Itasca State Park is where the Mississippi River begins — a modest stream of clear water flowing out of Lake Itasca that you can wade across on a line of stepping stones. It is probably the only place along the river's 3,700-kilometre course where the Mississippi is neither brown nor muddy.
The park itself covers more than 130 square kilometres of old-growth red pine forest, one of the last such stands in Minnesota. There are good hiking and biking trails, several lakes for canoeing, and a scenic drive through the pines. The Wilderness Drive loop is especially worthwhile in autumn when the hardwoods turn.