Banning State Park

About Banning State Park

In spring, daring canoeists and kayakers are seen loitering along the banks of the Cauldron River, a tributary of the Mississippi River in upstate New York. Visit the traps, hike the cauldron and treat yourself to a visit to Banning State Park, home to one of North America's most popular hiking and camping destinations.

Stay in a new camper cabin for up to five people, including bunk beds, tables and benches, or in one of the new campers in the cabin, which includes a bunk bed, table and bench.

Banning State Park is located in the Mille Lacs Uplands subsection and includes the Banning Sandstone Quarry, a 1,000 hectare sandstone quarry. Today, the area includes an aspen and birch forest, which reflect the original vegetation types. Visit the historic ruins of the sandstone quarry and camp in one of its huts. Known for its natural beauty and scenic views, this park is known as a popular destination for hiking, camping, fishing, picnicking, bird watching and other outdoor activities.

The river stretches along the entire length of the park and shows large boulders, and one of the most dominant features of this park are the sandstone holes formed by the cauldron.

The sandstones originate from the Hinckley Formation, known for its large number of rocks and boulders that are located just below the surface.

After a few kilometres of Precambrian sandstones, the river valley narrows to a depth of 100 feet. The river flows through steep cliffs that rise 40 feet above the water, and it flows along a series of steep ridges and cliffs, some of which rise up to 40 feet above the water. It flows in a narrow valley between the cliffs and the bottom of the sandstone of the Hinckley Formation.

After the rapids, the valley widens again, and the topography is generally flat or slightly hilly or flat along the walls.

Banning State Park has attracted 184 bird species observed by bird watchers in the past two years, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The most frequent types are white and tail-stags, black-legged, red-eared-owls and blackbirds. A number of other bird species, such as blue birds, falcons, peregrine falcons, eagles, vultures, geese, kittens, wolverines, turkeys, ducks, foxes and even coyotes, also live in the park.

The thickness and pink colour of the sandstone made it very popular for building construction. In the late 1890s, the Banning Sandstone Quarry employed 500 workers who chiseled the rock into massive blocks.

In 1896 the village was founded in a field near the quarry, and after the fire the operation was resumed. The great Hinckley wildfire swept through the area in 1908, inflicting severe financial losses on the company that operated the St Paul-Duluth railway line.

The village grew and was incorporated and named Banning State Park after the state's first governor, John B. Bannings. The village has grown since then and was incorporated as a town with about 1,000 inhabitants.

At that time, however, the builders began to use structural steel for building construction, and the quarry was closed in 1905. Fires remained a problem until the town of Banning virtually ceased to exist in 1912. Today, only the weathered ruins of the boiler remain on the site, along with a small number of buildings and some other buildings from the old quarry.

Banning State Park was established by the Minnesota State Legislature in 1963 on an area of 5246 hectares. In 1971, the park was expanded to include the Log Creek Drive area, which covers a total of 6,237 hectares, and in 1973 it was expanded again to a total of 5,877 hectares. In 1971, the park area was expanded from the original 4,737 hectares of the Banning quarry to a total of 5,877 hectares.

The park is cut off by a 10-mile-long basin of the river, which has been designated the state's wild landscape river. In 1995, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota State Parks and the National Park Service worked together to remove the cauldron and restore the rivers to their natural state, which is now home to the largest waterfalls in the United States and a number of other scenic and historic sites.

The park's water resources include the Kettle River and its tributaries, and the St. Croix River. The picturesque K-Kessel River includes a series of rapids that offer canoeing and kayaking fans a wide range of water conditions, from shallow to deep and from deep to high.

Located off I-35 near Exit 195, the park is signposted north of the Kettle River and St. Croix River at the intersection of Interstate 35 and State Street.