happyly approved

Interstate State Park

Interstate State Park, Milltown Road, Taylors Falls, MN, USA

8 am - 10 pm

$$

camping, road-trips, outdoor-adventures, hikes

This breathtaking park is our busiest State Park situated really close to the Twin Cities.

I'll be honest...I actually never knew until recently that the proper name of this park is Interstate. Everyone around the Twin Cities just simply calls it "Taylors Falls" so, naturally, that's what I thought the name was. It's not! Well, apparently being a Minnesota Annual State Parks Pass owner doesn't mean I know the parks!

This park is super busy, which cannot be overstated. We got lucky and planned our most recent visit on a somewhat cooler fall day. It was still a gorgeous day to visit, but what we found was much thinner crowds than we likely otherwise would have found here. I'll be honest, I may have felt at some point that this park is almost overrated, but our recent visit reminded me just how special it really is. Now, that being said, I'm still not a huge fan of the crowds here, so I do recommend choosing either a shoulder season visit, a less than perfect weather day, or a weekday visit here. The other reason why I would almost say that this particular state park is overrated is that we simply have so many other gorgeous state parks close to the Twin Cities that don't receive nearly the same visitors or hype.

That being said, Interstate State Park is truly a gem. Now, there are two main areas to this state park, with two different entrances and parking areas. On our recent visit, we visited both portions, and I'll say they are both very different, yet very worth visiting. First, we headed to the beach area. This portion of the park is definitely the less popular area, but interestingly, my kids simply adored it. We played along the shores of the St. Croix River, searching for shells and 'sea glass' to observe and organize. This is one of the kids' favorite pastimes, and they'd have stayed on the beach here all day. We got really lucky and saw one of the famous paddleboats pass us on the river. This was so exciting! The girls waved eagerly to the boaters, and many of them waved back, which led to squeals of delight! We climbed the nearby logs and explored the forest before heading to the main Taylors Falls area.

The other portion of the park has the vibe that I find so classically Taylors Falls, and it's the vibe of an 'up north' park. Interestingly, this park is not actually 'up north' but somehow the mature trees and dense forest cover, coupled with the rugged, rocky riverside really remind me of northern Minnesota. The trails here are definitely not stroller-friendly, as they're super rugged and uneven. But, even so, we saw many older people visiting the park, so getting around easily cannot be totally discounted. This portion of the park features huge boulders and I can remember, even as a kid, visiting here and delighting in climbing the boulders for hours. Be advised, there are portions of this park where the huge rocky climbing areas border a huge, steep drop off the cliffside, so be very, very careful with little ones when off the trail. Even with our kids being older than toddlers, I had a rule that they could not pass Mommy on the inner parkside, and I had to go first in order to make sure we were far from the cliffside. With this rule strictly enforced, we had a blast climbing the rocky area. One famous aspect of this park are the glacial potholes. This is a rare phenomenon you can witness close-up here, plus Interstate is also home to the deepest glacial pothole in the world! These fascinating geological phenomenons were created thousands of years ago. There's also a half-mile Glacier Pothole Trail loop which is a definite must-do while visiting.

I highly recommend a visit to this stunning Minnesota State Park!

Features

Parking Restrooms Hiking Scenic Views Trails River views Scenic Walk
Thoughtfully captured by:
Heidi Keller
Heidi Keller was born in the mountains of Northern Idaho, and raised in Minnesota. She completed her undergraduate degrees at the University of Minnesota and has begun graduate studies through the University of North Dakota. She fell in love with traveling at a young age, and her passion has only grown since then. She is passionate about photography, traveling, scuba diving, reading, nature, and any creative projects. But, most of all, she's passionate about spending quality time with her kiddos. She is also an advocate for making reading together a core part of family life with kiddos.
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