William O'Brien State Park

Lovely state park! The trails were wide open and well maintained. The scenery this time of the year isn't the best but we still enjoyed exploring this park. We did the Hardwood Hills Loop, an easy trail about 4.2 miles and took us 1.5 hours. Plenty of parking. Great visitor center, heated bathrooms with flush toilets.

Wide flat grass trails that go through swamp and prairie, honestly one of the worst state parks in have ever been too. Granted, the riverside area was under construction so maybe that is where the nice views are.

Love the "slow-speed" only boat zone on Lake Alice & the St. Croix River. Here you can get up close to a sand hill crane or great blue heron on the river. The boat landing is next to the canoe launch. Restrooms were just up the hill from the launch parking lot-and they were clean and well stocked.While hiking around, I noticed short grills. Yes, they were marked as "handicapped" grills. I would have never thought of that. Thank you for inclusionary vision Minnesota State Parks!

I have grown up in this park. Camping, swimming, boating, fishing, walking, family reunions.This is a true gem of the Mn park system and its just a stone throw away from the metro. A beautiful park with a beautiful river. Check out the park and you will see what I mean.

A great place to see fall colors. Just don't get loss and make sure to read the map. This park is huge. I wondered if there is a Ike trail. I managed to walk only 3 miles. I was surprised that weren't any bugs. Lots of camping sites though.

Great place to bring your dog, family or friends! Great for walking, running or spending to roaming around in the outdoors.

Second time camping at this Park. The first time we were over by the river side of the campground and this time we were in the Savannah campground. The state park is about an hour away so it's nice for families with little kids who may not do well camping overnight in the woods if it's their first time. It's about 20 minutes from Stillwater any about 30 minutes to Taylor Falls. The park has some nice pave roads and groomed trails for hiking and biking. The campground is pretty big with over 100 sites to choose from and we like our site 108. It can fit 3 cars and pretty big enough for three shelters to be set up and still have enough room to play for the kids. It's semi shaded so it's nice when the sun is out to have an area out of the sun. It's also nice from the trees to cover for the small sprinkles.The park overall it's pretty well maintained. Minimum bugs during the time we camped over labor day weekend. They have a beach and swimming area. They have kayaks and paddle boards for rentals. The bathrooms are clean an have hope running water. The pit toilets are well maintained and cleaned. The one close to our campsite was spacious and it didn't smell unless someone didn't read the sign and left the lid open. They have to unisex/handicapped accessible shower/toilet available with a changing table. There's no changing table in the main women/men's bathroom. They have separate shower houses for women and men from the bathrooms. The sink in the unisex bathrooms doesn't have hot water for washing hands. I rated 3 stars because we didn't have cell phone coverage and low privacy in that the trees around the campsite couldn't block out lights at night. No indication of which site the campground host is located when we needed to get fire wood and the park office was closed. Everything recreational is a drive away.

The first few times I hiked here, I was left feeling kind of ho-hum. The trails near the visitor center and along the st croix are nice but are fairly flat and not all that exciting. BUT I decided to embark on an 8 mile hike one morning from the parking lot off Ostrum Trail north. Best decision ever! What wonderful trails! Rolling (sometimes steep) hills, beautiful prairie and trees! It's a GREAT challenge if you are into hiking on something other than flat grass. Returning this weekend to catch the beautiful fall colors. If you visit here, go to the ostrum trail parking lot. It's a small dirt lot. You still need a permit to park there but it's totally worth it!

The Hiking Club trail is a challenging (5+ miles) hike, but offers a huge variety of environments and things to see. You move through prairies, hardwood forest, up to scenic vistas and down around a pond with a beaver lodge. There is a lot of up-and-down on the trails, but no really nasty climbs to speak of. Just distance and terrain

Rain happens, but I've never stayed in a state park campsite that actually floods. None of the other sites even had a puddle. It seems very greedy to rent Riverside site 10 all spring and let people set up camp even when the rangers know it will flood. All they need to do is haul in some dirt and gravel to amend it.The park is beautiful, however this county has a tornado siren that they sound off multiple times per day. I've only ever heard of testing a siren once a month or maybe even a quick windup at curfew. This one goes off long and loud all the time. Not exactly getting away from it all.