George H. Crosby Manitou State Park is a state park

State park

State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...

 of Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, USA, located between Tettegouche State Park

Tettegouche State Park

Tettegouche State Park is a Minnesota state park on the north shore of Lake Superior 58 miles northeast of Duluth in Lake County on scenic Minnesota Highway 61. The park's name stems from the Tettegouche Club, an association of local businessmen which purchased the park in 1910 from the...

 and Temperance River State Park

Temperance River State Park

Temperance River State Park is a state park of Minnesota, USA, just north of the town of Schroeder on Highway 61 on the North Shore of Lake Superior. It has campsites, picnic areas, and hiking trails on both sides of the Temperance River.-History:...

 on the North Shore

North Shore (Lake Superior)

The North Shore of Lake Superior runs from Duluth, Minnesota, United States, at the southwestern end of the lake, to Thunder Bay and Nipigon, Ontario, Canada, in the north to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, in the east...

 of Lake Superior

Lake Superior

Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...

, near the town of Little Marais

Little Marais, Minnesota

Little Marais is an unincorporated community in Lake County, Minnesota, United States. The community was originally known as Philips Trading Post.The community is located northeast of Silver Bay on Minnesota Highway 61....

. It is situated on the Manitou River

Manitou River (Minnesota)

The Manitou River is a river in northern Minnesota, which drains into Lake Superior along its north shore about three miles northeast of Little Marais. It flows southeast through the Superior National Forest, Finland State Forest, and George H. Crosby Manitou State Park in Lake County.The Caribou...

 and was intentionally left largely undeveloped.

History

The original 3320 acres (13 km²) of land on which this park sits were donated by George H. Crosby in 1955. The park was named both after Crosby and the river which it contains, the Manitou River. A decision was made to keep the park largely undeveloped, and thus it contains only backpacking

Backpacking (wilderness)

Backpacking combines the activities of hiking and camping for an overnight stay in backcountry wilderness...

campsites and not a traditional campground. It was the first backpacking campground in the state of Minnesota, and remains restricted to backpackers to this day.

Landscape

Because it is undeveloped, Crosby Manitou State Park contains many undisturbed miles of fir, cedar, spruce, and northern hardwoods. The river itself has cataracts to the north of the park, and Bensen Lake sits across the southwest ridge of the river valley. The park contains numerous rare land animals such as wolves, moose, and beaver, and larger numbers of hawks, grouse, and Canadian jays.

External links

• George H. Crosby Manitou State Park