Lake Elmo: Nature Parks and Trails

The facilities vary in scale and recreational offerings: Lake Elmo Park Reserve includes a large protected area and a campground; Sunfish Lake Park combines several types of trails with a nature center. Goose Lake Park adds to the picture with trails and amenities by the water. When planning, it helps to group these profiles according to your interests: protected areas, specific types of trails, and activities by the water each represent different focuses.

Park landscapes by scale

Lake Elmo Park Reserve covers 2,165 acres; 80 percent of the area is designated for conservation and protection. Sunfish Lake Park covers 284 acres and is recognized by the Department of Natural Resources as a “Regionally Significant Ecological Area.” The parks also differ ecologically: 80 percent of Lake Elmo Park Reserve is designated for conservation and protection, while Sunfish Lake Park is recognized as a “Regionally Significant Ecological Area.” If you include natural areas in your travel plans, you can take these different focuses into account.

Trails for walking, skiing, and mountain biking

Sunfish Lake Park has about nine miles of mowed trails for skiing or walking. It also has about five miles of singletrack mountain bike trails with one-way traffic. These trails are maintained and open to fat biking in winter; winter maintenance conditions may vary. The one-way layout gives the biking trails a different structure from the walking or skiing trails. If you’re planning a fat bike ride, check current maintenance conditions before your visit.

The municipal trail network and Lake Elmo Park Reserve

Lake Elmo’s parks include more than 500 acres of municipal parkland and more than 80 miles of trails. Activities available there include hiking, cross-country skiing, and horseback riding, among others. These totals describe a different scale than the specific trail figures for Sunfish Lake Park: the municipal figures cover parkland and trails overall, while the approximately nine and five miles refer to specific types of trails at Sunfish Lake Park.

Lake Elmo Park Reserve has a fishing pier on the southwest side of Lake Elmo. The campsites also vary in their amenities and access: there are sites with electrical and water hookups, group sites, and rustic walk-in sites. This gives you several named campsite types to choose from for a camping stay; the fishing pier adds an opportunity to fish by the lake to the park’s offerings.

Water trails and nature center

Goose Lake Park covers 7.10 acres. It has walking and biking trails, a kayak/canoe rack, and a fishing area with a pier. With its smaller area and individual waterside amenities, the park differs from the larger protected and trail areas. If you want to include trails and water activities in your travel plans, this park offers both as part of its profile.

The Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center is also located in Sunfish Lake Park in Lake Elmo. The center offers indoor and outdoor experiences. If you want to consider both trails and indoor and outdoor experiences as you plan, you can include the nature center as a distinct part of the Sunfish Lake Park profile.

Discover more destinations: Oakdale, Woodbury, Forest Lake, Cottage Grove, Stillwater, Afton

See the overview of the wider region: Washington.