George H. Crosby Manitou State Park

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Coordinates: 47°30′22″N 91°06′33″W / 47.506018, -91.109045 George H. Crosby Manitou State Park is a Minnesota state park located between Tettegouche State Park and Temperance River State Park on the North Shore of Lake Superior, near the town of Little Marais. It is situated on the Manitou River and was intentionally left largely undeveloped.

[edit] History

All of the 3,320 acres (13 km²) of land on which this park sits were donated by George H. Crosby in 1955. The park was named both after Crosby and the river which it contains, the Manitou River. A decision was made to keep the park largely undeveloped, and thus it contains only backpacking campsites and not a traditional campground. It was the first backpacking campground in the state of Minnesota, and remains restricted to backpackers to this day.

[edit] Landscape

Because it is undeveloped, Crosby Manitou State Park contains many undisturbed miles of fir, cedar, spruce, and northern hardwoods. The river itself has cataracts to the north of the park, and Bensen Lake sits across the southwest ridge of the river valley. The park contains numerous rare land animals such as wolves, moose, and beaver, and larger numbers of hawks, grouse, and Canadian jays.