Kilen Woods State Park — Attraction in Jackson

Kilen Woods State Park – Beautiful Park, Unwelcoming Host

The natural beauty of Kilen Woods State Park is undeniable. Rolling prairies, river bluffs, and quiet trails make it a peaceful spot for a hike or a relaxing overnight stay. The campground appeared clean, well-kept, and inviting, and the park itself is a nice example of southern Minnesota scenery.

Unfortunately, our arrival left a very different impression. The state employee on duty was the least welcoming I’ve ever encountered at a Minnesota state park. He glared at us as we pulled in, never put out his cigarette, never asked if we needed help, and gruffly lingered outside without stepping into the building to provide assistance. The experience felt like we were intruding on his smoking break rather than visiting a public park supported by taxpayer dollars.

Because of that first impression, the park felt uninviting despite its natural charm. If you plan to visit, I’d recommend arriving after hours to enjoy the scenery and campground without dealing with an unpleasant reception. The park itself is worth a short stop, but the service experience was a major...

This park has the potential to be a much nicer park, just feels neglected. There are 5 miles of hiking trails in the park, none of which were mowed and it looked like it's been a while since they had been mowed. We tried to suffer through the unbearable trails to try to see all this park has to offer. The best thing about this park are the bathrooms and showers, they have lockable shower rooms with warm/hot water. And the bathrooms were clean. We camped at Walk-in camp #2, which seems like the best camping spot at the park - Private, large, tent pad is sandy and elevated slightly which helps keep the tent dry, but there were a few trip hazards, nails sticking out due to the structure they nailed around the tent area rotting away. Also just way too much rotting wood in the walk-in sites area which invites dozens of black flies to the camp. So could be a nice park. Just...

Stay away! The exposed sites - i.e. not many trees, are completely at the mercy of the high winds in the area. There is a reason that there are so many wind-farms in this part of the state. Massive bridge collapse on the state hiking club trail, but none of the employees were aware of it. I explained where it was, but they kept mistaking it for other bridges - I had to spend five minutes explaining where the bridge was and showing them on the map. At no point during the memorial day weekend were any actual park rangers on site. I had to speak with the campground host and contractors who were at the park to clean bathrooms. Overall a terrible experience - the small campground had several open sites on a Memorial Day weekend, and there is a good reason that they were not full on such a busy camping weekend.... that reason is that this is a...