Rattler habitat, and they are in the park. Don't worry, they are timid and will usually flee, long before you know they are there. If you are real lucky, you might see one sunning itself on a hot summer day.

On the right is another view of the Mississippi River, taken from one of the observation points. As you might expect from the bluffs and hardwoods, this is a great park for fall colors. In the winter this is also a good cross country skiing park. Given the parks proximity to Rochester, Winona, and La Crosse, I am a little surprised that the park is not more visited. But for now it is a well kept secret that you can take advantage of.

Banning State Park

Banning State Park is too often thought of as a way-side rest area between Duluth and Minneapolis. This is too bad, because the park is a destination in and of itself. Ironically, we happened to stop at the park on or way from Duluth to Minneapolis.

So that note aside lets discuss the park. Banning is located near Sandstone, Minnesota. As far as I know the only other thing in Sandstone is a Federal Prison. The entrance to the park is right off Interstate 35, ans as such is sometimes used as a place to rest.

The park features the Kettle River, Hiking, Canoing, Kayaking, an old quarry, a bat cave, Wolf Creek Falls (pictured above) and some great camping. Both times I have been at this park, I also discovered it has mosquitoes...

In all there are about 14 miles of hiking trails in the park. My favorite hike is to take the the Wolf Creek, High Bluff, Quarry Loop, and Skunk Cabbage Trails to form a loop. Also be aware that this is also Black Bear territory so don't fall asleep in a pile of leftover food. Clean up, because if you don't a bear kills you because you were a slob, that would be a tragedy (not you but when they had to kill the bear)...

The basic campsites are OK, but they tend to be buggy and don't offer much privacy. But this park has some spectacular sites as well, but there is a catch. You will need a boat to get there. There are 3 Canoe campsites that can be accessed from the Kettle River. The river also offers some excitement via some swift rapids.

I wasn't aware that Banning offered great wildflowers, but as the picture to left shows, the park was putting on a pretty nice display the weekend I was there. These flowers just went on forever. Though I didn't see anything, I would suspect that the parks proximity to the Kettle River would also be conducive to predatory birds such as Bald Eagles. I also have yet to make the bat cave, but I guess that is something for the next trip.

Jay Cooke State Park - Additional Information (4 of 4)

Here is some other miscellaneous information on Jay Cooke State Park.

The park current has 2 wolf packs. Depending on your take on things this is either very coo or not so much. If you have never heard wolves howl at night, it is really amazing.

The park is also far enough north that there are black bears. This means don't be dumb in camp. If a bear gets food from you, you are indirectly signing its death warrant. If you are in a back country campsite, secure your food. And no matter how cute, don't hold the cubs...

I am pretty open with the belief that at least until recently, Minnesota has done conservation better than most states. We have a great history of giving selflessly, for the betterment of our neighbors. Jay Cooke State Park is a perfect example of this. The park was formed on land donated by a power company ad later expanded via other gifts. I'm sure money could have been made by divvying up vacation home lots, but because the gifts were made, Minnesota has a great state park.
land gifts

Guest Writers Welcome

Hi there, fellow wannabe writers... The reason I started writing this blog was to put together a body of information on state parks. As such the more contributers I have the better. I you have information about a state park, work at a state park, or just have questions, please contact me. If you would like to contribute materials, you can write it your self and I will link to it, or if you aren't sure how to do that, just send it to me and I will publish it for you.

Since I am in Southeast Minnesota (and am quite busy), there are many parts of the state that just aren't that accessible to me. So it would be nice if others that frequent parks would share some of there knowledge.

Thanks,

Michael

Jay Cooke State Park - Other Activities (3 of 4)

In addition to Hiking at Jay Cooke State Park there are a number of other activities that may be of interest. This post will offer some recommendations for other activities at Jay Cooke.

Of course, since this is a state park there are plenty of campsites available. What is somewhat unique about Jay Cooke is that the park offers the traditional campsites as well as backcountry camping sites. I was able to check out the campgrounds so I could offer some recommendations.

In the main campsite there are 5 loops, the one to avoid is the first one, containing sites 4 to 23. the reason that I would avoid this loop is because these site tend to be exposed. This campground also has group camp sites, a camper cabin, and some walk in sites. I am partial to the walk in sites as they tend to be quieter and more secluded. Plus you really don't walk to far to get to them. In particular, I would recommend sites 82 and 83, which can be reserved.

There are also some back country sites perfect for a short backpacking trip. In particular, I am told that the Lost Lake camp site is outstanding. This site can not be reserved.

Jay Cooke also offers 2 picnic areas with outstanding buildings and amenities. Reservations can be made. The buildings feature some great fireplaces. I am also told that the St. Louis River offers good trout fishing. You can also find a pioneer cemetery in the park. The park offers outstanding wildlife viewing and a trillium wildflower display in the spring. Because of the rough waters the St. Louis River gorge is also a popular kayaking destination. The UMD Kayak Center is located near the Thomson Dam.

Jay Cooke State Park - Hiking (2 of 4)

Jay Cooke has over 50 miles of hiking! I can't think of a better way to see the park than getting out for a walk. I will offer a number of suggestions for hike to take, but I have yet to find on that I didn't enjoy.

The Carlton trail along with the Thomson trail generally pass along either side of the river gorge from the rangers station to the dam. Both of these trails are interesting and offer frequent access to the river. A loop can be made with these trails and will be about 5 miles long.

The Silver Creek trail is part of the hiking club trail and is a must see. It's been awhile since I did this trail, so I can only say that it was fun.

The Ogantz trail offers access to some fun falls and has some outstanding views. As a bonus nearby areas are handicap accessible. On my second day in the park I strung together about a 5 mile loop using the Grand Portage and Oak trails. These trails pass through a variety of forests and by some interesting geologic formations. The Grand Portage trail was used by fur traders some 300 years ago. The trail also passes along the St. Louis River and has some great views of the bluffs across the river. I also noticed evidence of Bear and Wolves in the area. I was told by a Ranger that there are 2 packs of wolves that claim territory in Jay Cooke State Park.

I also spoke with a couple that lived in the vicinity of the park and highly recommended the Spruce and High trails. Given the location and length of these trails, these trails would be perfect for use in conjunction with a couple of the backcountry camping sites.

If all this is not enough, the souther terminus of the Superior Hiking Trails also starts out in the park. Access is from the Grand Portage trail. I did not do this section, but am a huge fan of the trail. One thing of note is that the Superior Hiking Trail is very well blazed, which is good because it is not currently on the park map.

Jay Cooke State Park - Overview (1 of 4)

Jay Cooke is hands down one of the finest state parks in Minnesota. In this, the first of 4 parts commenting on my spring visit to the park, I will provide an overview of the park. One of the park's facilities is shown to the left.

Jay Cooke is located near Duluth Minnesota and as such is a heavily visited park. But as is the often the case, the park is large and can absorb many people. There are some easily accessible areas that may tend to get crowded in the summers, but there are plenty of trails to find some peace and quiet on.

Jay Cooke offers just about every activity that you could ever wand to do in a park including, hiking, fishing, camping, wildlife viewing, wildflowers, diverse forests, rock climbing, and even kayaking. When I visited the park on of the rangers, Andy Angell, was kind enough to pass along some tips on things to see and places to go. I will pass some of these tips along.

Jay Cooke park is a collections of lands that have been donated to the state over time. The initial donation was from the St. Louis River Power Company in 1915. Subsequent donations have made the park it's current size. We should all greatly appreciate the foresight of previous generations of conservationists who have preserved this treasure for us. It is my hope that we would someday resume these selfless acts.

If all of Jay Cooke's diverse offerings and spectacular landscapes aren't enough for you it is also interesting to know that it is the current southern terminus for the Superior Hiking Trail. Here the trail begins it's nearly 300 mile trek Northward. I have never been to Jay Cooke for Fall Colors, but I suspect that it would be amazing given it's variety of forests. There is so much to discuss about Jay Cooke that I will leave more to three subsequent posts.

My Absense

With deepest apologies for my absence, I will let you know that I should be back soon. I recently sat for a professional exam and have been devoting much time to that recently. I finished that last Saturday and will host a celebration with friends this Friday. After that I look forward to taking an in depth look at Jay Cooke and Banning State Parks.

In addition, I plan on make a trip to West Central Minnesota around the 4th to see some parks that I have yet to visit.

Finally, if you have some parks related information that you would like published or linked to, please let me know. As the number of sources of content I have grows, I will be able to provide more information on the parks you love.

For now I will leave you with a teaser picture taken at Jay Cooke state park.