Sakatah Lake State Park is located just about 1 hour south of the Twin Cities, far enough out to not hear the sound of traffic but close enough so come back the same day if you just weren’t cut out to be an outdoors man!
Sakatah Lake State Park has 62 camp sites, 14 with electric, 2 group camps which accommodate 50 people, 5 bike in sites and one camper cabin. There are showers and restrooms throughout the camp loops and I would consider them pretty good for a campsite. The showering and restroom facilities seemed to be fairly updated and were kept clean and free of any major smells.
The campsites are ok, at first we weren’t real sure where we were going to set up our tents. There weren’t any sand tent spots that we noticed and certainly wasn’t one at our spot. But, once we cleared a few twigs we found room to set up our two tents on fairly level ground.
Sakatah Lake State Park sits along side Sakatah Lake (obvious!?) but the shore line is fairly rocky and full of trees. So not much place to walk the shoreline. There is a fishing pier and public boat access both close to the camp sites. Not that we caught any but there is suppose to be walleye, large mouth and white bass, northern pike, and panfish in the lake.
The park rangers were polite and friendly but maybe a little overbearing. Seemed to drive through a lot and didn’t take much for them to stop and talk or let you know the rules. We weren’t breaking any mind you but they were really worried about the large log that was half burned sitting in our site (there when we got there). We were using it to tie of the dogs to but were asked to throw it back to nature once and the second time the ranger stopped he just politely offered to take it.
Sakataha Singing Hills State Trail runs through Sakataha Lake Park and runs 39 miles from Fairbault to Mankato. The trail is paved and offers a beautiful trek through the park and hardwoods.
Other things to note about the park: firewood available $4, ice available (not sure price), canoes for rent, closes town is Waterville for grocery or dining and there is also a gift shop in the office of the park. Park entrance is located on State Highway 60, 14 miles east of Faribault, or one mile east of State Highways 13 and 60 in Waterville.
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Did you have issues with the 10 p.m. quiet time? We were sitting around at Flandreau State Park and they were terrible with that there. It’s like you cannot even talk around the fire without them coming to remind you that it is quiet time. We have reservations here and just want to know if we are going to have the same issues.
We didn’t see a park ranger after 10pm. We were sitting around the camp fire…probably until 11pm. We did remind our kids in the morning that they shouldn’t be so loud as it was still quiet time but no one bothered us around the fire at night.
Thank you for the info. This has been very helpful.