Lac qui Parle State Park

Justin Campbell

Visited the Upper Campground. It's pretty quiet the bathrooms and showers are cleaner than most state parks. The beach is not well maintained. There is no playground equipment for kids. The upper campgrounds are still fairly new meaning not many trees to speak of.

Todd Mulvihill

Situated around Lac qui Parle, this state park is in a bit of a transition. The older Lower area is the original and prone to flooding often. It is indefinitely closed. Probably for the best, infrastructure is old and outdated. The newer Upper area is up on the hilltop away from flooding potential and affords great views of the lake below and stars above as there are no trees to block your view or the sunburn you will get without some sort of shade shelter. The restroom facilities are new and great. The new info/ registration center is beyond the upper campground.

Cathy Cozad

There wasn’t much shade to be found on the open prairie. We found that our small tree was a bit of cool-ness on a very hot weekend. The park had well kept bathrooms and many RV/hard-sided campers. The views were fantastic over the river. We plan to return and camp at a walk-in site.

Jan Schmitt

Watson, MN – Lac Qui Parle State Park – Upper campground What a beautiful park! In early July 2018 we stayed for 10 nights in the upper campground in site U9, which had FHU, 50 amp. The site was large, grassy, with fire ring/grill and picnic table and surrounded by corn fields and prairie with lots of wild flowers. We could see the water in some places. Nightly sunsets were spectacular. There is plenty of space between sites. It was a calm and relaxing place. The visitor center was very interesting and the staff was very friendly and helpful. The clerk forgot to take care of our tow vehicle permit but a ranger came by a few days later and took care of it for us. The hiking trails are mown trails through the prairie and woods and were nice to walk through, with the exception of the woodsy area, where the mosquitoes swarmed like crazy. That’s not unexpected given all the rain this area has had. Price was $33/night for FHU plus we paid the annual vehicle permit of $35. There is not much around to do there, Verizon cell was 4G 3-4 bars and OTA digital channels were slim but we very much enjoyed the calming atmosphere, watching the birds and 13 Lined Ground Squirrels. Our only complaint is the water: it has a bad alkaline smell and taste (even with double filters) and leaves a brown stain in the shower. Bring drinking/cooking water with you.