Mississippi National River & Recreation Area
Minnesota
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
5.5 h fully dark
Crowds
low
Open today
Open
Entrance
Free entry
In the middle of a bustling urban setting, this 72 mile river park offers quiet stretches for fishing, boating and canoeing, birdwatching, bicycling, and hiking. And there are plenty of visitor centers and trails that highlight the fascinating human history of the Mississippi River. This a great place to start your exploration of this important river.
Activities
No entrance fee.
Hours & seasons
We are a partnership park that overlaps many parks (regional, city, state), other public lands, museums, and historical sites. Check with the specific park site you plan on visiting for their hours. See http://www.nps.gov/miss/planyourvisit/placestogo.htm for more information. The National Park Service does not control the visiting hours for the partner sites. Coldwater Spring (NPS) is open from 6:00 a.m. through 10:00 p.m., 365 days a year.
Generally open:
winterspringsummerfallHours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 651-293-0200
✉ miss_info@nps.govConditions
Typical crowds: low
Weather now: ☀️ Clear, 79°F
⛅ 86°/59°
☁️ 87°/64°
⛅ 92°/62°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
63%
Feb
64%
Mar
94%
Apr
84%
May
78%
Jun
98%
Jul
100%
Aug
100%
Sep
59%
Oct
56%
Nov
64%
Dec
58%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Things to do
Visit the Mississippi River Visitor Center
Earn a Junior Ranger Badge · 72 mi
Go on a Day Hike at Coldwater Spring
Enjoy a Coffee with a Ranger!
Kayak in the park with Paddle Share
Visitor centers
Mississippi River Visitor Center
Accessibility
3 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Mississippi National River & Recreation Area — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
People & stories
Figures tied to Mississippi National River & Recreation Area — each spans a cross-park journey.
Eva McDonald Valesh
— Women's History, Labor History, Civil RightsHarriet Robinson Scott
— Women's History, Civil Rights, African American HistoryReverend Robert Hickman
— African American History, African American Heritage, Black HistoryRuth Nomura Tanbara
— Aapi, Aapi History, Aapi HeritagePassport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Mississippi River Visitor Center
🎫 St. Anthony Falls Visitor Center
Places to see
Fort Snelling State Park
audio
Hidden Falls Regional Park
audio
Minnehaha Falls Regional Park
audio
Mississippi Gateway Regional Park
Wicaḣapi
Audio & media
🎧
🎬
🖼
Learn more
Six people and programs received the 2015 Harzog Award for their exceptional volunteer service. Check out their amazing contributions!
The National Park Service congratulates the regional recipients of the 2023 Excellence in Volunteerism Awards. These nominees embody the values of service, engagement, and stewardship fundamental to our national parks.
The National Park Service congratulates the regional recipients of the 2025 Excellence in Volunteerism Awards. These nominees embody the values of service, engagement, and stewardship fundamental to our national parks.
Production of DDT and PCBs was banned in the United States in the 1970s, but they continue to be found in the blood and feathers of bald eagles. What does our monitoring of eagles in three Great Lakes Network parks tell us about these "legacy contaminants"?
A summary of amphibian monitoring data collected in seven Great Lakes Network parks as of 2019.
A summary of amphibian monitoring data collected in 2019 along the upper Mississippi River in Minnesota (Mississippi National River and Recreation Area).
A summary of acoustic bat monitoring data collected at Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (Twin Cities metro area of Minnesota) from 2016 through 2019.
A summary of acoustic bat monitoring in Great Lakes Network parks from 2015 through 2019.
How Mississippi National River & Recreation Area connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
Park
Activity
Topic
State
VisitorCenter
PassportStamp
Trail
ThingToDo
Similar parks
Share activities & topics with Mississippi National River & Recreation Area.
