Afton State Park, State park in Washington County, Minnesota.
Afton State Park is a Minnesota state park in Washington County that brings together prairie, oak forest, deep ravines, and sandstone outcroppings along the St. Croix River. The land drops sharply from an upper plateau down to the river's edge, creating a varied landscape across a relatively compact area.
Minnesota created the park in 1969 as a way to ease pressure on nearby parks that were receiving more visitors than they could handle. The site was chosen because it offered a large stretch of undeveloped land close to the Twin Cities.
The park's name comes from a Robert Burns poem in which he celebrates a Scottish river called Afton, and early settlers in the area borrowed it for this corner of Minnesota. That Scottish connection still shows up in nearby place names along the St. Croix valley.
The park is set up for foot travel, and vehicles are not allowed beyond the main parking area, so visitors should plan to walk from the start. Those who want to stay overnight need to carry all their gear in, since every campsite requires a hike to reach.
The drop of roughly 300 feet (about 90 meters) from the bluff top to the river is unusually large for such a small park, and it means that plants and animals from very different environments end up living close together. A visitor can move from open prairie to shaded riverbank in a short walk and notice the shift in plants underfoot.
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