Sand Dunes State Forest — Attraction in Orrock Township

Sand Dunes State Park “Beach” – or as I like to call it, “20 Steps of Regret” 🏖️🙃

If you’re dreaming of a peaceful beach day or a scenic spot to relax... keep dreaming—and keep driving.

My boyfriend and I followed a nice little trail with sturdy wooden steps, thinking we were in for a hidden gem. It was covered, even—fancy! But the second we stepped onto the “beach,” we stopped dead in our tracks. Why? Because that was pretty much the whole beach. It’s tiny. I mean, tiny. Like, 20 steps from end to end. You could pitch four single tents and run out of sand.

There were a handful of locals already there, sunbathing, fishing, and unintentionally turning it into an obstacle course. Imagine threading your way between people and beach towels just to dip your toe in while p people are watching you. Honestly, fishing in that cramped space felt like a bad accident waiting to happen—hooking a kid instead of dinner.

We touched the water (to say we did), looked at each other, and left. No photos. No regrets—except for stopping in the first place, was happy we didn’t go far out of our way to check it out. It was on our way back home. 😅

Unless you live five minutes away, skip this one. Minnesota has so many better spots. Don’t waste your time on this spot unless there's a geocahe or something else that...

Come here often. It’s great to swim for the day at lake Anne. The reason I don’t give this more is because they’ve removed the garbage cans from the beach and there is no upkeep of the bathrooms. People now use the broken bathroom for trash because again they removed the dumpster for visitors and just expect everyone to clean up (wish it was that easy). Lots of deer and wild life. Lots of foraging opportunities. The campground roads could use help, there are questionable visitors that over stay and make the place a mess. There are couples fighting the few last times we were there screaming at night and teenagers lighting fireworks off in the park. I don’t think people clean the fire rings out as often as they should, people end up bringing their garbage. It’s a fun beach day at lake Anne for kids or to go float and paddle board. Lots of pan fish. Loons are present too. There isn’t really a lot of trails, you could walk them all in a day. I wish there was more upkeep to the state forest because there are so many opportunities to explore. They really could use some help picking up the things people dump and making sure there isn’t glass all over. Again it’s a fun spot locally but I wouldn’t seek it out as someone looking for a camping trip expecting it to be like...

This is a great no-frills campground that's a perfect distance from the twin cities for a weekend trip! It has a lot of sites and all are nicely spaced out and fairly private with plenty of trees. We stayed in a walk-in site and they're all tucked well into the woods, with views overlooking the lake. In October there weren't any bugs and there were abundant downed sticks to use for kindling. The nearby hiking trails are winding and hilly, quite pretty with the fall colors and the trails are carpeted in places with golden pine needles. It's not a bad walk from the campground to the beach, which is small but sandy and seems like a great spot for a summer swim (we didn't really see "Dunes" but all the paths were sandy and the ground seemed relatively smooth and soft for sleeping on in a tent). Dinged a star mainly because two of the three potable water spigots were out of service which made it a hike to the front of the campground to refill jugs, but maybe that'll be fixed for...