Frontenac State Park

Frontenac State Park’s 13 miles of hiking trails are a combination of open prairie and forest paths. Most of the overlooks are concentrated on top of the lakefront ridges. Some trails drop down the steep, forested slope with serpentine switchbacks to a bottomland path paralleling the lake. One trail leads behind the campground to In Yan Teopa Rock, a giant rock arch perched on the edge of a bluff above Lake Pepin. From the picnic area you can see down Lake Pepin to Lake City and beyond. Daytime observers up here will usually see a flotilla of sailboats and pleasure craft on Lake Pepin.

The Park’s 58-site campground is on a ridge top with easy access to hiking trails. The primitive group camp is just to the west of the main campground. If you’d like to rough it, you can hike a short distance to the six cart-in campsites or two backpack sites. A group camp area offers room for 35 campers.

Frontenac, the scenic river town that the park is named for, was established in the 1850s. Its growth was slowed by the Civil War, but one of its founders, Israel Garrard, returned afterward with southern craftsmen to continue developing the town. By the late 1870s, Frontenac had blossomed into a prosperous community. Because of the town’s charm and the natural beauty of the bluffs and river, Frontenac became a fashionable summer resort for wealthy families from New Orleans, St. Louis and St. Paul who arrived by steamboat to vacation on the shores of Lake Pepin. When the railroads came, Frontenac, like other river towns, declined. The town of Frontenac today is a US Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.