One of my favorite State Parks has become Crow Wing State Park, because of its beautiful views of the Mighty Mississippi, and because of the history that is deeply rooted within it.
Crow Wing State Park covers land that was once the bustling, vibrant town of Crow Wing. Back in the day, when fur traders were building posts along rivers and treading across the expanding dirt paths of our growing country, Crow Wing became a hub for travelers. Seated along the intersection of the Mississippi and Crow Wing River, it was a point of transition in many traveler’s journeys. As such, it grew and grew, until eventually the arrival of the train on America’s landscape washed out the need for trading posts – and the town of Crow Wing.
Today, you can walk along the ghost of where the town once was. My inner history buff adores walking down the boardwalk of Crow Wing, listening to the Mississippi flow by as it always has done, and reading about the life that once crossed the paths I’m hiking on.
My suggestions on visiting Crow Wing State Park:
1. Check out the view along the river
When you first arrive at Crow Wing, there is a small landing that I’ve never seen anyone actually use – which is just fine by me, as it is the perfect lookout spot.
When you arrive at the parking lot, head down the trail past the picnic shelter. Just before you get to the Main Street sign, there is a set of stairs on the left-hand side. They’re a little sketchy at the bottom, but the view is absolutely worth it. It’s breathtaking.
Of course, the Mississippi is always breathtaking. Pictures don’t do it justice. Last time, I was the only person in the park (for a good reason; I actually got caught in a thunderstorm), but this time there was a couple camped out just down the beach, simply enjoying the view in a pair of picnic chairs.
You’ll enjoy views of the Mississippi throughout most of your hike at this park, but this landing makes you feel like you’re right in the middle of it.
2. Walk down the former Main Street
One of the coolest things about this park (in my super nerdy perspective) is walking down the former Main Street. It’s so crazy to imagine that this place was once a thriving town that was fueling the growth of the land, and now it is a dirt path and recreated boardwalk. It’s wild to imagine the lives of people who once stepped where you did.
As soon as you walk down the dirt trail that was once the former town, there’s a sign to greet you: “Welcome to Main Street.”
This is Main Street now.
The park has recreated the boardwalk that once threaded itself through the town – at each of the posts along the way, it tells you what used to stand there, or gives you more information on the town and its history. So cool.
3. Visit the Beaulieu House
Clement Beaulieu built his home in 1847, when he took over the American Fur Company in Crow Wing. The house still stands amongst some lilac bushes today.
It’s really interesting to look at. It seems like a pretty big house for that time period, and though it has obviously been kept up, it’s in pretty good condition for how old it is.
Just across from the Beaulieu House is a large, empty space where the Browns Hotel once was. It’s marked by this very unusual sign:
“Browns Hotel. The Civil War took the owner. But his wife carried on the business – – without ever losing peerless reputation.”
I think that’s a pretty odd way to word a sign – and, I’m not going to lie, it’s not the only quirkily-worded sign in the park. I wasn’t sure if they were trying to insinuate that they were surprised that the wife was able to successfully run the business without ruining her reputation, or if they were trying to compliment her. It seems a little like there’s some snark there, in my opinion, but either way, shoutout to the unnamed women in history who got shit done.
4. Read the history coursing through the trails
One thing I need to mention right now is that if you plan to go any further past the Beaulieu House, you need to bring some bugspray with you. The bugs here are no joke. I’ll get more into it later, but the Beaulieu House is the point of no return for some reason. I spent the full day hiking and applied bugspray when I began, but I definitely needed another coat or ten during my hike at Crow Wing, because the number of bugs was ridiculous. So bring bugspray or go in the winter.
Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let’s continue down the trail.
If you keep walking down the boardwalk on Main Street, it eventually turns into the Ox Cart Trail, aptly named because of all of the traders who brought their ox carts down the trail and crossed the river. Yes, they crossed the Mississippi with their ox carts. We’ll get to that later, too.
There are lots of signs throughout the park, giving you bits of information on the old town, and also marking different highlights of the town. My favorite is this pretty sassy sign:
What a bunch of gossipers. What would Father Pierz have to say about his parish huddled around the town well, exchanging gossip like water? (Father Pierz was a missionary that took root in Crow Wing)
I kid, I kid. I love the underlying current of sassiness in the sign. I also love that it totally throws Mrs. Alby under the bus. Like, the sign somewhat implies that she was partaking in the gossiping, and the abrupt punctuation makes it seem that much more snarky. I like it.
As you walk along the trail, in addition to the cool and mildly snarky signs, you get views of the Mississippi, like this:
Stunning. Flawless. She woke up like this.
Ok. Let’s get to another crazy part about the old town.
Traders would cross their ox carts over the Mississippi.
It’s called the Red River Trail Crossing, but don’t be fooled, it’s still the Mississippi. And these traders were like, “Hey, yeah, I think I’ll bring my OX and a whole CART over this spot, right HERE.”
“Yeah, this looks good. Get in, Bessie!”
So I totally understand that the sign indicates that they crossed when the water was shallow enough, but when I visited the park, the water was absolutely not shallow in any way whatsoever, so to look out over the river and imagine that people floated carts and their ox across the water was a pretty crazy thing to envision.
5. Watch out for wildlife
Ok. Give me a second to rant about the bugs for a minute. After committing to a full hike at Crow Wing, I realized that they have a major mosquito problem.
Now, I’ve been a Minnesotan my whole life, and I know that the four season are actually Fall, Winter, Spring, followed by Road Construction and Mosquito, so I am quite familiar with mosquito-filled woods.
Crow Wing is a different story. Crow Wing is absolutely infested with mosquitos. In all of my years of life, I have never experienced the ridiculous amount of mosquitos I encountered during my hike. By the end of it, I was crazily swatting my arms, I was running through the woods, I was cussing out a storm, and my arms and legs were actually smeared with mosquito blood. I looked like a crazy person, and I felt like a crazy person. So do yourself a favor and bring a whole can of deep woods bugspray and enjoy your hike – because at a certain point along the trail, I stopped enjoying the scenery around me, and I started to want to get the hell out of the woods as soon as possible. It’s possible that I went during the worst day in the year for mosquitos at Crow Wing, but bring bugspray with you regardless.
Another super weird thing about Crow Wing, is that once you pass the point where traders crossed the river with their oxen and carts, you will eventually come upon this very odd frog path.
It must be the proximity to the water, but as I was hurrying along the path, doing my best to not be devoured by bugs and obtain West Nile, I encountered a few frogs. The first one seemed random, and I stopped to look at him before being swarmed by bugs, but suddenly, I was walking along a path absolutely alive with the hopping of frogs. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I wanted to stop and observe it so badly, but I knew that if I paused I would only be swarmed by mosquitos again. As I walked, tons of frogs were hopping across the trail, plenty of them bumping into my legs as they tried to figure out where to go. It was wild. I’d like to go back to Crow Wing, armed with bugspray, to try to find that path again, because it was really cool.
My most exciting encounter at the park was with deer. Both times I’ve visited Crow Wing, I’ve had crazy deer experiences. Not like, wild, rabid deer experiences, but crazy close encounters with deer.
The last time I was at Crow Wing, I stopped along the side of the road to take a photo of the trees, and all of a sudden, a doe and a young deer stepped out of the woods, right out onto the paved road. They were probably ten feet away from me, and they just stopped and casually looked at me. I started talking to them, because I’m a weirdo and I love animals, and they stood there and watched me for awhile, before eventually walking down the road like they owned it. They probably felt like they did. They kind of do.
This time, I was walking along the path, minding my own business, when I found Bambi.
Moments like this make me severely regret not bringing a better camera than my iPhone with me. This little guy/gal was rustling around in the leaves, and when it saw me, it ducked under that tiny branch, like it was trying to hide. It was super adorable, just in general, but also that it thought it was out of sight below that very tiny twig.
I didn’t want to get to close, because it was already pretty scared, and also because I didn’t want to be accosted by an angry momma doe, so I just took a few photos, sang it a little song like the Disney princess I am, and then went on my way.
I walked quite a ways down the path before I heard a large crashing coming through the woods, which I knew was the doe looking for her fawn.
Not to mom shame, but uhh, excuse me, ma’am, why aren’t you watching your child? What if I was one of those unfriendly humans, who instead of singing songs to tiny deer, poked them with sticks or threw rocks at them or hunted them?? Just some food for thought for that doe. Anyway, the point is that the deer here are careless and plentiful, so bring a camera and expect to run into one.
6. Visit the Chippewa Lookout
I’m not going to lie to you, this didn’t feel worth it when I visited. In fact, as I was running through the woods, trying to get away from the mosquitos, I thought to myself, “I’m going to tell people to not waste their time coming to this lookout.”
I’ve seen a lot of park lookouts, and this one felt unimpressive to me, mostly because it’s a small, worn bench that’s pretty obscurely situated in the woods, and I did not even bother to sit down for a second. At this point in the hike, it didn’t even matter how fast I was moving, I was still being devoured by mosquitos, so there was no way I was going to take a seat and let them have at me. I paused for one moment, which was still too long, to take a photo. There was no way I would be enjoying the lookout with the state of the blood-sucking bugs.
However, in hindsight, it was an extremely gorgeous view.
Really. A stunning view of the Mississippi, framed by tall trees.
But, when I was there, I could not have cared less and did not enjoy it for one second. I know I sound overdramatic, but like I said, the mosquitos were ruthless and they were hungry. It’s beautiful to look at now, but if the mosquitos are bad, I wouldn’t waste your time going, because you won’t want to stop and look out at the river and enjoy the view.
However, if you visit the park while the mosquitos aren’t out, then I would definitely recommend hiking out to the lookout and taking in the views.
Other amenities at Crow Wing State Park:
- Boat, canoe, and snowshoe rentals
- Gift shop
- Interpretive exhibit
- Picnic shelter
- Swimming beach
Want to read more about my 25 Things list? Click here for more adventures.
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