Jay Cooke State Park

Striking scenery, fantastic views all around. The river is great to appreciate all times of day or night.
Campsites are nice and a short walk to the swing bridge. Heavily wooded ones take a long time to dry out after a heavy rain.
The staff in the store and ranger station are not the most friendly, they seem to have a ‘you are an inconvenience’ attitude about them. However don’t let them distract from the natural beauty of the park.

Heaven must be a Jay Cooke State Park kind of place. No matter what time of year, the rocky St. Louis River rages under the lift bridge (unless it freezes, which I’ve not seen but bet would be cool), acting as the main tourist attraction and first steps onto the trail. This place is pristine, with trails of medium difficulty (for flat ol’ MN) and loads of interesting wildlife available for viewing. This landscape is carved into rugged rock formations all along the river and provides scenery second to none. Take your selfies on the bridge then put your camera away to enjoy the views through the trails. I only wish we had more time to cover them all.
Seriously one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen on this Earth, impressive work in conservation of one of MN’s most wonderful natural landscapes. You go, MN DNR.

Camper cabins are awesome! Plenty of short and long hikes available. You have the start of the Superior hiking trail here as well. The W Munger bike trail is just up the hill. Have not made it yet to the hike-​in campsites but the main ones are pretty secluded. I have been here several times and will again as it is a mere 20 – 30 minutes to Duluth and all the activities available there. It is also a great jumping off point for a drive up the north shore. You can hit Grand Marais in about 3 hours. Last but not least the swing bridge is fun photo opportunity and amazing to see the geology of the rocks under the St. Louis river. Definitely worth the trip.

Beautiful place to stop for a hike on our way to Duluth! Plenty of picnic tables and very picturesque!

This is an excellent state park if you live in the Twin Cities and are looking for a nice Friday/​Saturday night camping weekend.
It’s a little over 2 hours away so very manageable to cut out of work a little early to miss traffic (or at least try since summer «up north» traffic is notoriously slow on Fridays) and get your tent set up and relaxing before making dinner.
The campsites are more private than most because of the abundance of trees so it’s not your average wide open car/​RV camping, which we like. I would rather hike in or go BWCA but my wife likes the comforts car camping allows… we compromise as any couple that wants to stay married :) The cabins are another way to go but even though they have 5 cabins, which is a decent amount for those parks that do offer them, they get reserved way in advance so start looking as soon as they are available, a year in advance.
If you like to hike as we do, this park is excellent with 50 miles of trails. I would recommend starting at the Swinging Bridge and taking the Carlton Trail for great overlooks and up close views of the St Louis River! It basically ends at the Munger State Trail, so we took that back to the Thomson Trail with a stop at the Thomson Pioneer Cemetery with the deceased and their headstones from the mid 1800s.
Next time we will for sure bring our bikes and ride part of the 63-​mile segment of the paved Munger Trail that runs between Hinckley & Duluth.
The historical town of Cloquet is your closest «civilization» in case you need to get supplies or want to «gasp»…eat out one of the nights. We did so we’re not judging you.
There are actually a number of cool places to eat like Mexico Lindo Restaurant and Gordy’s Hi Hat Restaurant, but we’ll save the details for another review. The two highlights of dog walk around the riverfront area was the posted information about the great fire of 1918 which is still the worst disaster in MN history in terms of lives lost, 453.
On the positive side, Cloquet is internationally known for it’s very own Frank Lloyd Wright designed gas station, the R.W. Lindholm Service Station. It’s even on the National Register of Historic Places.
Put Jay Cooke on your State Park short list and you will not be disappointed!

For baby’s first camping trip we were a little concerned with tent camping in the fall-​but when I was looking at the website the phrase «tent cabins» caught my eye… and with a miraculous cancellation (you can reserve them a year ahead, and they usually go immediately) we were on our way to some R&R :)
This set-​up was awesome-​for fifty bucks a night we had a beautiful piney little cabin-(they just built them 2 years ago) with 4 bunk beds (one that sleeps two), a little table inside, heat, lights, a screened in porch, a little deck, and then all the campground basics-​the firepit and picnic table outside the door. We had the cabin Agate, which was very sunny. The one next door, Gbarro was in the shade.
There was a little pump for drinking water a few yards away, vault toilets across the way (it IS camping…) and the bathroom with showers just down the road. They have three cabins on a cul-​de-​sac which would be super fun for a reunion or group camping trip.
We had a lot of fun hiking to the Gorge Overlook and looking at the gorgeous scenery. It was kinda cheater camping, but there’s something to be said for «kinda roughing it» and still having some creature comforts to enjoy.
BTW-​the idea of the Swinging Bridge is cool. The reality is that I’m scared of heights, so going on that would be a good recipe for a nervous breakdown.

Well, this park exceeded my expectations. Daily fee is $ 5 which you pay at the entrance by dropping your cash in an envelope and filling out info. Take off the stub at the end and post it on your car dashboard. Ranger station is open throughout the day for trail maps. There is construction going on so the visitor’s center is not open– only the park ranger’s headquarters. There is a nice gift shop to get some nice postcards and stuff. The popular trail is across the swinging bridge and along the river. Water looks like root beer because it has alot of acid from the trees. Challenging silver creek trail which is partial submerged from some rainfall. I almost lost my balance on a partially supported wooden plank across a marsh. Fun time and my friend’s GPS said we did 4.5 miles in about a couple of hours.