As we were driving from Walnut Grove towards Rochester, Minnesota, where we planned to spend the night, I wanted to find something for us to do around Mankato to finish out our Little House on the Prairie trail. One place that sounded interesting was the Minneopa State Park.
The Minneopa State Park is about six miles southwest of Mankato. There are two main parts of the State Park: the bison conservation area and the double-waterfall area.
We started with the Bison drive. This is a drive on a dirt road through the Bison conservation area where the state is working to rebuild the bison population. The state park daily vehicle fee is $7 and you have to pay on your phone through an app for your entry fee. It took me about as long to figure out how to get that done as it did for us to drive through.
There are plenty of warnings about being careful of the bison, but for us, we didn't see any up close. They were way off on the side of the enclosure, so we had to go up to the viewing area and zoom in with the camera to get a view. We had better views of bison when we were at the Wichita National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. But it's very cool what they are doing there to help with bison conservation.
The other part of the state park is nearby, and that's where the double waterfall is located. They have a really nice walking path and bridge that take you to the upper falls, and then you can walk around for a view of the lower falls. The path to the base of the lower falls was closed. Here are some pictures of the falls and a short video.
After we visited Minneopa State Park, we headed to Rochester, Minnesota, for the night. We stayed near the Mayo Clinic. There were a few restaurants nearby that we could walk to. We chose Canadian Honker which was very good, and what a fun name!
Here's a view from our hotel room. We are leaving from Minnesota the next morning.
~ Cindy D.
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