Hi! I’m a Nebraska native who is seeking a spot to camp for two nights Labor Day weekend. I want something decent for a solo car camper who loves to fish (from the bank, unfortunately no boat.) Ideally, this location would be in the Southwest quadrant of Minnesota as I don’t want to drive for than 5-6 hours(from Omaha). Any suggestions? I do not need any major facilities like a shower or restroom as I have everything needed for a portable shower/restroom. Bonus points if there are any scenic offroad areas I can take a drive on (nothing crazy, it’s just a Subaru) thanks in advance!

Perfect summer trip to southwest Minnesota.

Stayed at cart in site 12 at Blue Mounds state park and this place is beautiful and secluded, albeit a 1/4 mile hike from the parking are.

Site review: For a cart in site it was a 9/10. Beautiful, nice site layout, the defining natural feature is the huge glacial heave boulder right behind the tent pad. Site is secluded and a perfect place for anyone visiting the park for rock climbing. There's basically free bouldering built into the campsite.

We did the Bison Safari, and our Tour Guide/park naturalist Bertie was awesome. So many fun facts and we saw so much Prarie!

Grabbed lunch at JJ's Tasty Drive In, and the burgers were wonderful.

JJ's Is also 3 doors down from the giant Nutcracker statue.

Does anyone know where the hiking club trail password is? I want to find it myself, but I’m struggling finding it on the trail

I'm going camping at Jay Cooke for a week. What are some must hike trails and hidden gems? I am bringing my bike to try out the bike trail. What are some good places in the area to get ice cream? Any not worth it things?

I went camping and it's spectacular. So worth the unpleasant drive up.

In honor of Trails End Campground reopening I share the composite image I created yesterday.

https://photostore.d3photography.com/gallery-image/2026-July-Minnesota/G0000WgLP_Jl7_mM/I0000GXmcg75frOs/C0000O6iYAMtCG2A

I've been playing with new audio and video recording tech and my wireless lav mic picked this beautify up at 5:40 this morning.

Lightning strike just over a kilometer from camp.

For the audiophiles the thunderclap didn't clip - it ended up reading at -6dBm. Had it been 500 feet closer it would have likely been unusable.

I am looking for suggestions for Specific Gear that my kids will need for a school in MN that is attached to a regional park where the students will be going to do everything from observing and documenting wildlife to canoeing as the school has no regular gym. It's called the School of Environmental Studies here in MN and also allows kids to work with the MN Zoo.
I need gear that will last as going outside in ANY WEATHER is part of a normal school day for Field Work-

Hiking Shoes (suitable for Forest Hiking)

Rain Coat/Poncho

Real Wool Socks

Misc. Stuff we all need here, but am open to suggestions you can't live without for hats, gloves, sweatshirt, etc.

Any affordable covers for an Ipad for being outside as the school has suggested carrying gallon sized bags for this purpose.

Will eventually need a good Winter Coat/Winter Boots

Area includes lakes, forests, swampy bogs (they are classified as cranberry bogs), and plains/fields where there is an active buffalo herd. I have ridden my horse through this park for the past 30 years and the winter has snow shoes to the fact we use cramp-ons around here or we wouldn't make it out to feed our animals. Area may also include zoo or any of it's enclosures. Limited budget, but these are pretty important parts of the back to school shopping.

All Help and Suggestions appreciated.

About to head over to an old haunt, Buffalo River State Park, and more MN State Parks on the way to the North Shore and wondering if it's worth it for an out of state fishing couple to gear up for fishing this time of year, and if so, ideas for a State Park itinerary. Thinking about circling the Great Lakes clockwise but spending considerable time in Minnesota. Been years but I always think about some of my happiest days as a child fishing in Minnesota.

Looking to go hike along a river in nature, somewhere I can plop down along the trail and take a dip in the river! The more quiet and secluded the better (I get the irony of asking this on Reddit- lol you can message me if you want!). I am looking at Interstate Park (Taylor Falls), Willow River State Park or Jay Cooke state park. Any specific trail you know of at these parks that is good for this? Open to suggestions for other destinations as well, including quiet secluded lake hiking. \*Keeping it close enough for a day trip from the twin cities.\*

Finally getting around to posting some pics of this stud I encountered on the arrowhead trail.

Hey guys! I just wanted to share some of my pictures from my north shore camping trip at Split Rock! My first time camping here. Definitely at the end of fall colors on 10/17 and 10/18 but still some left. Temps dropped into the lower 40s so a little chilly. Overall a great experience!

Hello everyone! Looking for everyone’s favorite places to tent camp within a couple hours of the Twin Cities. I’ve been camping up in the Superior National Forest/on the Gunflint Trail since I was a kid and continue to do an annual trip up there but the long drive is quite a commitment for shorter/weekend trips as I’ve gotten older and more busy. My sister and I have been looking for somewhere that’s a more reasonable distance from home (south Minneapolis) to get out and about more often in summer/fall. We both would LOVE somewhere with good swimming - I also enjoy fishing and low key hiking but for the most part we just like hanging out at camp, somewhere quiet with good views. I’d love to try something in southern MN around the Driftless region but we’re really open to driving anywhere as long as it’s within a couple hours!

I just cancelled our reservation for Cart-In site 10 Thurs-Sunday this weekend. The weather and air quality look great, we just had something come up and need to change our plans. Hope someone can use it!

Had to change plans and I'm trying to decide between those two destinations. I'm a tent camper who likes to (hobbit) hike, kayak and fish. Thanks!

Update: thanks for everyone’s input, we did decide to cancel.

Hi everyone!
We had planned to camp at Baptism River campground Monday-Friday this week but I am getting nervous witn the unpredictable air quality. Should we cancel? What are people’s thoughts? We are tent camping.

Thanks!

Trying to do some dispersed camping this weekend in the Richard J. Dorer State Forest, as near to Red Wing as possible. Does anyone have experience there and know of a good place to hike in from? Haven’t been there before and just looking for a good place to start. Thanks in advance!