DeSoto Lake Backpacking Sites — Itasca State Park
Reviewed May. 2, 2021

Backpack camping site 10

Stayed at backpack site 10. It’s about 250 ft from main trail and about a 40 min hike in/30 min hike out from parking lot. The main trail is wide and well maintained with ambling hills, but overall pretty flat. It is about 1/3 mile away from nearest campsite.

The site is lakeside. You can easily access the water and there are some great views (at least in early spring before the leaves come in). There is a pit toilet on the other side of the trail and is clearly signed and clearly visible from the trail (best hope no one hiking by walks in on ya).

There is only level ground enough for one tent—maybe two two-person tents if you cram them next to each other.

You can forage for firewood on the forest floor, do bring a saw. I was lucky and there were plenty of downed branches nearby. But I suspect later in the season it’ll be harder.

Also, getting water to filter from the lake was difficult without getting wet—the reeds inhibit easy access.

I read in another review that you are always aware of people around. While I think that is more true of the non-dispersed sites, I could clearly see hikers from this site. More annoying—at about 8 am there was a very loud mechanical noise that radiated over the landscape for about an hour before stopping. No idea what it was.

Unfortunately the people who had this site before me didn’t clean up after themselves—beer cans everywhere (that I ended up packing out) and a dirty diaper thrown in the woods near the tent pad. I did let the park know.

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  • Review photo of DeSoto Lake Backpacking Sites — Itasca State Park by Bryan P., May 2, 2021
  • Review photo of DeSoto Lake Backpacking Sites — Itasca State Park by Bryan P., May 2, 2021