Moose Lake State Park — Attraction in Moose Lake Township

Small state park that is very easy to access off interstate 35. There's only a few miles of hiking trails and a small drive-in campground (three loops). Our site, number 5, was on an incline which was extremely annoying for pitching a tent but ended up saving us from floating away during the downpour of rain. The toilets aren't very easy to access, kind of a walk, but were very clean (no hand sanitizer in the primitive toilets). The campsite host was extremely friendly and kind. We rented a canoe/paddles/life preservers and enjoyed paddling around Echo Lake all weekend. It's a very popular lake for fishing and tubing. Some of the folks in motorized boats weren't respectful and sped through creating massive wakes for the kayaks and canoes. We spent a lot of time at the beach and experienced several large family groups that were fishing and swimming with highly inappropriate behaviors. I tend to always rate state parks very high, but the negatives overshadowed the positive at this park. The park rangers were awesome - huge shout-out to the lady rangers that helped with firewood...

Will say it is like Father Hennepin in being a small park (though it is bigger than Father). You can easily hike it in one day and still have time. It appeared the campground was packed during my visit and I did spy several people multiple times.

There was work being done by bobcats in the area moving trees I believe so the NW trails were a bit chewed up at the time. Also there is a random circular clearing in the north that I can only assume to be used by the local occultists.

I'm not too much of a fan having a highway cutting through a park but you can't change that.

The northern half seemed more rugged at times and saw only one person.

Southern section is pretty flat for the the most part. West loop had amazing trees changing colors and one steep hill. Lake looks calm and peaceful with a beach, fishing dock and a small boat landing. There was one "extreme" trail difficulty that yields super tall trees to make one feel extra small in the universe.

Small, charming and...

Nice little park off 35. Fishing on the lake is fun and there are some nice hiking trails. The sound from the highway is a bit loud all times of the year, unfortunately, but that's what you get with a park right off the highway! I have enjoyed this park many times throughout the years.

Currently there are some black bears in the park (mom and 2 cubs) and the website does not warn you of this. You only find out once you get to the park they have a bear problem. We had a bear cub right in the middle of our walk in site (#28) when we returned from a 1 hour trip to the fishing pier, so we decided not to spend the night in our tents. Honestly, I'm pretty disappointed that the website does not warn visitors of this issue as it seems to be pretty...