Rice Lake Park Public Campground

We really enjoyed our stay at Rice Lake State Park! The park is clean, quiet, and surrounded by a beautiful mix of woods and prairie. The lake is the highlight—shallow and marshy in areas, it attracts a wide variety of waterfowl and other birds, making it a great spot for wildlife watching and photography. The hiking trails are easy and relaxing, perfect for a peaceful walk through nature. It’s n... We really enjoyed our stay at Rice Lake State Park! The park is clean, quiet, and surrounded by a beautiful mix of woods and prairie. The lake is the highlight—shallow and marshy in areas, it attracts a wide variety of waterfowl and other birds, making it a great spot for wildlife watching and photography. The hiking trails are easy and relaxing, perfect for a peaceful walk through nature. It’s not a huge park, but it offers a tranquil setting and a chance to slow down and enjoy the outdoors. Overall, it’s a nice place to visit for birding, light hiking, or simply soaking in the peaceful lakeside environment.

The campsites is small. There is no dump station. And the park itself is small. However! The hike is a nice stroll to the park where you can fish and the campsites are decent sized. And if you like small parks this would be a good one. But for use to drive a long way we would rather go somewhere else. But still it's a state park and they are amazing We did have a large storm come through and sto... The campsites is small. There is no dump station. And the park itself is small. However! The hike is a nice stroll to the park where you can fish and the campsites are decent sized. And if you like small parks this would be a good one. But for use to drive a long way we would rather go somewhere else. But still it's a state park and they are amazing We did have a large storm come through and storms can always be fun. But this one we lost our canopy and the site got slightly flooded. The kids loved puddle jumping. But IDK if I cared for it

My Favorite and I visited this lovely state park by Owatonna. The weather was perfect for kayaking or hiking when we left our farm so we brought our boats with every intention of putting in at the landing. We changed our minds when we got there. The edge of the landing was pretty gross, per usual for many southern Minnesota lakes. Plus the lake was pretty choppy on the landing side. The launch it... My Favorite and I visited this lovely state park by Owatonna. The weather was perfect for kayaking or hiking when we left our farm so we brought our boats with every intention of putting in at the landing. We changed our minds when we got there. The edge of the landing was pretty gross, per usual for many southern Minnesota lakes. Plus the lake was pretty choppy on the landing side. The launch itself is pretty cool to kayak through as there is a path through some pretty thick reefs to get out to the open water. Not this day though. So instead of launching, we parked the truck and walked through the park. The first stop was a nice bench overlooking the lake by the cart-in sites. A little further along the path we came across some signs with education about local ducks, along with some great seating from which to view the lake. There was a play set which had chains for swings but no swings. Unfortunate as it was a nice play set other than that. Just past that was a really nice fishing pier. We hung out in the sunshine on the pier until we got too hot and then continued on the path through the woods that follows the shoreline. We came out on a dirt road that led through the campsites and then walked the main road back to our truck. The only not great part of the adventure were the outhouses by the cart-in sites. A mop and a wipe down of the walls would have done wonders for the creepy/gross factor. Overall a great experience! We HAVE to come back because we only saw a tiny tiny portion of the trails and paths that lead through this gorgeous park.