Where: 61101 Banning Park Rd, Sandstone, MN 55072
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/park.html?id=spk00103#homepage

Was it worth it? Yes, I give it a 9/10

Highlight: Wolf Creek Falls

Suggested time here: 2+ hours

When we visited: October 2021

Leaf Viewing Paradise

You definitely don’t have to travel for hours up to the north shore to see beautiful fall colors! Banning State Park is incredible! Located a little over an hour north of the Twin Cities, it makes for a great day trip and is well worth the drive!

Hiking Trails

With over 17 miles of hiking trails, you’ve got hiking options galore! You can find the park map HERE.

Wolf Creek Trail

First up, we parked next to the campground and headed out on a portion of the Wolf Creek Trail. It was about 1 mile to the Wolf Creek Falls on a well maintained, fairly flat trail. The full Wolf Creek loop is 4 miles but we only did a small section of it to get to the falls.

Side note: It gets a bit rocky when you get close to the falls

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High Bluff Trail

Returning from the falls we took a right onto the High Bluff Trail. This one was just under a mile and brought us right back to the campground. We ended up stopping at our car for a lunch break and then we had to change into our rain gear because the rain had begun. The great thing about the rain was that it seemed to scare everyone else away and we almost had the trails to ourselves!

Quarry Loop Trail

The Quarry Loop trail is 1.7 miles and goes alongside the Kettle River and past the old quarry ruins. If you do this trail, be sure to venture down the little detours off to the river because it’s GORGEOUS down there! My kids probably could’ve stayed down for hours throwing rocks into the rapids.

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Hell’s Gate Trail

We really wanted to venture down Hell’s Gate Trail but the rain was intense and the rocks were crazy slippery! We will come back and try this trail another day. Let me know in the comments if you’ve done this one!

P.S. Hell’s Gate is not recommended for small children.

This Place Rocks…

If rocks interest you, you’ve got to get yourself to this park!

In the late 1800’s, this was the site of the Banning Sandstone Quarry. They would chisel out chunks of the sandstone to use in construction and you can see still see evidence of that along the trails. There are big piles of chiseled rocks that are super fun to climb on!

We’ll Be Back

Having trails almost to ourselves during peak leaf season was WELL worth hiking in the rain for! Plus, I kind of loved the moodiness of the day, it made the leaf colors really stand out! Although our visit was cut a little short due to heavier rain, it just gave us more of a reason to come back to this gem of a park!

If you’re travelling further up north, be sure to check out my blog post on Tettegouche State Park & some surrounding sights HERE.

Have you been to Banning State Park? Please comment below!

Happy Exploring!

More Info

• You will need a MN State Park vehicle permit to visit here
• The parking lots are small so plan on going early or late afternoon (or rainy days)
• This park has seasonal camping
• Stop at Tobie’s bakery in Hinckley for some baked treats before or after