Minnesota State Park Just Voted One of the Best in the US

We have tons of beautiful state parks all across Minnesota. However, just one of them has been voted as one of the best state parks in the entire country.

The Best State Parks Across the Country

Even though only one made the list, and we have plenty that are worthy of making the top 10, it's still quite impressive when you think about how many state parks we have around the US.

Across the country, we have 6,792 state parks! So being among the top 10 is impressive.

ALSO READ: Most Affordable Places for a Beach Vacation in Minnesota

The voting was hosted by USA Today, which does a ton of these '10 Best' lists.

For each category, an 'expert panel' nominates which place, company, etc. should be considered for the top 10. Then, they ask people to vote for their favorite out of that list. And finally, the top 10 list is revealed!

Get our free mobile app

Other than the Minnesota state park that made the top 10, here are the other state parks that we may want to consider going to one day:

10. Palo Duro Canyon State Park (aka: the Grand Canyon of Texas) - Canyon, TX (near Amarillo)

9. Stephen C Foster State Park - Fargo, GA (near the Florida border)

8. Lost Dutchman State Park - Apache Junction, AZ (40 miles east of Phoenix)

7. Big Bend Ranch State Park - Terlingua, TX (west Texas on the Mexico border)

6. Peninsula State Park - Fish Creek, WI (part of Door County)

5. Ha Ha Tonka State Park - Camdenton, MO (part of Lake of the Ozarks)

4. Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park (aka: the Porkies) - Ontonagon, MI (part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, near the Wisconsin border)

2. Blue Spring State Park - just north of Orlando, FL

1. Letchworth State Park (aka: the Grand Canyon of the East) - southeast of Buffalo, NY

Did you notice I skipped number 3? Yep, that's where our Minnesota state park goes! I know, the 3rd best out of nearly 7,000 state parks!

Best State Park in Minnesota

According to all of the votes, the 3rd best state park in the US is Gooseberry Falls State Park. Of course, it's iconic and beautiful!

USA Today writes,

Gooseberry Falls [State Park] features a series of five dramatic waterfalls cascading through a rugged gorge of volcanic rock.

There are 18 miles of hiking trails at Gooseberry, 8 miles of biking trails, and in the winter, you can snowshoe and cross-country ski.

I would say Gooseberry is one of the most well-known state parks we have, too. I feel like everyone, at least in Minnesota, knows about it. It's definitely a Minnesota bucket list item if you've never been.