Fort Ridgely State Park — Hotel in New Ulm

A nice little historic state park in south-central MN. Busy but quiet, this state park offers decent hiking trails including thru beautiful restored prairie (best in July/Augist when flowers are blooming or grasses are turning golden brown), large campsites (some along the river, some near the restrooms) with large trees and decent amounts of grass, a very nice equestrian campground, the historic Fort Ridgely itself and two lookouts offering spectacular views of the Minnesota River valley.

Cell service is spotty in the campground and best at the Fort up on the bluff. Wifi is available at the park office.

Bugs can be heavy at this park, especially during the hot summer months, plan appropriately.

The restroom/shower building is new and nice but note there are only TWO showers for the entire campground so they can be busy, especially on packed weekends.

There is a Little Library here as well ( right outside the restrooms). Bring an old book to share.

The fort site offers a self-guided tour of the un-excavated grounds. Unfortunately many of the information placards have faded beyond recognition and are un-readable. Its also a good place to catch the breeze as the campground down in the valley does not often get any.

The historic picnic shelter is quite nice but currently has a roosting bat challenge and needs to be cleaned.

In winter, shift gears and rent out the Chalet and spend the afternoon sledding down the...

Between the fort fees and the golf course, it is clear that the administration of this park is far more concerned about making money than it is about wildlife or history.

My family and I made the hike from the campground to the fort site, per the recommendation of the ranger at the park entrance. However, I was disappointed to find out, only upon arriving in-person, that there was to be about a $21 fee just for my family to walk ourselves around the site - it felt like a bait & switch. The attendant said we could stay if we wanted to buy something from the gift shop, otherwise we'd need to leave the site. We didn't want to empty our pockets, so we left.

I was also very disappointed to find that the hiking path from the campground to the fort cuts through a golf course. First, golf courses do not belong in state parks; the DNR talks much about wildlife conservation, yet somehow your park justified mowing down and maintaining large tracts of useless grass. Second, as we walked along the marked hiking path through the golf course, some people golfing grew upset at us for interrupting their game, not that I can blame them; I'm sure they paid the park a lot of money to play.

The campsites themselves were fine, but between the unexpected fort fees and the emphasis on the golf course, I recommend you...

We spend a weekend in our travel trailer camping at Fort Ridgley State Park. The campgrounds are in a beautiful wooded ravine that was very nice to stay at. The only downside to this beautiful location is that there is absolutely no data or cell service in the campground area (no matter your cell phone provider). We even tried putting out a signal booster and nothing worked.

There are a couple of interesting short hikes. We hiked from the campground to the Fort which had some interested historical info on the Dakota battle that took place here. Then we also did the lookout hike which went up to the top of the hill for some nice views.

There is a big horse campground here are well, so beware of horse poop on the hiking trails.

When we went in May there were quite a few wood ticks; after we sprayed our pants and shoes with deet we didn't have any more issues with them.

There really isn't anything close to this park. The nearest bigger town was New Ulm which was pretty sad when we went there; a lot of the shops had closed down and it's pretty deserted. So, I would recommend for a quick weekend visit but nothing...