Banning State Park is a 6237 acres (25.2 km²) Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 state park stretched along 10 miles (16.1 km) of the Kettle River

Kettle River (Minnesota)

The Kettle is a tributary of the St. Croix River, about 80 mi long, in eastern Minnesota in the United States. Via the St. Croix River, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River. The river's English name is due to the large number of large rounded holes in the sandstone in and around...

 near Sandstone, Minnesota

Sandstone, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,549 people, 580 households, and 359 families residing in the city. The population density was 292.5 people per square mile . There were 634 housing units at an average density of 119.7 per square mile...

 in Pine County

Pine County, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 26,530 people, 9,939 households, and 6,917 families residing in the county. The population density was 19 people per square mile . There were 15,353 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile...

. The centerpiece of the park is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of churning rapid

Rapid

A rapid is a section of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. A rapid is a hydrological feature between a run and a cascade. A rapid is characterised by the river becoming shallower and having some rocks exposed above the...

s, some up to Class IV

International Scale of River Difficulty

The International Scale of River Difficulty is a standardized scale used to rate the safety of a stretch of river, or a single rapid. The grade reflects the technical difficulty and skill level required associated with the section of river...

. The daring kayakers

Whitewater kayaking

Whitewater kayaking is the sport of paddling a kayak on a moving body of water, typically a whitewater river. Whitewater kayaking can range from simple, carefree gently moving water, to demanding, dangerous whitewater. River rapids are graded like ski runs according to the difficulty, danger or...

 and canoeists

Canoeing

Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....

 who shoot Blueberry Slide, Mother's Delight, Dragon's Tooth, Little Banning, and Hell's Gate each spring attract spectators to the park. Landbound visitors can hike along the state's first Wild and Scenic River amid dramatic sandstone rock formations, large potholes carved by the river, and the remains of a historic quarry

Quarry

A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...

. Other features are Wolf Creek Falls and Robinson Ice Cave.

Geology

The park lies in a shallow, narrow valley worn by the Kettle River. The topsoil

Topsoil

Topsoil is the upper, outermost layer of soil, usually the top to . It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and is where most of the Earth's biological soil activity occurs.-Importance:...

 is very thin and in the center of the park the river has cut down through Precambrian

Precambrian

The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...

 sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 known as the Hinckley Formation and on into the bedrock

Bedrock

In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...

, resulting in a gorge

Canyon

A canyon or gorge is a deep ravine between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Rivers have a natural tendency to reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water it will eventually drain into. This forms a canyon. Most canyons were formed by a process of...

 (up to 40 feet (12.2 m) tall at Hell's Gate) and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of churning rapids.

The park is also notable for its numerous glacial potholes, smooth shafts scoured into rock. These were formed at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation

Wisconsin glaciation

The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago....

 when the river was swollen by the melting ice, and powerful eddies

Eddy (fluid dynamics)

In fluid dynamics, an eddy is the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle. The moving fluid creates a space devoid of downstream-flowing fluid on the downstream side of the object...

 sent debris swirling around and around, literally drilling shafts into the streambed. The Log Creek Arches in the northern section are potholes whose bottoms have been worn away on one side.
Robinson Ice Cave is a 200 feet (61 m) deep cave

Cave

A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...

 in the bluffs between Wolf Creek Falls and Sandstone. The cave is not open to the public and the entrance is gated to protect the little brown bat

Little brown bat

The little brown bat is a species of the genus Myotis , one of the most common bats of North America...

s, big brown bat

Big brown bat

The Big Brown Bat is larger in size than comparative species of bats, from about 4 to 5 inches in body length, with a 11-13 inch wingspan and weighing 1/2 to 5/8 ounce. The fur is moderately long, and shiny brown...

s, and Keen's myotis

Keen's Myotis

Keen's Myotis is a species of vesper bat in the Vespertilionidae family.It is found in British Columbia in Canada and in Washington and Alaska in the United States. It is named after the Rev...

 bats that hibernate

Hibernation

Hibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression in animals, characterized by lower body temperature, slower breathing, and lower metabolic rate. Hibernating animals conserve food, especially during winter when food supplies are limited, tapping energy reserves, body fat, at a slow rate...

 in it. In winter large stalagmite

Stalagmite

A stalagmite is a type of speleothem that rises from the floor of a limestone cave due to the dripping of mineralized solutions and the deposition of calcium carbonate. This stalagmite formation occurs only under certain pH conditions within the underground cavern. The corresponding formation on...

s of ice often form on the cave floor, but in a strict sense it is not an ice cave

Ice cave

The term ice cave refers to any type of natural cave that contains significant amounts of perennial ice...

 because the ice does not persist year-round.

Below the rapids, the valley once again begins to widen. Away from the river valley, the topography is generally level to gently-rolling glacial till

Till

thumb|right|Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material , and this characteristic, known as matrix support, is diagnostic of till....

 plain.

Flora

The vegetation in this part of the Mille Lacs Uplands is still recovering from 19th century human industry and forest fires

Wildfire

A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...

. The forest was logged, and around the quarry the ground was stripped bare. Today middle-successional

Ecological succession

Ecological succession, is the phenomenon or process by which a community progressively transforms itself until a stable community is formed. It is a fundamental concept in ecology, and refers to more or less predictable and orderly changes in the composition or structure of an ecological community...

 species like birch

Birch

Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...

 and aspen

Aspen

Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...

 are more prevalent than the Norway

Red Pine

Pinus resinosa, commonly known as the red pine or Norway pine, is pine native to North America. The Red Pine occurs from Newfoundland west to Manitoba, and south to Pennsylvania, with several smaller, disjunct populations occurring in the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia and West Virginia, as well...

 and eastern white pines

Eastern White Pine

Pinus strobus, commonly known as the eastern white pine, is a large pine native to eastern North America, occurring from Newfoundland west to Minnesota and southeastern Manitoba, and south along the Appalachian Mountains to the northern edge of Georgia.It is occasionally known as simply white pine,...

 that would have originally dominated the area.

Fauna

184 bird species have been sighted in Banning State Park, including ruffed grouse

Ruffed Grouse

The Ruffed Grouse is a medium-sized grouse occurring in forests from the Appalachian Mountains across Canada to Alaska. It is non-migratory.The Ruffed Grouse is frequently referred to as a "partridge"...

. Commonly spotted mammals include white-tailed deer, black bear, fox, coyote, raccoon, beaver, and snowshoe hare. 17 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 34 species of mammals live in the park.

History

The durable, pink-colored sandstone exposed by the river was an ideal construction material, and in 1892 quarrying began after the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad

St. Paul and Duluth Railroad

The St. Paul and Duluth Railroad was reorganized from the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad in 1877. It was bought by the Northern Pacific in 1900...

 laid a spur to the outcrop. The 1894 Great Hinckley Fire

Great Hinckley Fire

The Great Hinckley Fire was a major conflagration on September 1, 1894, which burned an area of at least 810 km² , perhaps more than 1000 km², including the town of Hinckley, Minnesota. The fire killed hundreds, with the minimum number estimated at 418. However, some scholars believe the...

 was a major setback, but quarrying bounced back quickly, and two years later a town arose just outside the quarry. It was named Banning after the president of the railroad, whose tracks allowed the stones to be shipped to St. Paul

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...

, Duluth

Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...

, and beyond. The quarrying frenzy was over by 1905, a victim of local and national factors. Within the quarry most of the easily extractable high-quality sandstone was gone, and there was a nation-wide architectural move away from stone to structural steel

Structural steel

Structural steel is steel construction material, a profile, formed with a specific shape or cross section and certain standards of chemical composition and mechanical properties...

. An asphalt

Asphalt

Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...

 company lingered on until 1912, but when it closed so too did the town of Banning. The railroad company removed its tracks later that decade. In 1959 the Pine County Historical Society interested the state in acquiring the Banning ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

 as a historical site. Given the obvious scenic value of the area, the proposal quickly evolved into a call for a new state park. A bill to this effect was ratified in 1963, although the state didn't acquire enough land to begin developing recreational facilities until 1967. An undeveloped northern section was added in 1986. In 1995 a dam at the southern tip of the park was removed, restoring a waterfall and another series of rapids. Ironically the remains of the town, which prompted the creation of the park, are no longer even visible.

Recreation

• Boating: Canoeing and kayaking on the river. There are two carry-in access points and two boat ramps. Much of the river is Class I, with portages around the rapids.
• Camping: There is a campground with 33 sites (11 with electrical hookups) and a camper cabin. There are 4 canoe campsites spaced along the river.
• Fishing: Along the Kettle River. The River has held and produced state record Sturgeon.
• Trails: The park has 14 miles (22.5 km) of hiking trails and 11 miles (17.7 km) groomed for cross-country skiing.
  • Quarry Loop Trail (hiking/skiing): A level path past the picturesque remains of the quarrying operations and along the river. Interpretive brochures at trailhead (1.8 mi).
  • Hell's Gate Trail (hiking): A rugged spur off the Quarry Loop stopping just above the Hell's Gate rapids. Also passes the park’s most accessible potholes.
  • Wolf Creek Trail (hiking): Leads from the park office to Wolf Creek Falls and then along the river all the way into Sandstone.
  • High Bluff Trail (hiking/skiing): An alternate route from the campground to Wolf Creek Falls.
  • Skunk Cabbage Trail (hiking/skiing): A loop along the river and then inland through the pine/aspen/birch forest (2.2 mi).
  • Log Creek Arches (hiking/snowmobiling): Access the remote northern section of the park from the towns of Rutledge
    Rutledge, Minnesota
    Rutledge is a city in Pine County, Minnesota, United States, at the confluence of the Kettle and Pine Rivers. The population was 229 at the 2010 census.County 61 serves as a main route in the community...
    
     or Askov
    Askov, Minnesota
    As of the census of 2000, there were 368 people, 165 households, and 92 families residing in the city. The population density was 288.3 people per square mile . There were 181 housing units at an average density of 141.8 per square mile...
    
    .

External links

• Banning State Park