If you are at all familiar with the prairie land of Minnesota, you will understand why my favorite memory of this particular camping trip is from hiking across the prairie of Blue Mounds State Park. This park in the farthest south west corner of Minnesota features unique offerings that make a visit completely worth the drive. We visited in the midst of the pandemic, but I visited this park in my youth and it was just as amazing as when I was a kid. There are several features that are not available currently, but keep checking their website for updates!
So About That Hike…
For this trip we did our usual Hiking Club trail, and were really excited about getting to walk along the fence line of the bison paddock. Yes, they are bison, not buffalo, you can learn more at the park about the difference. As the tour was not available, I had high hopes that we would be able to at least see them from a distance, since we couldn’t see them up close. We were not disappointed! We were able to see the herd which was hanging out in the middle of the paddock, so even though it wasn’t up close, it was still really cool! There were lots of birds flying throughout the prairie and they really liked to land on the fence just ahead of us. We also got to see lots of new plants we hadn’t seen before. Almost all of this particular trail is in the prairie, so make sure to pack hats, covering clothes, and sunscreen; I burned my one shoulder really badly by not being prepared! (I literally strapped my hat to my bag as a type of pauldron from the sun!) This is a longer hike but so worth it to see almost the entire park, you get a lot of time in the prairie, some time in the woods, and a bunch of amazing views of the cliffs which are popular with climbers.
Things To Do
We have already covered the hiking, but this park offers several other awesome activities. If you are a rock climber, the climbing here cannot be beat in southern Minnesota. My brothers were into climbing at one point and we made a special trip to this park for them to go climbing. The visitor center has been closed for several years, but they are hoping to rebuild the area soon with a newer building. It is still a treat to walk around and admire and there are several picnic tables and interpretive signs outside to enjoy. There also are several special features throughout the hiking trails that are worth stopping and exploring (remember to stay on the designated paths). Luverne is a short drive away and offers lots of fun activities, our favorite non-camping activity from this trip was the local movie drive-in, you can read my review of it here.
The Campground
I will be honest here, there is nothing particularly special about the campground of this park. It isn’t bad, nor is it amazing, it serves its purpose. Most sites in the main area are close to the two bathroom buildings which are just fine as far as bathrooms go. The main road to the sites borders on a public road, so all of the sites on that end of the loops and the ones that are on that main road do get some road noise, but it was never too terrible. For being a prairie and cliffs park, most of the sites were fairly shaded. We were not on top of our neighbors either which is always a nice bonus. So like I said, it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t amazing, it was just nice.
Come for the Activities, Stay for the Bison
I cannot express to you how much we enjoyed the activities at this park and the surrounding area. The prairie is stunning and we had a great time teaching the kiddos about the bison and what happened to them. We saw so many birds and plants we hadn’t had a chance to see before and really gave our plant and bird guidebooks a good workout. The camping was just fine, but what you seriously want to focus on here is the hiking, flora and fauna, climbing (or watching the climbers if you don’t climb), and the local community. Have you been to Blue Mounds State Park before? What did you think? Will you be heading there soon? Let me know in the comments below.
