Big Stone Lake State Park occupies two separate sections on the shore of Big Stone Lake at the headwaters of the Minnesota River, with the Bonanza Area to the north and the Meadowbrook Area to the south about 12 miles apart. Across the lake lies South Dakota’s Hartford Beach State Park. The park is valued for its lakeside setting and for prairie and wetland wildlife, including deer, raccoons, squirrels, meadowlarks, sedge wrens, pheasants, bobolinks, wild turkeys, thrashers, and mourning doves. Its unusual split layout creates two distinct access areas for recreation such as picnicking, camping, hiking, geocaching, and other outdoor use.