Eric and I visited Glacial Lakes State Park from 2/17-2/19/2017. This time, Elissa’s sister, Emily, tagged along for her first camping trip ever! We enjoyed this smaller Minnesota State Park, especially for its ease of access and navigation. The trails were a great mix of level and steep, depending on which way you went (unfortunately a trail map wasn’t available at the time at the ranger station or online, so I do not know the names), and always had great views and areas to explore. According to the HikingMN.com blog, “the 2,500 acre park is a series of rolling prairie hills formed thousands of years ago by receding glaciers.” There are also signs around the park to give you its history, so our plan when we return to this park is to check out all of the glacier-formed kettle lakes and continue to learn about the history of this area.
Recreation
Winter activities include hiking, cross country skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, and ice fishing. As this park’s focus in its lake, summer activities include swimming, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, stand up paddleboarding, horseback riding, biking, geocaching, and hiking.
Wildlife
The Minnesota DNR website states that “many species of prairie and woodland birds make their home at Glacial Lakes…” where “squirrels, deer, beaver, wood ducks, raccoons, pileated woodpeckers and occasionally coyotes can be seen.”
Itinerary
Day 1: We arrived around 6pm after about two hours of driving. We set up camp in our cozy cabin, which included two bunk beds (the lower bunks were full-size) and a table with benches for chairs. Slowly settling in, we decided to step outside to make some dinner. After firing up our old Glowmaster twin burner camping stove, our chicken noodle soup from Bear Creek was ready in less than 30 minutes (including the time it took to boil the water).
After dinner, the three of us decided to play some games in the cabin. We kicked the games off with one of our favorites, Love Letter, which is also mentioned in our Afton State Park post. In addition to being to being what seems like the worlds easiest game to tote around (it’s so small and comes in its own bag!), you can make this game as quick or as long as you’d like, making this one of our favorite games to bring on camping (or any kind of) trips! Eric absolutely loves learning new board games, so he brought with a brand new one for all of us: Grand Austria Hotel. While less than ideal for tent camping due to its large box and set up, it was great for cabin camping. Including teaching us the game, which is maybe more intermediate leveled, we spent around an hour and a half to two hours total playing it.
Day 2: Since we played games until midnight (or maybe later?), we decided to not set an alarm and start our day when we naturally woke up, which ended up being around 10am–oh, how nice it was to sleep in! Knowing lunch was in the near future, we had a light lunch, which consisted of bananas and the delicious Pillsbury Mini Blueberry Muffins; if you haven’t had these, you’re missing out. I’ve purchased a case of them on multiple occasions! Still waking up from sleeping in, Eric made coffee in his commuter java press from GSI and we decided to start a game. This time, Hanabi: a challenging co-op card game for 2-5 players where you give and take clues to each other to reach a common goal.
We went outside to start exploring around 12pm. Leaving from our cabin, we walked past the picnic areas and set foot on Mardy’s Trail. This trail took us along the lake shore, past boat launch, fishing dock, and beach. The lake was frozen over, and ice fisherman could be seen in the distance.
Turning on my MapMyRide iPhone app, we continued on the trail and decided to make our way around the entire 56-acre Signalness Lake. With the weather unexpectedly being in the mid-50’s, the trails were a slick combination of icy and muddy the entire way around (though the warm temps were definitely welcome!). Emily is an avid geocacher, so we would veer off the trails every so often in search of a cache.
The three of us spent the entire day hiking on the trails surrounding Signalness Lake. The trail terrain varied, and even had a wooden boardwalk around one portion of it. The views were so beautiful!
We returned to the cabin once it started to get dark out (sundown began at 5:45pm). Starting the campfire right away, we made some Annie’s Bernie O’s, opened up the s’mores kit, and sat and talked for a few hours before heading to bed.
Day 3: Having a two hour drive to the Twin Cities, and a four hour drive to Emily to get back home, we woke up early knowing we would need to leave shortly thereafter. The three of us walked around the cabin and picnic area in the morning to see the views of the lake one last time. We had some leftover firewood, so we started a fire to warm up before heading out (keep in mind that you always need to put a fire out, dead out, before you walk away).
Cost Breakdown
Daily Park Admission: $5 (we have an annual pass for $25)
Cabin (1 nights w/elec): $70
Food: $19.16 (total)
- Annie’s Bernie-O’s: $2.19
- Bear Creek soup kit: $2.99 (x2)
- S’mores: $6 for all items
- Pillsbury Mini Blueberry Muffins: $4.99/case of 6
- Water: FREE (we use refillable water bottles)
Gear Brought
- Ohuhu double sleeping bag & pillows (used as two single sleeping bags)
- Glowmaster Twin Burner camp stove
- Mess kit
- Coleman battery-operated lantern
- Slippers
- Base layers
- Wool socks
- Winter coats
- Columbia snow pants
- Columbia hiking boots
- More packing tips from the MN DNR
This Park is Good for those who:
…want to stay in a cabin
…want to walk around a lake
…want to go on a quick weekend getaway
…want to see deer
…enjoy easier hiking trails
Misc. Info
Year Established: 1963
Distance from Minneapolis: 134 miles
Temperature: High of 55* | low of 30*
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