Blue Mound State Park

Blue Mound State Park                 

Aug 28- Sep 1

66e

40 electrical sites

13 miles of hiking trails
dump station in park

A neighbor's farm cats love to come at visit campers in homes for food.

There a number of trails to hike at the park.  One runs along the fenced in Buffalo area.  

With beautiful views 

sometimes you can only see the buffalo from a distance

Other times you can see them from a platform next to the road.  

We sat there watching them for more than a hour.  

Blue Mound State Park has 140 Buffalo with a pure blood line.  We are so lucky to have a state investing in saving and preserving the animal's blood line, breeding animals without defects.  Next year Blue Mound will be offering jeep rides to the buffalo because you might not see them in this vast park.  Not many states are preserving these animals.  It is nice to see two Minnesota State Park with Buffalo and soon one more to add to the mix.  

Upper Sioux Agency

Upper Sioux  or Yellow Medicine Indian Agency

Upper Sioux Agency State Park

Upper Sioux Agency State Park              

Aug 25-28

19e

14 electrical sites

 Three 18 feet diameter canvas tipis located in the main campground, yellow medicine River.

18 miles of hiking trails

View from one of our hikes

views are quite and peaceful

From the Upper Sioux Agency Site you can follow the trial to see the grave site of Mazomani.  He was the leader of the Wahpetonwan who died during the Dakota Sioux War in 1862.  

His story and many others during this time was so tragic.  It was at these site I got a better understanding on how badly we treated the American Indians during the Civil War. 

See Upper Sioux Agency 

 Roads around the camp ground

 Our site below shaded by trees

Nearest dump station located in Granite Falls near water treatment plant on US Highway 212

Upper Sioux State Park - Aug 25-28th

Upper Sioux State Park

Aug 25-28th

19e
14 electrical sites
18 miles of hiking trails
No dump station in park

There is no dump station in the park, but Granite Falls water treatment plant on hwy 212 has a dump station.

The park of frogs and tipi.  

Three Tipies to choose from

roads in side of the campground

Wicked Tree at the entrance of campground

Myre-Big Island State Park

Myre-Big Island State Park

July 28-30

15e

32 Electrical sites

16 miles of Hiking Trails
Dump in White Fox Campground

Site 15e is 120 feet long, but the power is near the front of the site.  If you had  a pop up camper too with your camper, this site would be ideal for a large party.  Lots of space for tents too.  The end of the site has a 30x30 cement slab, prefect for a group to gather on.

 It has a fire pit.

 Water is on the far side of the site.  Not close to hooping it up to your rig, but close to refill your tanks by pails of water.

 Lots of room still in front of the truck.

 You can see the power pole near the tree to the right.

Jay Cook State Park - July 6-9

Jay Cook State Park                  

     July 6-9

  

1e

21 electrical sites

50 miles of hiking trails
dump station in park

The first site on the left was the one we picked for this trip.  1e, which is 49 feet long.  Because of where it is your left side faces the woods.  The fire pit and table is mostly hidden.  This site also has a tent square space for each area.  Behind site 1e is a nice area to sit before the edge of the site, which is more woods.  Other than the main road which everyone walk, rides bikes, drives down and yells to family, it was a nice location.   

The dump station is down the main road to the very end.  This is were you can get clean water.  But after filling the tank you must exit the camp ground and go across the road and pass the ranger station to head back in the right direction to enter sites 1, 2 and 3.  

There are 50 miles of trails to hike, 8 miles of paved trails to bike, 13 miles of mountain bike trails and 6 miles for horse back riding.  We hiked part of the CCC trail and the Forbay trail along the Forbay Lake to see where the flood damaged the park back in 2015.  You could see where the dykes were repair by bring in lots of rock and a cement drainage area to control the spill over.  The Superior Hiking trail runs through the park.  We visited swinging bridge which was rebuilt four times in it's lifespan.  Pictures of the bridges can be found near the bridge.

The camp ground and range station is located on 210 which end at why 13 due to the flood in 2015.  They are still working the road when we were there.