St. Croix Scenic Byway
St. Croix Scenic Byway is a State Scenic Byway in Minnesota. Within Minnesota it covers roughly 120 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along St. Croix Scenic Byway with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
The Saint Croix Scenic Byway runs 124 miles along Minnesota's eastern edge, from Point Douglas near Hastings north to a point beyond Sandstone. It follows a road first laid out in 1855 as a military route to Superior, Wisconsin, and the valley's character shifts noticeably along the way, from long, open, rolling vistas near the Twin Cities metro to rugged rock, cliffs, and woods farther north through Washington, Chisago, and Pine counties, all while the St. Croix River corridor itself remains largely free of the wall-to-wall development seen elsewhere in the region. Historic river towns founded during early European settlement have kept much of their original character, and the route passes Afton State Park, the Stillwater Boom Site, William O'Brien State Park, Interstate State Park, and the National Park Service's St. Croix headquarters. Wild River State Park anchors the byway's northern stretch. It's a long drive best broken into segments matched to whichever state parks along the way interest you most.
- 124 miles, Point Douglas to Sandstone
- follows an 1855 military road
- Washington, Chisago & Pine counties
- Afton, William O'Brien & Interstate state parks
- St. Croix River valley scenery
Plan a drive on St. Croix Scenic Byway →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.