Great River Bluffs State Park in southeast Minnesota preserves dramatic Mississippi River bluff country near Winona, where ridges rise about 500 feet above the river and narrow valleys cut between them. Its landscape was shaped by ancient sedimentary rock, later carved by the Mississippi and further eroded by glacial meltwater, while the region’s escape from recent glaciation left its deeply dissected terrain intact. Authorized in 1963 under the name O. L. Kipp State Park, it was instead established on different state-owned land, transferred in 1971 and opened in 1976. The park also protects rare habitats such as goat prairies and a relict stand of northern white cedar, with recreation limited by the steep, fragile landscape.