Sica Hollow State Park — Attraction in Heipa District

Absolutely incredible. I honestly cannot wait to come back here when it's green. In my opinion the nature trail is overrated, its a little muddy and there are trails connected to it that are not on the trail map that are misleading. Once I got on the horse trail though... Oh. My. God. Climbing out of the valley to see the Minnesota River Prairie behind me was breathtaking. Lots of hills, bring water. The trails on the south side of the park are more winding that the north side of the park, so if you want a more direct route from the top to the bottom of the coteau (or vice versa), use the northern trails. I eventually got to the top of the coteau using the south trails, and the view is absolutely incredible. 600 feet of elevation gain to get up there, to see all of it and another 200 more feet from the top is absolutely worth it. I walked along the north trails to get back, and then hit the slope, and I totally bombed the hill. I was behind the normal pace of 3 miles per hour until I hit that hill, and I made it back to the car ahead of pace. One thing about this park, once you are on the trail, you are in for the long haul. There is almost no access to park roads from either the south or north trails, so make sure you know what you're doing and where you are going. 6 and two thirds miles. Any experienced hiker looking for a challenge that doesn't have time to make it to the Black Hills or the north shore in Minnesota should absolutely try here. The 6.6 mile...

Great hiking, nice mix of forest and prairie. It's Oct now & the maples have turned so the primary color is yellow with dashes of orange & green. This being SD, the wind has blown down a lot of leaves, now. Paths with most maples are down in the Hollow, so get here before 5, or even 4pm for best sunlight. If you are sure-footed & can hike a hill, take the horse path across the road from the vault toilet and climb up for a scenic overlook of the whole Hollow, or take the 1st left & enjoy a crunchy still-leafy trail that winds across that S slope & to the road. Horsepath trails with the most still-leafy trees are towards the W end of the park & on the S slopes of the N hills. But make no mistake, most of these paths have sections of challenging hill-age. White spur trail/gravel road is mostly leafless at this point. Road thru the park is also beautiful & winding & about 2mi long, with an option to turnaround at the horse camp picnic area or you can continue onto the gravel into a...

The park seems like a great place to check out during the summer and early fall (I didn't get there till the leaves were all gone). I would definitely stay away on a rainy day and the next few days after, as the trails here are fairly muddy. Speaking of trails, the bridges, which are made entirely of wood, are some of the most wobbly bridges I've ever crossed in my life and should probably be replaced immediately (along with most of the other wooden features including steps and erosion prevention measures). I was kind of disapointed by the overlook as it wasn't a good view (that I found) over the edge and was blocked by trees (it would be cool if they built an observation tower :)). The only camping options available that I saw were horse camping, which seemed to be the best way to enjoy the park (many long horse trails on the ridges and into...