North Central Minnesaota

[Dog_Trainer]

Planning a trip to include north central Minn. around july 4th. Have been up the north shore a couple of times so I thought we would move a little inland. We like the outdoors and have a couple of motor scooters to explore with. We also like Casino camping. We will be coming into Minn. from the Michigan UP. So we are wondering what to do and see in this area.

[MinnCamper]

Dewey hit pretty much all of the hotspots. Itasca state park is our favorite state park and there you can use your scooters throughout the park as well as the wilderness trail. It's 17 miles one way from start to finish and it's very scenic.

More central is the Brainerd Lakes area. This is a pretty touristy area, but there are lots of little towns to visit (Nisswa, Cross Lake) and 2 COE parks that are nice.

For casino camping further east near the Wisconsin border is Hinckley casino and the campground there has been voted one of the nicest in the country.

[dewey02]

Chippewa National forest. Some of the biggest lakes in the state with lots of nice campgrounds and resorts on them. Lake Winnebegoshish (aka Winnie), Leech lake, Cass Lake, Norway beach Campground, Itasca State Park is the headwaters of the mighty Mississippi. The river is only a few feet across at its start and only a foot deep. Scenic State Park, several National Scenic Byways like Edge of the Wilderness, Avenue of the Pines, ladyslipper Scenic Byway. All the state parks and the National forest have Campgrounds.

Casinos in Walker, Cass Lake, Red Lake, Tower, MN. Also in Cloquet (but that is in NE MN, just south of Duluth.)