The word Minneopa comes from the Dakota language and is interpreted to mean “water falling twice,” referring to the beautiful waterfalls of the Minneopa Creek.

Visitors can walk the trail that encircles the falls, which leads down a limestone stairway to the valley below, and then ascend the opposite side and enjoy a panoramic view of the valley that reveals the underlying geology of this area.

Visit Seppmann Mill, a wind driven grist mill fashioned in German style from native stone and lumber, or hike through oak savanna and native prairie grasslands overlooking the scenic Minnesota River Valley.

The southern part of the park is hilly and wooded, with Minneopa Creek and its waterfalls as the major feature that attract visitors. The northern sections of the park feature prairie and the Minnesota River. Once the land was tall-grass prairie, interspersed with marshes, lakes and streams. Today, extensive farming has replaced the prairie with cultivated fields.

The park is home to a variety of wildlife, including wild turkey, ring-necked pheasants, and white-tailed deer. There are also various beaver, various snakes, and waterfowl that call the park home.

The park gets nearly 200,000 visitors per year who come to explore its 2,600 acres of land and water.

Visit PleasureLand RV Center

Stop by PleasureLand RV Center before you hit the road for MinneopaState Park or any other destination in Minnesota or beyond. Whether you need to shop for a new motorhome to take you to all of your favorite fall vacation spots or have an RV already and need it to be checked out before you embark, PleasureLand RV Center can help.

If you want your next RV outing to be extra special, you’ve got to head towards one of America’s renowned national parks. While there are plenty to choose from, might we suggest Wind Cave National Park? It’s not as well known as some parks, but that’s not indicative of its quality at all. It’s the perfect spot for some early fall RV camping.

Wind Cave National Park is a United States national park 10 miles north of the town of Hot Springs in western South Dakota. Established in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it was the seventh U.S. National Park and the first cave to be designated a national park anywhere in the world. The cave is notable for its displays of the calcite formation known as boxwork. Approximately 95 percent of the world’s discovered boxwork formations are found in Wind Cave. Wind Cave is also known for its frostwork. The cave is also considered a three-dimensional maze cave, recognized as the densest (greatest passage volume per cubic mile) cave system in the world. The cave is currently the sixth-longest in the world with 140.47 miles of explored cave passageways. Above ground, the park includes the largest remaining natural mixed-grass prairie in the United States.

The park got its name from the cave systems, which are said to “breathe,” that is, air continually moves into or out of a cave, equalizing the atmospheric pressure of the cave and the outside air. A large cave (such as Wind Cave) with only a few small openings will “breathe” more obviously than a small cave with many large openings.

Visit PleasureLand RV Center

Stop by PleasureLand RV Center today before you hit the road to any destination, such as Wind Cave National Park. Tour a motorhome or travel trailer and find the one that’s perfect for you or schedule some maintenance service with our PleasureLand RV Center technicians.

Continuing the series on Minnesota’s state parks, we’ve got Judge C.R. Magney State Park up next. Sprawled across 4,695 acres, the park attracts nearly 70,000 annual visitors and over 6,000 overnight stays.

Come for the quiet, the solitude, and the famous Devil’s Kettle waterfall. The most popular hike leads from the trailhead upstream along the Brule River to Devil’s Kettle, where the river splits around a mass of volcanic rock. Half of the river plunges 50 feet into a pool, while the rest pours into a huge pothole. Anglers can catch brook and rainbow trout in the Brule River or its tributary, Gauthier Creek. The park offers camping, picnicking, and hiking.

The park is a wildlife observer’s dream. Moose, white-tailed deer, black bears, and timber wolves are among the larger animals that inhabit the park. Smaller mammals that visitors may see include the woodchuck, snowshoe hare, red squirrel, and chipmunk. In the spring and summer, listen for the songs of warblers. All year round, chickadees, nuthatches, jays, woodpeckers, and ruffed grouse can be seen in the park.

The scenic Brule River races through the park, forming whitewater rapids and waterfalls on its way to Lake Superior. Along the lower stretches of the river are a series of spectacular waterfalls.

Visit PleasureLand RV Center

Stop by PleasureLand RV Center before you visit any state park in Minnesota to make sure that your RV is in good shape to travel. If you need to upgrade your rig, PleasureLand RV Center is the place to shop. Tour our wide inventory of new and used RVs, from Class A motorhomes to fifth wheel trailers.

Great River Bluffs State Park is located in the Blufflands Landscape Region. This landscape features half-dome bluffs with sheer rock cliffs, steep valley walls, and rolling uplands. The park includes a diversity of plant communities including maple-basswood forests, old hickory, pines, goat prairies, and old fields. The King’s Bluff trail offers a breathtaking view of the Mississippi River Valley. Bring your binoculars; the river valley is a major flyway for waterfowl, eagles, and hawks.

You can find ample camping opportunities at the park, both RV and tent, as well as fishing, hiking, and other outdoor activities.

For wildlife lovers, the park attracts more than 35 species of mammals, 17 species of reptiles and amphibians, and well over 100 species of birds. Rabbits, mice, and ground squirrels are common in the patches of prairie in the park. Predators of these mammals include red-tailed hawks, great horned owls, and red foxes. The hardwood forest provides habitat for opossums, skunks, Indigo buntings, ruffed grouse, and wild turkeys. In the winter, visitors report seeing bald eagles. The prairie draws uncommon species of wildlife: a lizard, the six-lined racer; and a prairie bird, the bobolink.

The park is 2,786 acres in size and receives over 80,000 annual visitors.

Visit PleasureLand RV Center

Stop by PleasureLand RV Center this summer before you hit the road for Great River Bluffs State Park or any other destination in Minnesota or beyond. Whether you need to shop for a new motorhome to take you to all of your favorite summer vacation spots or have an RV already and need it to be checked out before you embark, PleasureLand RV Center can help.

Visit Lake Shetek State Park in your RV before the summer ends for a long day of rest and relaxation. The park gets its name from the old Ojibwe word for “pelican,” a bird that visits the lake during the summer and fall.

Lake Shetek is also the largest lake in southwestern Minnesota and offers plenty of fishing opportunities. Cast your line and reel in anything from walleye and northern to crappie and bullheads..

There are hiking trails that run throughout the park and offer an array of difficulty levels, ranging from easy to strenuous. Also included in the park are a swimming beach, boat launch, campgrounds, and a scenic six-mile loop bike trail that passes through the adjoining town of Currie. Boat, canoe, and kayak rentals are available as well.

There are also some historic exhibits in the park, such as the Koch Cabin and Monument, which memorializes pioneer settlers and teaches you more about settler history. If you can be at the park by August 19, you can join the park rangers as they offer a guided bus journey back in time to August of 1862 to learn about the lives of the early settlers and Dakota people at the Lake Shetek settlement. They’ll be visiting the significant sites around the lake discussing what took place there on August 20, 1862 that changed the lives of all who lived there forever. The bus tour is $5 per person and leaves the Lake Shetek State Park picnic area parking lot at 9 am and will return approximately 12:30 pm. Reservations are required due to limited seating and can be made by calling the park office at (507) 763-3256.

The park covers over 1,100 acres and receives nearly 115,000 annual visitors. As you walk through the park, you may be able to spot white-tail deer, pelicans, fox, minks, beavers, muskrats, woodchucks, and coyotes, among other wildlife.

Visit PleasureLand RV Center

Stop by PleasureLand RV Center this summer to tour a new or used motorhome or travel trailer. Find one that’s perfect for you and your travel plans this summer. If you’re not on the market for an RV, you can still stop in at PleasureLand RV Center to schedule service, to learn more about RVing, or to shop for parts and accessories.