Skip the Crowds: Explore Minnesota’s 5 Quietest Trails and Parks This Month

If you love to get out in nature, but don't always love to share the trail with crowds of other people, you're lucky to be in Minnesota. Here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, we have a huge diversity of trails and terrain, and many offer plenty of elbow room for serenity-seeking hikers. For example, these five hikes will take you out on some of the quietest trails in Minnesota.

1. Kilen Woods State Park - Lakefield

You'll find Kilen Woods State Park loop trail in its eponymous park in southwestern Minnesota. It's a relatively easy, three-mile loop that traces the wooded bluffs above the Des Moines River in one of the least visited parks in Minnesota. Even on a weekend, you may find nobody else on the trail except for the occasional deer or raccoon.

2. John Latsch State Park - Minnesota City

The John Latsch State Park Riverview Trail packs a lot of punch and affords sweeping vistas of the Mississippi River valley in a relatively short hike in a relatively small park. So why is this park and its trail so uncrowded? Because the trail incredibly is steep! AllTrails gives the .7-mile (out and back) Riverview Trail a moderate rating, but that may be a little generous - the trail's nearly-500 feet of elevation gain and almost-600 steps are definitely challenging (and, thus, not too crowded).

3. Fort Ridgely State Park - Fairfax

At times, the three-mile Fairway, Upper Prairie, and Fort Trail Loop at Fort Ridgely State Park exudes a haunting silence. Sitting on the bluffs above the Minnesota River, this place was the site of a battle in the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862, which commands a sense of reverence as you walk its trails. On my visits, I've seen very few people, and the folks that I've run into have largely been quiet and reflective.

4. Hayes Lake State Park - Roseau

Hayes Lake State Park is one of the most remote parks in Minnesota, so when you visit, there's a good chance you'll have the easy, 1.7-mile Pine Ridge Trail through this Northwoods gem to yourself. Keep an eye out for the spur to a short boardwalk bog trail - it's a fascinating little side hike.

5. George Crosby Manitou State Park - Finland

Although there are plenty of wonderful hikes - including rugged trails to waterfalls - at George Crosby Manitou State Park, one of the state's designated back country parks, I think the easy, 1.3-mile Benson Lake Loop is my favorite for a beautiful, mellow hike around a serene lake. Although you may pass a camper or two at one of the lake's sites, you may not meet another person on this diverse, Northwoods and wetlands trail, but you who knows what birds or animals you may encounter?

If you're looking for a fantastic Minnesota hike without all the crowds, these five out to have you covered. For the more remote hikes where cell service may be spotty or nonexistent, you'll definitely want to have AllTrails Plus, which offers offline maps you can use without a connection.