Lake Bemidji State Park Bog Boardwalk
3554 Co Rd 20, Bemidji, MN
Bemidji, MN
A floating boardwalk that carries you dry-footed into the strange, beautiful world of a northern bog, home to wild orchids and insect-eating plants.
Lake Bemidji State Park is best known for its bog boardwalk, a floating walkway that carries visitors dry-footed into one of the strangest and most beautiful habitats of the north woods. Bogs are usually all but impassable, but here a boardwalk winds out over the spongy ground and into a world most people never get to see.
Along the way, the boardwalk passes wild orchids, carnivorous pitcher plants that trap insects, and the peculiar spongy mosses that build the bog itself. It is a rare and easy chance to explore a fragile northern wetland up close, in the lake and forest country near Bemidji.
What Guests Love
- A boardwalk that leads dry-footed into a rare northern bog
- Spotting wild orchids and insect-eating pitcher plants along the way
- The quiet, otherworldly feel of the spongy bog landscape
- Its setting in a north-woods state park on a scenic lake
Worth Knowing
- Stay on the boardwalk; the bog is fragile and the ground unstable off the path
- Wildflowers and orchids peak in the warm months, so time a visit for summer
- Bring insect protection, as bogs can be buggy in the warmer season
- Pair it with the lakeshore and trails elsewhere in the park
Details
Bemidji, MN
Learn about Lake Bemidji State Park Bog Boardwalk
What a bog is
A bog is a special kind of wetland, a place where thick mats of spongy moss build up over water, creating ground that quakes and sinks underfoot. The water is acidic and low in nutrients, and cold, which slows decay and creates conditions few plants can tolerate.
Because so little grows there, the plants that do survive have found remarkable strategies. Some, like the pitcher plant and sundew, turn carnivorous, trapping and digesting insects to get the nutrients the bog cannot provide. The boardwalk lets visitors see this quiet, alien world without harming it or sinking into it.
Orchids and insect-eaters
The bog is home to wild orchids, delicate and often overlooked, that bloom in the warm months among the moss and low shrubs. Interpretive signs along the boardwalk help visitors spot them and the other specialized plants that thrive in these harsh conditions.
The carnivorous plants are the stars for many. Pitcher plants form deep, water-filled cups that drown insects, while tiny sundews catch prey on sticky, glistening hairs. Seeing them growing wild, a short walk from the parking lot, is one of the most memorable things a visitor can do here.
The headwaters north woods
The park sits in the headwaters country of northern Minnesota, near where the young Mississippi River flows through the region on its way south. This is the homeland of the Ojibwe, or Anishinaabe, whose Red Lake, Leech Lake, and White Earth communities lie across this north-woods landscape and who have long harvested wild rice from its lakes and wetlands.
The name Bemidji comes from an Ojibwe word describing the lake and the river's flow through it. Pine forests, clear lakes, and wetlands like this bog define the region, a landscape of water and woods that shaped the lives of its first peoples and still draws visitors north today.
The park and the seasons
Beyond the bog, the park offers a shoreline on Lake Bemidji, trails through the north-woods forest, and quiet places to picnic, paddle, and watch for wildlife. The bog boardwalk is the signature attraction, but the whole park rewards exploration.
Summer is the best time for the bog, when the orchids and other plants bloom and the wetland is at its liveliest, though it is also buggiest then. Fall lights the surrounding forest with color, and winter turns the lake and woods to a hushed white, when the park becomes a place for skiing and snowshoeing.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Bemidji
Bemidji
About 5 miles southwest
A north-woods lake town famous for its giant Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues on the lakefront.
Lake Bemidji
At the park
A large clear lake fed by the young Mississippi, with beaches, boating, and fishing along its shores.
Mississippi Headwaters at Itasca State Park
About 30 miles south
Where the Mississippi River begins as a stream you can wade across, in Minnesota's oldest state park.