Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail runs through Sakatah Lake State Park and stretches 39 miles from Mankato to Faribault. The paved trail offers hikers, bikers, skiers, and snowmobilers beautiful scenery through Minnesota's hardwoods. Sakatah Lake, a natural widening of the Cannon River, lures canoeists to paddle the calm waters, and anglers to catch walleye, large mouth and white bass, northern pike, and panfish. Whatever the season, visitors enjoy camping and picnicking.
Wildlife Open fields, wetlands, upland forests, lakes, and forest edges provide the perfect habitat for many southern Minnesota wildlife species. Deer, squirrel, raccoon, mink, rabbit, and coyote are animals commonly seen in the park. Listen for songbirds, woodpeckers, hawks, and owls in the park.
History Members of the Dakota Nation, the Wahpekute (Wah-pay-coo-tay) tribe inhabited the area that is now the park. They named the area Sakatah, which translates to 'the sights and sounds of children playing on the hill,' or loosely translated as 'Singing Hills' for the state trail. The Cannon and other area rivers served as an important Indian water route between south central Minnesota and Wisconsin. The Big Woods made land travel difficult and a water route allowed larger loads. Numerous trading posts and Indian villages existed along the route. A village site is believed to have existed in the area of the point separating Upper Sakatah and Lower Sakatah Lakes. In 1826 a trader by the name of Alexander Faribault established a post on the northeast shore of Cannon Lake -- one of the first white settlements in the area. He eventually opened at least five other trading posts along the Cannon River.
Geology Glacial activity 14,000 years ago shaped this landscape. The park sits on a moraine, a large mound of rock and mineral debris deposits. In some areas of the park, these moraine deposits are up to 400 feet deep. Glacial ice blocks left by receding glaciers formed depressions which filled with water creating lakes such as Sakatah Lake.
Landscape Original notes from surveyors in the late 1800s described the area as low, rolling land with second rate timber and prairieland with bur oak, basswood, aspen, butternut, elm, ash, and ironwood. This area is an example of a transition zone, or ecotome, between the Southern Oak Barrens and the Big Woods Landscape Regions.
The sites here are nice and secluded. Lots of growth, shrubs, and trees between sites. There is no interpretive center here. there are some nice hiking trails. There is a boat launch. They rent canoes and kayaks. We did some geocaching and biked the extremely nice paved trail. The campground itself has hills and some of the sites are on a hill. We had a truck camper that we removed at site #39 and it worked very well. Other sites would not have worked for us as the hills would have been too steep. Most of the sites would be just fine though.
Brian P.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reviewed on June 19th, 2020
Nice little park. Some nice hiking trails. The Sakatah trail runs through it, which is MANY miles long and good for biking. I wish I would have brought my fishing pole...
Unknown
3.0 out of 5 stars
Reviewed on June 19th, 2020
Nice park. Some great campsites. Nice hiking trails.