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.

Minnesota's Best State Parks from About.com

About.com has Itasca, Blue Mounds, and Forestville as the top three state parks in Minnesota. I give them credit for their choices of Itasca, which was Minnesota's first park and Blue Mounds, which I found to be very unexpected. I however was surprised to see Forestville in that mix. Forestville (which I have previously written about) is not a bad park, but there are some others even in that region that got overlooked.

Itasca was Minnesota's first park as mentioned above and within the park is the headwaters of the Mississippi River (Lake Itasca). Ironically the park is NOT in Itasca County. The park in near Bemidji and is one of the largest parks in Minnesota. I have been to the park, but that was many years ago. I do plan on spending a weekend there this summer. I will write in depth on it after I visit that park.

Blue Mounds is also a great park. I would describe it as very unexpected. The park is in the middle of the prairie of Southwestern Minnesota near Luverne. Among other things the park has rock climbing on a Quartzite quarry wall, a herd of buffalo, and some great trails. Also because it is prairie, it is also a park that is best seen in the late summer, which is rather unique.

Where I think the article comes short is in its pick of Forestville. Just in that part of the state, I prefer Whitewater, Beaver Creek Valley, and Great River Bluffs. In addition the article ignores the great North Shore parks such as Tettegouche, Judge Magney, Gooseberry, and George Crosby Manitou. Other parks that I rate highly include Glendalough, St. Croix, and Myre Big Island. Obviously there are many great parks and this is very subjective.

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