Lake Elmo Park Reserve

I love it for the lighted cross country ski trails. Unfortunately, the park is also somewhat inaccessible if you live north of it – it is quite huge and you add several miles on to your trip by going around the park to the southern entrance.

The playground seams very nice and can accommodate a wider range of ages than many I’ve seen. The bathrooms are decent and parking is close by.
It seems like the man made beach/​pool area is pretty cool. I liked the picnic tables all around. Fun place to take the kids.

Washington County Parks are the most hostile parks to dogs I’ve ever encountered. We wanted to stop by off down by the boat launch, way off to the side, and let our pup dabble in the water while we watched the boats go by. Dog firmly on-​leash. Not a fishing or swimming area. No people there. We bring poop bags and always clean up if our dogs need to go. We’ve done this many times before. But this time a cranky ranger said dogs are only allowed on paved trails and in parking lots. You can’t bring fido on a picnic. Dogs are not allowed to TOUCH the lake. Not even on a leash. Not even where no people are allowed to fish or swim.
We’ve bought up to three permits for Washington County parks every year, and that for only a few hours of light use. Never again. I fully support rules for dog owners, but there just is no reason to make outdoor areas hostile to dog owners like this.

If you can put up with the East Side Lake Elmo locals who think they are the worlds privileged people, that own the park, and that you are in their way, you might have fun here.

Used to go here quite a bit as a teenager in a rusty old Chevy Chevette. Went back to try it out again on the 4^th of July. It’s been a good 15 years at least since I’ve been there, but it turned out to still be a lot of fun.
The «lake» (a man made pond) is quite a bit smaller than I remembered. It has a toddlers section that is extra shallow and has bouys that section it off from the rest of the swimming area. There are lifeguards everywhere, but that seems to mean some parents are a bit lax with watching their children.
We were able to find a grassy spot to put our towels down and tan. We swam a bit too. The concession stand was constantly packed — note also that the stand does not share the same hours as the swimming area. They close an hour or two sooner, so plan accordingly if you want a snack.
The changing area seems to not get any usage. I think everyone comes dressed. They really should use that space to make the bathrooms bigger. With only two stalls and a trough in the men’s bathroom there was a huge line (ditto for the women’s — it was even longer!). They really need more than one bathroom facility available. There was also a line at the outside spigot and shower. I don’t see why people line up for that. The water is filetered pool water so it’s not like a lake where you want to hose yourself down to get that lakey smell out. And you have to walk through sand to get out of there, so I don’t know why people obsess with washing their legs and feet trying to get sand off.
At only $ 5 per car to get in, it was a pretty good way to cool off on a 100 degree day. We had to park pretty far away but that was expected as it was a holiday, on a perfect summer day.
We’ll probably stop back again later this summer.

Really nice park.
Be prepared, if you head to the swimming area, to deal with horrible parents that don’t watch their children. The swimming area is a man made swimming pond that is filtered. The park has a lot of BBQs and picnic tables.

This is a great man-​made beach for families to play at. The water is clean and only goes about 5 feet deep so you can walk across the lake. On either side there is a large playground and concession stands and bathrooms. It’s big enough so it doesn’t feel crowded, has large umbrella’s for shade and picnic tables. There are lifeguards on duty and there are «safety breaks» every hour. Sometimes they seem too often though but the kids can play in the sand still. We will definitely be back.

Really nice place.
The playground was totally amazing! It had so many things and was in great condition.
We came here for camping over the weekend and the campground is nice. The only thing was that the campground staff were super strict about their grass. It does not matter if you are parked on the grass for 2 minutes to unload your supplies or if you just have someone dropping bye. They were still strict about the grass and said they would call a police officer if we did not get off it at that moment. The grass wasn’t even in that great of shape when we were there.
The place looked great and we loved the playground and other activities. Just remember don’t park on the grass in the campground area even if it is just for a short time!

We wanted a nearby place to hike and decided to go ahead and spring for the $ 5 entrance fee ($ 25 for an annual permit, but we weren’t sure we’d be back).
I think we’ll go back. We never even got to the actual Lake Elmo, because we spent our time hiking around the other lake in the reserve, Eagle Point. The scenery is great and gives a good sense of what the first settlers would have seen, with rolling prairie land dotted with forests. I read that 80% of the park is dedicated to restoration and preservation.
The Eagle Point trail is very easy walking and also has sections for shared use with horses and mountain bikers. We could see several million-​dolla mansions along the periphery of the reserve so you know the view has to be good ;) I’d like to get back and check out the beach and other trails soon.

We came here for our annual neighborhood camping trip. MUCH better than last year’s location.
The park reserve is located less than a half hour from most of the metro area and is a great place for just a day trip if you don’t want to camp. Their «feature attraction» is a man-​made swimming pond. I can’t do any better of a job describing it than their web site, so here is some blatant plagiarism:
«The swimming pond includes one-​fifth mile of sandy beach. The gradually sloping, sandy bottom makes the pond ideally suited for young waders, as well as serious swimmers. The pond is six feet at its deepest point. In addition, the pond is filtered and disinfected for your pleasure and protection. Clean rest rooms, changing rooms, and a food stand are available in a nearby beach building. A grassy area provides picnicking with tables and grills.»
The pond is staffed with lifeguards and my only complaint (other than it’s pretty crowded) is that they make everyone get out every hour for 10 minutes for what they call a «safety break». It appeared more like giving the lifeguards a 10 minute break. Which seemed odd since there were more than enough lifeguards to give them all 15 minute shifts. Anyway, a minor inconvenience and a good way to make sure you have your kids.
The rest of the park is pretty cool, too. They have a big playground, trails (biking and hiking), an orienteering course, an equestrian center, and the only public access to Lake Elmo.
The campsites are big and private with big bushes between campsites. You can choose between primitive campgrounds (basically a section of grass), or modern campgrounds with electrical and shared water spigot. Once a week, they do a program for the kids at their amphitheater. It’s a bit of a hike from the campsites to the beach, so we had one person drive with chairs and coolers while the others walked.
We were looking for a nice camping area within an hour of the Twin Cities and this was exactly what we were looking for. We’ll be back next year.