Camping in Lake Maria State Park (MN)

About a month ago I had the opportunity to go camping in Lake Maria State Park, located just outside of Monticello, MN. It is another great park to go to if you live in the twin cities and want to get out of town, but don't want to travel too far. The site we stayed in was a backpack-in site, making it a bit more of an adventure. The trip to the park began with some significant rainfall on our drive to the park, enough so that had we not been planning to meet some friends there (who we confirmed were already there), we wouldn't have bothered to go. This set a bit of a negative tone for a while, as I was camping with someone who was a bit uneasy with getting wet. Fortunately, after about 15 minutes of waiting in the car at the park, the weather began to clear and we hiked to our campsite. There are several miles of trails going through the park, some of which are used for horses. The trail to the backpack-in sites went into the woods and came close to two small lakes. The lakes looked like they would have been excellent places to go canoeing, which maybe we'll have to do in the future. We didn't explore the park too much, though, as the trails were a bit muddy and it felt good to sit by the campfire. Our campsite was in a scenic spot, and I felt like we had the park to ourselves. I don't think I'll have this feeling at a state park for a while now, as the parks are much more popular now and will be into the fall. Lake Maria was a great getaway and I hope to go back someday.