Southern

Northwestern Minnesota covers the broad agricultural-and-headwaters country in the northwest corner of the state, the country running from the Red River Valley along the Dakota line east to Bemidji and the Mississippi headwaters. The terrain shifts from the flat lakebed-soil farmland of the Red River Valley (the bed of the prehistoric Lake Agassiz) east through rolling drift-and-pine country to the dense forest and lake country around Bemidji, Itasca, and Lake of the Woods. Twelve counties cover the region. Beltrami holds Bemidji, the largest city, and Lake Bemidji State Park; Clearwater holds Bagley and Itasca State Park (the source of the Mississippi River); Hubbard holds Park Rapids; Polk holds Crookston; Roseau holds Roseau and Warroad on the Canadian border; Lake of the Woods holds Baudette. The Mississippi Headwaters at Itasca State Park, Lake of the Woods (the sixth-largest freshwater lake in the country by surface area), and the Red Lake Indian Reservation handle the major public lands. Most trips here run headwaters-and-fishing focused. Itasca State Park draws Mississippi-source visitors year-round; Lake of the Woods runs walleye-fishing trips and ice-fishing in winter; Bemidji’s Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues anchor the small-town circuit; the Red River Valley’s sugar-beet country fills agricultural side trips.