Sica Hollow State Park

Sica Hollow lies in the homeland of the Dakota, the eastern branch of the Oceti Sakowin, and specifically in the country of the Sisseton and Wahpeton people whose descendants make up the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of the nearby Lake Traverse Reservation. To the Dakota this hollow is a place of spirits and old story, its red-tinged waters and glowing wood long read as signs of a haunted or sacred ground.

The stories carried here are not curiosities but part of a living oral tradition, and the park's Trail of the Spirits takes its name from that heritage. Visitors are asked to treat the hollow as the meaningful place it is to the Dakota, to stay on the trails, and to leave it as they found it. Its atmosphere of mystery is inseparable from the culture that named it.

The hollow is a spring-fed ravine carved into the eastern edge of the Coteau des Prairies, a broad highland of hills and till left behind by the great ice sheets. Cold groundwater seeps out along the slopes and gathers in the ravine, feeding bogs and small streams and keeping the forest lush.

That groundwater is rich in iron, which oxidizes as it meets the air and stains the water and mud a rusty, blood-like red, one source of the hollow's uncanny name. In the wet, decaying timber of the bogs, a natural glow can appear at night, foxfire produced by fungi living in the rotting wood. Together the red waters and the glowing logs gave Sica Hollow a reputation far larger than its size.

What makes Sica Hollow so unusual is simply its trees. The northern hardwood forest of basswood, bur oak, green ash, elm, and ironwood survives here in the sheltered, moist ravine while the surrounding Coteau rolls away in open grassland. It is an island of woodland, and the wildlife reflects that.

White-tailed deer move through the timber, wild turkeys forage in the leaf litter, and the forest fills with songbirds in spring, warblers, thrushes, and woodpeckers among them. Spring brings a carpet of woodland wildflowers, and autumn turns the hollow gold and red, both rare sights on this stretch of prairie and reason enough to time a visit.

Spring is the classic time, when the springs run full, the wildflowers bloom, and migrating songbirds fill the hardwoods. The trails can be muddy and the bogs soft, so good footwear matters.

Summer keeps the hollow cool and shaded while the prairie above bakes, a welcome retreat. Fall is arguably the finest season, with crisp air, thin crowds, and vivid hardwood color rolling through the ravine. Winter is quiet and stark, the bare trees and frozen springs giving the hollow a still, wintry beauty, though facilities are minimal and conditions can be harsh.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.