Wild River State Park, Minnesota

I recently spent a night at Wild River State park with my brother and my two year old son. I found it to be an enjoyable park to visit, although I still prefer Afton for a quick get-away close to the Twin Cities.


Check out my Flickr page for a few photos of the campsites and trails.


We opted to staying the backpacking sites, rather than the car camping park, so I'll speak only to those. Although they call them backpacking sites, they are treated more as car camping park; you pay and select your site at the office and they give you a tag to hang at a post in front of your site. That being said its only a couple mile walk, so changing sites would be a simple matter. The actual trails are cross country ski trails--mowed in the summer--that pass through new growth forest as well as prairie. Although winter camping is permitted, no hiking or snow shoing is allowed on the groomed trails, so you would have to ski in with your gear. The trails were full of short steep hills. I've been dabbling in classic cross country skiing for three winters now, but I would not attempt these trails, at least not with a pack or bob.

Although the trails were not particularly scenic, there as enough wildlife to make it a good camping experience for kids We saw toads, a snail, and (my son's favorite) giant spider webs drawn taught like the traps they were across the trail.

We chose Aspen Knob site to pitch camp. It was positioned at the top a steep hill as the name suggests, will an ample flat spot for our large tent and probably room for another. A trail at the back led to a pit toilet screened on two sides by a mossy fence. The site also sported a large picnic table and a steel fire ring. There was plenty of downed wood available without venturing far from camp and I spotted no poison ivy. Mosquitoes, on the other hand swarmed in abundance. Not unexpected for an August Minnesota camping trip, but they could easily have ruined our trip were it not for the long, lightweight clothing, face nets, and 100% DEET we packed in. As it was my son was bitten quite badly since he would not keep the face net on. After our dinner of fire warmed brats, we explored the nearby trails. Dry Creek, as shown on the map lived up to its name and we had to make do with the gallon of water we packed in. We visited Breezy Valley campsite, set on the edge of the woods and overlooking a grassy valley. It also boasted what the Ranger described as an Adirondack Shelter, that is a small three sided log structure with a covered roof, as well as a nice view of a prairie grass valley.

After trekking back to camp we retired early to our tent, growing tired of the endless trips to the woods for the fast burning twigs and brush that composed our fire and the constant battle to keep the mosquitoes at bay.

In all it was memorable trip for my son and a fun time for the rest of us. That being said, for a quick outdoor getaway close to home, I'd choose Afton, with its supply of firewood that can be cut with a provided handsaw, drinking water well near the sites, and lower mosquito count. If you can spare the time, the drive to one of the nicer parks on the North Shore is certainly worth the trouble for a trip longer than overnight.