Strap on your skis, lace up your skates or tie up your hiking boots for a visit to Washington County, Minnesota's parks. Home to two state parks, seven regional parks and over 100 city parks, Washington County's diverse landscapes provide all types of settings for activities, such as hiking, biking, fishing and ice skating.
State Parks
Winter or summer, William O'Brien and Afton state parks offer a variety of activities. In the summer, you can reel in catfish, walleye or bass from the St. Croix or take a dip in Lake Alice at William O'Brien. At Afton, you can saddle up your horse for the park's five miles of horseback trails. Strap on your skis or snowshoes at both parks in the winter when hiking trails become cross-country skiing and snowshoeing trails.
Regional Parks
Pack your swimsuit, strap on your helmet or saddle up your horse if you visit Washington County's regional parks. At Lake Elmo Park Reserve, you can do all three with the park's swimming pond and eight miles of multi-use trails. You can cast your line or launch your boat into the St. Croix River at St. Croix Bluffs Regional Park. Big Marine and Lake Elmo park reserves and St. Croix Bluffs, Cottage Grove and Pine Point regional parks have hiking trails.
City Parks
Between the cities of Woodbury, Stillwater, Oakdale, Cottage Grove, Afton and Newport, Washington County is home to more than 120 city parks. You can cast your line from Newport's fishing pier on the Mississippi River or into the St. Croix at Stillwater's Lowell Park. Whether you're strapping on hockey ice skates or regular ice skates, several of the city parks have skating rinks, and Ramsey-Grove and Schulenberg parks in Stillwater also have designated sledding hills.
Trails
While many of the parks in Washington County have trails, the county is also home to the Gateway State Trail, which begins in St. Paul, and Hardwood Creek Regional Trail, which extends nine and a half miles from Hugo to Forest Lake. In winter, you can ride your snowmobile down the turf portion of the Hardwood Creek trail or strap on your skis for a trip down the Gateway trail. In summer, both trails are open to hikers, bikers and inline skaters.
Park Camping
If you want more than one day to enjoy the parks in Washington County, both state parks and two of the regional parks offer camping. St. Croix Bluffs has not only pull-through sites with electric and water hookups, but also tent sites with no hookups, and Lake Elmo has an equestrian campground. At Afton, you can hike to the backpack sites or paddle your canoe to the canoe site, while at William O'Brien you can drive your RV to the electric hookup sites.
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