The land of 10,000 lakes, Minnesota is also the land of state parks – 64, to be exact (plus nine recreation areas). These state parks cover around 235,000 acres (95,100 ha) of wild land, all just within the North Star State. That doesn’t even include national parks or other federally protected areas! Of course, many of these parks include a lake or two, such as the lovely, calm waters found at Lake Maria State Park.