| Attractions & Recreation
Itasca State Park |
 Walk
Across the Mississippi River..At its headwaters the Mississippi River remains a gentle giant. The water is transparent and beautiful and flows over the rocks into the little stream that becomes the great river that flows to the Gulf of Mexico. Visitors can cross the river on the rocks from the outflow of Lake Itasca or on boards crossing the infant stream just below. |
| Lake Itasca and Itasca State Park offer some
of the finest scenery to be found in Minnesota.
This park is popular not only because of its beauty, but also because of its year-round tranquility. It is a place where people can relax in peace and quiet and enjoy the outdoors. The songs of birds, including the call of the loon, can be heard during the day. At night barred owls and whippoorwills add their melodic calls to the whispering voice of the wind. The colors in the park are cool. The lake is a soft blue, and the trees present all the shades of forest greenery. An evening spent fishing on Lake Itasca observing birds and animals that come to bathe and drink is a delightful experience. At Itasca State Park, you can
camp, hike, bike, and canoe in the footsteps of American
Indians, fur traders, an explorers. You can see carnivorous
plants, rare orchids in bloom, and watch herons, ospreys, and
bald eagles soar. You can see stands of old-growth pine over
200 years old, including Minnesota's record white and red pine
trees. In the vast pine forest of Itasca State Park is the beginning of the great river known to all the world as the mighty Mississippi. Here, at the Mississippi's source, the water is transparent and beautiful, and flows over the rocks into what looks more like a little stream than a great river. It is here that the Mississippi River begins its journey to the Gulf of Mexico. Itasca offers many ways to explore and enjoy the park's beauty and history. Click here to visit the Department of Natural Resources' Itasca State Park web site. |
