Fort Ridgely

Darrin Hawley

This is a very nice state park. Regular and horse camping sites available, and even rustic, bare-bone campsites. The historic fort there is very nice and educational, although a few signs need to be replaced as they are unreadable. Several options for hiking.

Todd Mulvihill

A nice little historic state park in south-central MN. Busy but quiet, this state park offers decent hiking trails including thru beautiful restored prairie (best in July/Augist when flowers are blooming or grasses are turning golden brown), large campsites (some along the river, some near the restrooms) with large trees and decent amounts of grass, a very nice equestrian campground, the historic Fort Ridgely itself and two lookouts offering spectacular views of the Minnesota River valley. Cell service is spotty in the campground and best at the Fort up on the bluff. Wifi is available at the park office. Bugs can be heavy at this park, especially during the hot summer months, plan appropriately. The restroom/shower building is new and nice but note there are only TWO showers for the entire campground so they can be busy, especially on packed weekends. There is a Little Library here as well ( right outside the restrooms). Bring an old book to share. The fort site offers a self-guided tour of the un-excavated grounds. Unfortunately many of the information placards have faded beyond recognition and are un-readable. Its also a good place to catch the breeze as the campground down in the valley does not often get any. The historic picnic shelter is quite nice but currently has a roosting bat challenge and needs to be cleaned. In winter, shift gears and rent out the Chalet and spend the afternoon sledding down the adjacent hillside.

Candis Novek

Small and cozy. Park Ranger could use better communication skills but, still nice. Bathrooms and showers top notch.

Jamie H

I love this state park. The camp sites sit down below the bluff. No wind if there is any. Great trout fishing there also. To catch the trout, you want to fish down by the horse camp. Plenty of trout in the stream!

DLM-Distribution Campervans

Short Review of Fort Ridgely State Park We recently camped at Fort Ridgely State Park and really enjoyed the quiet, peaceful setting. The campground was clean and easy to access, with nice wooded sites that gave us a good amount of space and privacy. We appreciated how close the trails were—perfect for a morning hike with views of the surrounding prairie and bluffs. One of the highlights was exploring the old fort ruins and reading about the history of the U.S.-Dakota War. It's a meaningful place, and the combination of history and nature makes it a unique state park experience. If you're traveling through southern Minnesota, Fort Ridgely is definitely worth a stop.

Wen Martínez Horsch

Visited during spring when everything was dry still it was ok. But probably should come back on summer.

Christopher Haynes

A fairly small campground at 39 sites. But sites 20-39 are all fairly large. Some are more private than others, but overall a nice area. The main bathroom building is very new, clean and modern, but small. Only four toilets, but each is a large private room. Two of them house the only two showers available, so it's possible to make a shower unavailable by using a toilet. Hiking and horseback riding are about the only activities available here, with some trails and a foot bridge along the river. The trailer dump station is off site a couple miles away at the horse camp. It is off the main road along some dirt roads. Not convenient at all.

samantha Mata

Beautiful place! Lots of trails, gorgeous flowers, lots of wildlife. Perfect place for a good hike! Can even horse back ride and camp! Love it. Will return!

Lindsay S

We had a great time here. We had wonderful company and the trails were decent. A good park for us has a good amount of trails. There are a couple here that are good. And horse friendly we saw a lot of horses actually here. However with that meant lots of horse poop. Because apparently the horses can just poop on the path no problem. The campground was a straight shot in and then had a roundabout at the end. We were on the river side and the kids loved to play in the creek. They even found a deeper spot and swam for a bit. The dogs had so much fun too. The lookout points were nice and had pretty meadows to look at. The campground had very large campsites very roomy. There is historical sites too where you can go read about the war that took place here. A cemetery you can check out if you want. The kids found a guy named pickel. The ranger station was small but had shirts, books, maps, stickers and some more things to buy. We did find their is a chalet we can rent year round and may look into that this winter.

Jordan Wilson

We stayed at walk-in campsite W1 and it was amazing! The campsite was very secluded from the campground, we never heard a single screaming child or barking dog. If you are parking in the main campground area the walk-in campsites are at the top of a substantial hill which is good because it acts as a deterrent for most people and makes the site feel even more private. We camped there on a Thursday night/Friday morning we saw very few people on the trails, in the campground, and the entire park in general. There are several extensive prairie restorations, wooded floodplain areas, and beautiful overlooks. Plenty of interesting botany and birding to be had here.