Taylors Falls

I love canoeing down st croix river at taylors falls. We bring our canoe there at least twice each year and if we have guest from out of town, this is where we will take them. It’s about 35 miles from Minneapolis but the drive is the quintessential Midwest flat hills with barn. Along the way you drive through some small Swedish towns. The river offers very scenic view of the greenery and rocky bluffs. The water is calm and safe most of the time. Lots of parking available at the launch. Floating down this river is the ultimate and perfect summer day for me.

My girlfriend and I stopped here for a little walk along the water and it was very pretty. The only thing is, she is beautiful but as clumsy a human being as I have ever seen. She is the kind of person who weaves around and just runs into things so this trail presented a few problems for her. A couple of times, I thought she was going to go headlong into the river. So if you happen to be walking with a total klutz along here, beware.

There are so many things to do at Interstate State Park.
Mountain climbing, canoeing, trails, picnic, camping, potholes created by glaciers over 10k years, etc. There is something for everyone.
Its a great place to visit and not too far from the twin cities.
although you pay 5 dollars for the entry, you may not get a place to park easily

Taylors Falls is truly a gem of the Twin Cities area. with the St. Croix River, 2 state parks and the city of St. Croix Falls just across the river in Wisconsin, you could spend days and still not see/​eat everything!

When it comes to parks, bad karma just seems to follow us, but mainly it seems to follow me. Thank god for J, because he can usually charm his way right out of my bad luck.
Arrived on a warm sunny day and decided to go hiking around all the beautiful trails.
First we had to park the car. Well, there were no envelopes available, the office was closed and there was no way to pay to park. We left a note in the box and one on the dash, but received a ticket anyway. So did a few others.
Despite the parking agony, the park is quite beautiful with lots of great trails and rocks to climb around. A few secluded rocks to park on and wade your feet in the water. Just be careful climbing back up.
Not too far of a drive about 55 minutes from St. Paul.
After returning to our car and a park person finally arriving at the office, we were directed down to another office where J charmed his way out of the parking ticket.

Taylors falls now has no falls? confusing! Oh but you have what you say? Glacial potholes? ok I will stay and walk around
Had a lovely time exploring the MN side of interstate park (I think? I kept getting confused as to what state I was in) and walked around for hours. The trails were great, and since the weather was crappy there wasn’t much of a crowd.
Parking is strictly enforced so make sure you pay the $ 5. Just over an hours drive it’s a good getaway from the twin cities.

Every fall my boyfriend and I have made it a tradition to visit Taylors Falls. We typically hike around the (often crowded) Minnesota side and then make our way to the Wisconsin side. It’s very busy on weekends, especially during the fall and summer.
This year we pulled off of US 8 and into the boat launch, picnic and camping area. We made our way to the 1 mile Sandstone Bluff Trail. It was a peaceful and not to challenging hike. We went on a weekend and encountered a handful of other families on the trail. Despite the other visitors, there were plenty of moments to enjoy the gorgeous fall scenery without too much distraction and noise. We made our way to the official Taylors Falls entrance on the Minnesota side. Just getting into the parking lot was a bit of a headache, too many people.
We decided to try the boat tour. It was a 80 minute loop via paddle boat on the Saint Croix. The tickets were $ 15 per person. Concessions like pop corn, candy, and coffee were sold at the ticket office. We found a seat on the upper deck on 2 plastic chairs. The tour included a captain with a microphone that detailed the parks history and landmarks. He narrated our adventure for about 15 minutes of the entire journey, for the remaining time we basked in the fall sunshine and enjoyed the views of the park and the rock climbers. There’s a concession stand on the boat that offered pop, beer, wine, candy and chips.
After the boat tour we made walked over to downtown for dinner. The options: Chisago House (a small town family friendly diner style restaurant) Romaynes Sports Bar & grill (tiny inside but big and crowded patio with bar food), Schooney’s Malt Shop & pizzeria (pizza is ok, not good enough to want to bring leftovers home), and Border Bar & Grill (small town bar with a grill). We ended up ordering burgers at Border Bar, it was the only place without a wait. Overall food in town is decent, could be a lot better

Oh, this was an awesome gem of a place to find for a mild hike /​walk with the family. We went 2 weeks ago, when quite a few of the trees were starting to change — amazing! Loved the potholes and the stories behind them, loved the fact that we didn’t need special gear to explore a bit… Next time, we hit the Wisconsin side of the park!

Wow. What can I say. Please check out my photos to appreciate the absolute beauty of this part of the good olé U S of A. Connected by a stunning bridge that spans the impeccibly clean St. Croix River, these two towns (Taylor Falls, MN and St. Croix Valley, WI) were the site of the Dollison family (yee haw!) reunion. We had a fantastic time and I have to say in part due to the fabulous folks who live there. Each town lines either side of the river and has an ecclectic collection of taverns, art galleries, coffee houses and cafes. Everywhere you turn you have a view of the lush, tree lined river banks, pristine blue skies dotted with the whitest, fluffiest clouds. It’s sort of Northern Exposure meets Fargo. Only without the woodchipper and the annoying Rob Morrow. I purchased some amazing mouth blown Polish crystal I’ve yet to see anywhere else. Rickie found some interesting fabrics for his fashions. Only an hour outside of the Twin Cities I highly highly recommend a relaxing visit. There are scenic boat tours, the Wild Mountain Water park and an abundance of great energy, clean air and best of all, good people. UFF DA!