Carley State Park

About Carley State Park

Beauty and tranquility are the essence of Carley State Park, and in spring the valley is covered in an abundance of colors. We admire the beautiful old white pines, walk along the white water river and marvel at the beauty of the nature around us.

The northern arm of the white water river is a designated trout stream and provides a habitat for brown trout. Play on the swing, try your hand at horseshoes, enjoy the picnic area, sit back and listen to the sounds of birds, birds of prey and the sound of waterfalls and streams. Watch the birds in their natural habitat, such as the red-tailed hawk, bald eagle or blue jay.

Carley State Park is located in the Bluffland Landscape region and rustic campsites are located near the picnic area.

Towering white pines stand in the middle of an oak forest in this beautiful park, and tender wildflowers bloom in April and August. The trail winds along the northern arm of the Wildwater River and winds through the beautiful Bluffland Landscape region of Carley State Park.

For 450 million years, a shallow sea covered large parts of North America, including what is now southeastern Minnesota, beginning with the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada. The seabed was covered with a layer of limestone rock at a depth of about 1,000 feet, and it was joined by limestone rocks that formed the Bluffland Landscape Region in Carley State Park, the largest of its kind in Minnesota.

The impact of this period on the landscape was remarkable, because the area was not covered by the last glaciers and the surrounding rich arable land is evidence of the advantages of this type of soil. The activity of the glaciers led to the formation of a thick layer of sandstone and other minerals, as well as fine particles blown away by the wind as the glaciers retreated into the thick soil cover, loess.

The park's hardwood forest borders farmland and is home to many species of wildflowers and the Whitewater River Valley. The river is named after the white water that turned the river murky white when floods submerged the light clay bottom. Dakota Indians once hunted, collected and bred wild food in the valley's white-water rivers and hunted it for food.

In 1851, the United States government and the Dakota Indians signed a treaty that opened most of southern Minnesota to European settlers. The next settlement in the park, Plainview, is named after the large high-mountain grasslands that surround the river valley.

In 1957, severe hailstorms ravaged the trees, but the state of Minnesota received land for a park from the first governor of Minnesota, James A. Carley, to preserve a magnificent grove of native white pines.

The pine population is rising and can be seen from the observation deck on the hiking trail and from the main parking lot of the park.