La Salle Lake State Recreation Area — Hotel in Bemidji

We love La Salle! It is definitely becoming more well known. Last year, you could get a campsite pretty easily, but this year, it has been full a lot of the summer, so book early if you want to camp.

Park: At the top of the hill, there is a park, picnic area, fire pit, maps, and restrooms. The park has a sandy area, balancing logs, a wooden tent/teepee to play on and in, and a wooden tunnel. This park is smaller, but would appeal to both younger and older kids. Its more of just a climb around and explore type of park.

Picnic area: There is a nice pavilion with picnic tables located by the firepit and playground at the top of the hill.

Firepit: There is a beautiful firepit with wooden benches located by the park and picnic area.

Beach/dock: At the bottom of the hill, there is a small dock that you can fish off of, and a sandy area to swim. The lake is absolutely gorgeous.

Hiking trails: There are well maintained trails with maps throughout the park. Good for beginner/medium level hikers, nothing too extreme.

Campground: This is my favorite part. They have full hookups, huge sites, trees, and fairly good privacy. In the middle, there is a restroom and shower area. The road dead ends, so there is not a ton of traffic going through. The campground is not located on the lake, but you can drive or hike to it.

Cabins: There are a couple of cabins down the road that has the lake access, I have not stayed in them, but they look very nice and have a good location by the...

This is strictly regarding the hiking club trail. Finding the entrance to this trail was an absolute mess. Google Maps was no help, and while AllTrails showed the correct location right by the road, I was too skeptical to trust it at first. Instead, I found another road with a "La Salle Scientific Area" sign but no clear direction—so I decided to give it a shot. Turns out, it was just a snowmobile area where I, in my rush, slipped like an idiot. I wandered in a bit, hoping to see some sort of sign, but there was nothing. Frustrated, I went back to where AllTrails originally pointed (on the road, of course). Finally, I spotted a tiny, old hiking club sign that read "La Salle Scientific Area." The parking situation? A tiny, muddy pull-off by the road—not exactly reassuring. But at this point, I was determined (mostly for the trail password, let’s be honest). Then I saw a gate. It looked closed, but when I got closer, it was actually slightly open—probably because they knew people would be mad trying to find this place. The trail itself? A super narrow path through tall grass and prairie, with absolutely nowhere to move if someone suddenly popped out (which was mildly terrifying). Honestly, this is a ridiculously poor way to mark a hiking club trail. It all made sense when the ranger at Itasca casually handed me the park stamp, saying people struggle to find this place. Well, yeah—if there's no visible entrance, how are people supposed...

We had both a campsite and a cabin. The campsite was spacious and well-enough away from the next area, I felt it was good for either a tent or an RV. The campsite had WiFi! The driving paths were well-kept and level. The bathroom building was awesome! There's a table with coloring books for the kids and about 10 little bathrooms down a hallway with a toilet, sink, and shower. A lot of privacy and very clean! The rest of our party stayed in the Lone Wolf cabin and it was cool all day, had 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a nice deck with 4 basic lawn chairs. It included WiFi and satellite TV! 4 chairs with a table and dishes but no real pots/pans and no dish towels, but some utensils for cooking and eating. Fridge, stove, and a propane grill and picnic table. The walking paths were well-kept down to a huge dock and swimming or fishing area. We also hiked up to the overlook where the Mississippi River meets with another one. There were 3 trails to get up there and one path (A) was very overgrown and seemingly forgotten. Once we got through that part, it was all very very nice and I will definitely...