Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area — Attraction in Saint Lawrence Township

Good place for mushroom hunters. As long as you’re cautious with identifying the stuff here, you may come home with dinner from this place. As long as it’s rained recently, I found delicious chicken of the woods. (Be careful though! Only do it if you know what you’re doing) We got wild chicken of the woods mushroom from this place, and at the time of writing this, we have a plate of it. The mushroom is a bit dry though, because it hasn’t rained a lot recently. Also we did this as late as October. Here’s a picture: (yeah, maybe we should move the plate farther from the edge of the table.) Anyways, about the trail itself: it is a trail that often gets really muddy. (Watch your step!) it is right next to the river, as you know, and it’s surrounded by forest. Also there’s an area with lots of really old trees (5 of them, to be exact) Five stars! (It does get really muddy, though) (We’ve also went here quite a few times before learning about the fact it has...

I grew up here riding the trails. Later in life I was a park ranger for Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

I wish the camp ground was still active. We took such good care of this park, including the boat landing. Anyone, especially from Minneapolis, could take a 45 minute drive out of the City and enjoy this park. Unfortunately the mndnr.com took it away from us based on their salary and budget picks.

This is one of the best places to see migrating birds in summer and fall, has the best trails to walk for families and all.

This is one of the best parks, close to the City, to be able to enjoy camping and outdoor fun. It is extremely unfortunate the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has taken away this...

This trail is more than a loop, but i could only pick one. It has a couple loops and a couple out and back legs off the loops. The trail we were on was grassy and dirt. Very well marked and the maps are easy to read and understand. There is a hand pump well of drinking water (also the water I used to wash my hands) right by the parking lot we parked in. The water tasted good and was cold. There is a river that runs by the trail we were on. We heard a beaver slap its tail in the water. We seen a turtle on a log in the river. We also seen rabbits, deer, cardinals, woodpeckers and heard an owl and some frogs in the ponds throughout our adventure. It's a beautiful park. There wasn't alot of people there the day...