I don’t think I have mentioned this yet, but we select the parks we visit each summer based on their location throughout the state. We try to visit one in each region of the state and it helps us pick new parks in an easy way instead of just randomly choosing them from a big list. When we picked Rice Lake State Park, I had no idea how tiny it was! The land of the park isn’t small by any means, but the area that is developed for use is quite easy to visit in a single weekend. We really loved this park and were impressed by the facilities and the area around the park and how much fun we could have just hanging around the park!
Exploring a Little Park
The best way to explore this park is by far the Hiking Club Trail. It takes you around the outer perimeter of the developed park so you get to see almost everything the park has to offer and there are even a few spurs you can take to see a bit more. And while we didn’t venture out onto the lake ourselves it is rumored to be a great little lake for kayaking and canoeing, there are even a few boat in sites that are available to camp at. The view of the lake was beautiful and we really enjoyed the time we spent watching the shoreline looking for birds. This park is also very popular for winter sports and even offers a warming house during the fall and winter.
Facilities At The Park
We were very happy with the facilities at this park, especially for how small it was. Our site and those around us on the B loop were very well shaded, if a bit small. Because this park is smaller there aren’t a lot of buildings or areas to talk about, but more than you may think. Everything we looked at was really quite nice and we enjoyed exploring this park on our usual driving tour as well. There is a picnic shelter, playground, fishing pier, and warming house all available for use outside of the camping loops. For us, this park was perfect for a trip where you didn’t want to have a lot of plans, but instead spend more time around the site just relaxing. When we went it was a bit chilly, but I can imagine it is a nice and cool place to hang out in the summer as well.
A Fun Trip For All
While we did spend a lot of time hanging out around the site and spending time together as a family, this was one of our first trips where we felt like we had time to explore the surrounding area as well. We visited RAD Zoo on this trip (blog incoming) and found that we could do a camping trip while exploring outside of the park. A trip to Dairy Queen also transpired and was so much fun! I think for Hubby and I we really built confidence in ourselves on this trip that we could do more than we thought we could with a weekend camping trip. We also discovered that we could enjoy just hanging out around the site as well which was something we really had not had a chance to do yet. It was great to see that we didn’t have to schedule every minute to have a great time!
Do It All in A Small Park
Since we went on this trip a few years ago, we have visited several other small parks and every time, we really enjoy it. It feels great to be able to feel like you have done everything a park has to offer in one weekend trip. We had a blast exploring the local area around the park too, and for the first time on any of our trips. This trip built a lot of confidence for us in that we could spend time unscheduled just hanging around our site, without worrying about missing anything in the park. If you need a break from it all and just want a chill park to hang out in for a weekend, consider visiting Rice Lake State Park. So have you been before? Are you planning a trip now? Let me know in the comments below!
