Whitewater State Park — Attraction in St. Charles

This is a nice state park. There are several points of interest in the park. There's a beach that you can drive to. Most of the others require you to hike at least some distance, and have stairs from the road (or nearest ground path) to the point of interest.

Most of the hiking is pretty challenging, and at times I was wondering where the line between hiking and rock climbing starts. Some of the hiking trails go up very steep inclines. Some of those inclines are rocky, and basically require you to "climb" over rocks. Most of the inclines were just mud paths, so definitely don't try it in the rain.

We stayed in "cart in 4". It was a pretty cool campsite right on the river. The site was very shaded so there was pretty limited sun in that site. The bugs weren't too bad. Like most people mention, there aren't a whole lot of mosquitos here. There are some, along with some flies - some of which are the biting variety. There was a food locker here - which saved us from the raccoons and the pocket gophers that came into our camp almost immediately and took food while we were setting up camp. That's part of the experience.

If I had anything negative to say, it's that nearly all of the points of interest are really just high places on the ridgeline. Chimney rock being the exception - which is a pretty cool thing to see. I'm deathly afraid of heights, and a lot of the trails on the ridgeline follow steep drop offs on at least one side. Add to that the muddy terrain and the fact that you have to climb over large rocks on occasion and there are seldom trees nearby to grab onto and I was constantly in fear of falling to my death. By our third day there, I'd had enough of being freaked out. Also, literally everywhere you looked was either wild parsnip, or stinging nettle. It's completely impossible to avoid. In fact, there are paths that run directly through huge patches of both, and at one point we turned around because the wild parsnip had grown so close to the path that it was actually...

Love this park! The semi-modern campground is by the trout stream and for those with tents the cart-in sites are second to none. For families there are swimming and picnic areas, fishing and even a separate gift shop. However I come for the hiking, which is the best in the MN State Park system outside of the North Shore. The hiking is quite challenging but with fantastic views. I recommend a walking stick for hikers who are less sure of foot. For the first time I had my greyhounds with me at the park and took a dawn walk on the hiking club trail. This turned out to be very challenging for the dogs: something like a sure-footed pittie, or a small dog you could carry would probably be fine. At the beginning there was a creek crossing on stepping stones. The water was high and the stepping blocks were not even and the dogs were rightfully unsure. The subsequent climb on switchbacks led to a spectacular ridge walk ending at Coyote point (be aware that if you do not like heights there is a sheer cliff on one side for some of the trail and at one point on both sides). Rue anemones carpeted the ridge amongst the trees and there was a cacophony of birdsong. Then came the next dog-unfriendly obstacle: a ladder. There was a little width to the steps and the dogs managed to get down but it was very dicey. So my bottom line is that this particular trail is not dog friendly for certain breeds and I would never take my greyhounds on it again. For a similar walk with spectacular views I recommend climbing the stairs from the meadow to Eagle Point, following the ridge along the Dakota trail and returning via the valley trail. There is also a very nice flat there-and-back trail along Trout Creek, but it also has some challenging creek crossings in high water. I did this particular walk on an earlier trip and the fungi were incredible. I saw more species of fungi on this one walk than I had ever seen in the...

Terrific state park deep in the Whitewater river valley. Hot August weekend 2024.

Excellent amenities. Paved roads through the camp sites that drastically reduce dust. The drive in electric sites have solid pads with a generous amount of gravel.

The sites are heavily wooded and we couldn't see nor hear any of our neighbors all weekend.

The only problem we had was the 30a circuit kept tripping the breaker because the electric box was in the direct sun and the whole box was burning hot to touch (from the sun, not electricity). We put a popup shade canopy over the box and after it cooled down it stopped tripping.

The showers and restrooms were very clean but the showers were out of hot water by 8pm when we used them. The facilities use a combination of rooftop hot water tubes that heat water, and traditional hot water heaters as well. But it was a hot and sweaty day so the showers were very busy and we had to wait for one of the four to vacate. Oh, and that particular shower had an improperly sloped floor so there was standing water in the dry changing area (second shower from the left).

The hike up to chimney Rock and continuing to inspiration point is highly recommended.

The water at the beach is much warmer than the nearby river but it's also a bit dirty and cloudy.

The park office is super friendly helpful. They sale ice and firewood, along with some very basic camping supplies.

There was no cell service for either T-Mobile or Verizon. You're at the bottom...