Climbing at Blue Mounds State Park (MN) and Palisades State Park (SD)

On a recent weekend, I made the trek to southwestern Minnesota to go camping and climbing at Blue Mounds State Park, near Luverne. It was around a 4 hour drive, so  we were hoping for a great experience. We were not disappointed.

On Friday night it was raining as we set up our tents (it was also dark out as we got there around 10 pm), so we had to be quick. It rained overnight, and I woke up somewhere around 4:30. A little too early for me, but  I tried and couldn't fall back asleep, so eventually got up. It wasn't really raining too late into the morning, but we knew it would be too wet to climb until later in the day. So we went to a local diner and had breakfast to kill some time and avoid eating oatmeal packets.

After a few hours, the rock dried out and the climbs were set up. It was really fun and we had a couple of very challenging routes to try. I wasn't able to complete the 5.12, but I did get the 5.10, a route with a great heel hook to get over a small roof. There were several other routes, and I think they were in the 5.7-5.9 range. After several hours, we were tired, and took a break by swimming in the lake at the park. Afterwards, we ate and eventually sat next to a campfire and stared at the stars. It was a clear night and the stars were really shining.



The next day we woke up a bit sore from the long day of climbing, but we ended up going again, only this time we made our way to Palisades State Park in South Dakota, something like 20 miles west of Blue Mounds state park. There were some really cool rock features along a river there. We set up the climbs, and began climbing, although not nearly as hard or as long as the previous day as we had a long drive home (and had some other plans, which I'll mention in a later post). It was also very hot, so we got pretty tired. With that said, this was definitely a really cool place. I had no idea that eastern South Dakota had such cool landscapes. I definitely want to go back.


Visiting the two state parks was really a great time, and I definitely recommend visiting either of them if you have the chance. They aren't too far from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, so if you are ever in that area, keep these places in mind!