Hiking Club Route

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Fall Colors · Fishing · Lake · Swimming · Wildflowers · Wildlife

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Hiking Club is a set list of trails for you to explore the 68 state parks and recreation areas that have hiking opportunities. The trails are various lengths and difficulties. The Hiking Club route (which is marked with blue and white signs) at Lake Carlos follows the Hidden Lake and Red Oak Trail through the red oak forests and along the shore of Lake Carlos. Colorful sugar maples make the Hidden Lake Trail a must in the Fall.

This park, like many Minnesota state parks, has both summer and winter maps. The route described here is only open during the summer months. Once there is sufficient snow, it is closed to hikers and snowshoers and open only to Nordic skiers. The major trail junctions here are marked with letters on both the park map and at signs out in the field.

Park in the lot on the west side of the lake, near the volley ball court and the picnic area. Find the start of the Hidden Lakes Trail at the northeast end of the lot and follow it, through forest and across a marsh, to Intersection C. Continue to Intersection B and then turn right on to the Red Oak Trail. Follow it in a loop back to the Hidden Lakes Trail at Intersection A. Turn right on to the Hidden Lakes Trail and follow it as it swings north along the lakeshore and back to the parking lot.

One third of Minnesota's 80 mammals and over 150 species of birds inhabit this park seasonally or year around. You often see beaver, deer, loons, grebes, ducks, and heron.

The state purchased the land that became Lake Carlos State Park, in 1937, during the Great Depression.