Sparta Campground — Elroy-Sparta State Trail

A comfortable experience that was simple and not to far off the Beaton path

This is a walk-in campground intended for very light camping, particularly for those biking the Elroy-Sparta or Lacrosse Trails, as it is right on the Elroy-Sparta trail and only a 10 minute bike ride into the town of Sparta. We are a family of 4 that camped from Friday through Sunday while we attended a swim meet in Sparta. We had site 3 (103 on the DNR campground map), which was about a 600 yard hike in from the parking lot, down a trail that can get quite muddy, especially during rain (which it did while we were breaking camp). Some of the sites are even further down the trail. The site was small, but we did manage to fit a 4-person tent, two 2-person tents, a screen-house, and 5 bikes. I was advised by our camp neighbor that their site was equally small. Water, trash, and bathroom access was great and clean. No noise from other campers, and there was even a boy scout troop on site while we were there. The most disappointing factor for me was the highway noise. I had read about that from another reviewer, and it was indeed bad, all weekend long. I had to wear noise-cancelling headphones to drown out the noise in order to sleep. So, it is a great site for someone biking in and/or carrying a very light load into the campsite and, I would say (only because of the highway noise), if there are no other camping options. I should mention that although there are no showers here, I saw that the Sparta Aquatic Center (10 minute bike ride) allows shower access for $3 (at time of this review). Also, the Sparta Family Restaurant is a great place to eat, having good food, service, and prices.

This is a straight forward, few amenities campsite. There is a pit toilet, water, garbage and recycling. Campsites are large, so if traveling with a group would have room for 3-4 tents in one site. After biking 47 miles was a welcome respite on our first day of biking the Elroy-Sparta State Bike Trail. We spent a second night on our out and back along the trail. The site is close to I90 so traffic noise is great, particularly during the week. Our first night was a Thursday and truck traffic was loud all night, our return stay was a Saturday and traffic noise was considerable less.