Hike Location: Buffalo River State Park
Geographic Location: east of Moorhead, MN (46.86531, -96.46679)
Length: 2 miles
Difficulty: 2/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: August 2018
Overview: A loop hike through prairie along the Buffalo
River.
Park Information: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/park.html?id=spk00124#homepage
Directions to the trailhead: East of Moorhead, take
I-94 to SR 336 (exit 6). Exit and go
north on SR 336. Drive SR 336 north 2.1
miles to US 10 and turn right to enter eastbound on US 10. Drive US 10 east 8.3 miles to the signed park
entrance on the right. Turn right to
enter the park, pay the entrance fee, and drive to the main parking lot at the
main park road’s end. Park here.
The hike: Located
14 miles east of the Fargo/Moorhead metro area, Buffalo River State Park
protects 4658 acres straddling its namesake river. The park was established in 1937 when the
Moorhead Rod and Gun Club saw the land’s value as a public recreation area. At that time the park land consisted of
reverting farmland, but in 1979 efforts to restore the area’s native prairie
habitat began.
Today the
park features some nice amenities including a swimming pool, a riverside picnic
area, and a 44-site developed campground.
For hikers, the restored prairie takes center stage, and more than 12
miles of trails take you through prairie and riparian habitats. While not the longest possible route, this
hike explores both the prairie and riverside areas, thus giving you a good
sample of the hiking this park has to offer.
 |
| Start of Old Grade Trail |
From the
main parking lot, walk back out the entrance road a couple hundred feet to find
the start of the Old Grade Trail on the right.
The Old Grade Trail is unsigned, but it starts almost opposite the
campground access road, which leaves to the left. The dirt/grass Old Grade Trail follows the
route of an old road as it heads first north and then east across the restored
prairie. The prairie portion of this
hike will be hot and sunny during the summer, so wear a hat and stay hydrated.
Wooden
posts adorned with plastic blue diamonds indicate that the Old Grade Trail is
part of this park’s Hiking Club Trail.
Every Minnesota state park has a hiking club trail, and paying the $15
required to join the hiking club will
earn you patches and plaques as you try to hike in all 67 of Minnesota’s state
parks. If hiking in all of Minnesota’s
state parks sounds like a daunting task, you can start by trying to hike in
more of them than I have: 10 as of this writing. Minnesota also has a Passport Club for people
content with just visiting its state parks.
 |
| Hiking through the restored prairie |
At 0.4
miles, you cross an old asphalt road and continue east through the prairie on
the other side. The trail’s name
magically changes from the Old Grade Trail to the Wide Sky Trail (sometimes also
called the Big Sky Trail) at this point, but the trail conditions and scenery
remain the same. Soon you pass an
interpretive sign that points out some glacial erratics, or boulders
transported here from points north by glaciers during the last ice age.
Ignore side
trails that exit right until you reach a major trail intersection at 0.95
miles. A wooden bench sits at this
intersection, and the Minnesota State University-Mankato Regional Science
Center building can be seen ahead and to the left. Turn right here and head steeply downhill but
only for a short distance. Interpretive
signs tell you that this hill is a former Buffalo River cut bank, or a steep
bank formed where the river used to run against the side of this hill, thereby
undercutting and eroding the hill.
 |
| Approaching the Buffalo River |
When you
reach the bank of the present-day Buffalo River, turn right and begin following
the river downstream on the River View Trail.
A shallow sandy-bottomed prairie river, the Buffalo River flows
northwest on a winding course for 139 miles to its mouth at the Red River,
which in turn flows north into Lake Winnipeg.
Thus, the water you see here has a long way to go to reach the sea. Birds and wildlife enjoy the riparian area,
and while there are still a lot of prairie grasses and flowers including goldenrod, stands of basswood,
elm, and box elder pop up along the river bank.
 |
| Hiking along the Buffalo River |
The
remainder of the hike stays close to the Buffalo River. Where the Savanna Cutoff Trail exits right at
1.65 miles, stay left to continue on the River View Trail. When you reach a water treatment area, turn
left again and quickly come out at the park’s swimming area, which was very
popular on the warm Sunday afternoon that I hiked here. Turn right to walk around the swimming area
and get back to the main parking lot where your car is parked.
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