Itasca State Park
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May 19, 2019 · The headwaters of the Mississippi were preserved by creating Minnesota's first state park, Itasca, in 1891. Recently while sifting through family photographs, Murzyn, now a Star Tribune reader in...
Lake Itasca. / 47.21806°N 95.20722°W / 47.21806; -95.20722. Lake Itasca is a glacial lake found in north Minnesota. It is the primary source for the Mississippi River. Although the river has tributaries which contribute a large volume of water to it, none are as dramatic as the lake's.
Established in 1891, Itasca is Minnesota's oldest state park. Today, the park totals more than 32,000 acres and includes more than 100 lakes. Walk across the mighty Mississippi as it starts its winding journey 2,552 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.
The 32,000-acre park is the state’s most developed park yet also one of its most pristine. It is Minnesota’s first state park, and one of the oldest in the country. Itasca State Park is located 20 miles north of Park Rapids on the Lake Country Scenic Byway in Minnesota’s Clearwater, Hubbard, and Becker counties. Read more ….
Jul 24, 2023 · Schoolcraft renamed the lake Itasca by combining the Latin words veritas (truth) and caput (head). Questions about the Mississippi’s source, however, lingered for fifty years. Skeptics believed...
Itasca's 32,690 acres include lakes, streams, old growth forest, and hundreds of miles of hiking trails. No visit to Itasca is complete without seeing the headwaters of the Mississippi River, at the outlet of Lake Itasca. Itasca's landscape is a glacial moraine, sometimes referred to as "knob and kettle."
In 1832, Anishinabe guide Ozawindib, led explorer Henry Rowe Schoolcraft to the source of the Mississippi River at pristine, blue Lake Itasca. Today, visitors from around the world enjoy walking across the world's third longest river by stepping from rock to rock to reach the opposite shore.
