Tag Archives: stairs

Whitewater State Park, Altura, MN

Whitewater State Park, 19041 MN-74, Altura, MN 55910

Did someone say stairs?  Whitewater State Park has stairs and great views from high places.  It has a river with a swimming area and plenty of places to fish.  The trail goes through some amazing wooded areas, possibly the most beautiful wooded areas I have ever seen.

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There are easy trails and even easier ways to walk some of the more difficult trails depending on where you start.  We started near the camping area and looked at the nature center with the stuffed animals.  The area has timber rattle snakes, but it isn’t much of a concern.  Outside on the opposite side of the parking lot from the ranger station is a place to get drinking water.  No need to get water directly from the well just outside.

Next we drove over to the picnic area.  If you wonder into that area there are plenty of tables and a swimming hole.

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There is a trail called Chimney Rock Trail which we didn’t get to, but we could see from the trail we took.  It is mostly uphill, but if our view was any indication of their view, it looked amazing.

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We took the Dakota Trail which starts with stairs, lots of stairs.  You climb up and up and up.  We say some hawks flying around when we got to the top.

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What you step as you walk along the edge of the cliff.  The path is plenty wide and a tree would probably stop you decent, but you do need to pay attention.  What an amazing view at the top and all along this part of the path.

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The path splits, but we stayed on the Dakota Trail down to the river.  The flowers along the way were very pretty and I just loved walking through those trees.

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Walking through these trees was so peaceful.  They were spread out just enough that they didn’t feel imposing.  Other than the views it was my favorite part of the trail.

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At the river you got to cross over a floating bridge.  It isn’t nearly as scary as it looks.  The water isn’t deep so if you do fall off you can just walk out.

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Overall it is a pretty calm river.  Even at its wider points it isn’t too deep.  At least not from what I could see.  Looks like a great place to caught trout possibly.

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I had a good time.  Even with the stairs the trail wasn’t bad.  We saw some other people pretty far on the trail.  The views are worth the climb.  The larger birds were pretty neat.  The views on the trail varied a lot which was nice.  I would like to return and see the views from Chimney Rock.

If you live near this park go and check it out.  Take a picnic.  Swim if you like.  Walk the trails.  There was an area near the picnic tables perfect for a game of kickball or Frisbee or football.  Overall this is a pretty great place.

The camping areas seemed a bit close together as we drove through that part of the park.  There really isn’t a reason for anyone to be driving around there except that the roads are a little confusing through the park, at least the first time that you are there.

Overall I would recommend visiting this park and snapping some of your own pics.