Park Info
Whitewater State Park is located in Altura, MN. It is 2,700 acres and known for its limestone bluffs and ravines. There is also a wide variety of activities, including hiking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, fishing, swimming, and volleyball.
There are 10 miles of hiking trails, two self guided trails equaling three miles, and snowshoeing and cross country skiing are available throughout the park. During the winter months, there is a warming house at the Trail Center. If you’re looking to fish here, there is an accessible fishing pier and you can catch brown, brook, and rainbow trout. Make sure you have the proper documents, as trout fishing can require a stamp. There is a sandy swimming beach to play at, if you’re looking to cool off in the summer heat. You can also rent volleyball equipment at the park office.
If you’d like to camp here, there are 110 drive-in sites (yep, you read that right), 13 pull-through sites, 85 electric sites, 13 wheelchair accessible sites, eight cart-in sites, and three group camp sites. There is also a group center and two camper cabins. The facilities here include showers and flush toilets that are wheelchair accessible, vault toilets, and a dump station.
The park also offers a picnic area, picnic shelter, a visitor center, interpretive exhibits, naturalist programs, historic site (nearby), gift shop, rentals, and firewood and ice sales.
All of this info came from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website, so credit where credit is due. Click here to view the original source.
Accessibility of Facility
Parking
There was ample parking here, no matter which part of the park you’re in.
- Park office: paved, both in front of the building and in the visitor’s lot
- Sites: all parking on on gravel pads
- Picnic areas: gravel pads
Bathrooms
The park has both modern and vault toilets depending on where you are in the park. I only ended up using the bathroom in the campground, but I saw the others while I was out exploring.
Getting to the trail
The trailheads were clearly marked with the name of the trails and some information about them. Most of the trails started in picnic areas, but there was one that started further down the road.
I did not end up doing a trail here. Looking at the maps, reviews, and my performance levels I knew it was going to be way too much for me. At Adventures of Seleana, we are about knowing our limits and working within those so we can still get out and enjoy the world without needing a month to recover. I am willing to visit here again (it is absolutely beautiful) and try climbing the bluffs, but unfortunately today was not the day.
If you didn’t hike, what did you do?
Well, great question. I explored the picnic areas and beach. The picnic areas were near the nature store and on the north and south sides, respectively. North picnic area has a large area with picnic tables and a bathroom, along with a small river beach across the river. There were also bathrooms and volleyball in the beach area. There is a trail access here as well. South picnic area also has trail accesses, two of them. A vault toilet is right off the parking lot.
Camping Experience
I stayed here the entirety of the trip and had an enjoyable experience overall. The staff were very nice and helped me out. The site was large (like I could get three other tents in there along with mine) and had a picnic table with wheelchair access and fire ring. It was a gravel pad as all of the electric sites I’ve stayed in have been, but if you have a smaller tent/longer extension cord you could totally use the grass. There was also tree coverage and privacy between the sites. I could still hear my neighbors and see them in thin spots, but it was not like Nerstrand where I was basically in my neighbor’s site.
It is a very busy place though, so there is road traffic and people sounds. I had a solution this time–Loop Earplugs. I’ve wanted some since I found out about them a year or so ago and I am glad that I finally got Quiet and Experience. On this trip, I used Quiet. I was still able to hear that people were around, but it was at a level that didn’t get me overstimulated and allowed me to focus.
An interesting issue came up though and it’s 100% a me thing. While wearing them, I wanted to listen to my music but since they are for sleeping and the like I couldn’t without having it at a level that could disturb my neighbors. You may say… Seleana, you have ear buds, use them. While true, I didn’t want my music in my ears…maybe Experience would solve that issue since they are for concerts and the like.
Okay, back to the topic at hand–the campground.
Bathrooms
The bathrooms were directly across from my site. It was a modern bathroom and shower, like we’ve seen elsewhere, however, this one had something I’ve never seen before. A sink outside of the building. It seemed to be used for dishes and filling water bottles, but it was nice to have. Running hot and cold water isn’t a common thing. Inside the building, there were also shelves and hooks for your belongings, more so than other places.
Other camping thoughts
Firewood is sold at the park office for $8/bundle. The wood wasn’t split logs, like elsewhere. Instead it was cut into small planks. It was a little weird and burned so much faster than split logs. I only purchased one and did no cooking, so it was fine for a couple of fires.
The bugs were almost non-existent, but I did get a couple of good bites. I only broke out the Thermacell once for gnats and that’s all that was needed.
I did have cell service, which was nice. While I did stay unplugged for the most part, I was able to get some writing done and save it to OneDrive. I also listened to music and watched a movie once the sun went down.
Speaking of the sun going down, it still got cold at night. It was about 40-50 degrees F over the weekend. I had two heating pads and wore layers and still got chilly, but it wasn’t horrible. Just keep it in mind if you’re tenting it, like I do.
If you’re looking for the shenanigans from the IG post…here you go!
Do you spy Currently Unnamed CardyBear? If you spot him, put FOUND in the comments :)
Be safe out there! REMEMBER YOUR MAPS AND PASSPORT STAMPS!! Seeyalaterbye <3
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