Around 1920, local citizens successfully lobbied to establish Whitewater State Park and thereby protect some of the most beautiful areas within the Whitewater River Valley. Picturesque limestone bluffs and deep ravines make Whitewater a very popular park. It’s an angler’s paradise with brown, brook and rainbow trout swimming in the parks’ two spring-fed rivers. Visitors enjoy a sandy swimming beach, a year-round visitor center, easy-to-challenging hiking trails, camping, staying at the group center in rustic, winterized cabins.

Nearly 50 kinds of mammals and 250 kinds of birds use the Whitewater River Valley during the course of a year, including the rare Louisiana Waterthrush. Of Minnesota’s rare animals and plants, 43 percent live in the Blufflands.