The park

Disclaimer: I did not actually camp here. There are two group campsites that are available, but considering that my friends aren’t big campers I wasn’t willing to pay $85 a night for a campsite (and I’m pretty sure these get booked up quickly on the weekends). I’ll talk more about the two group sites later. 

I really liked this park, it felt like there was something available for everyone. When I first pulled in I checked out the single track trail area first and the parking lot was full of mountain bikers. This newly developed trail is 13.25 miles long, so a nice option close to the city for those who are inclined to adventurous biking. Different loops are available for varying skill levels. 

There are two water access points- one for Lake Rebecca and one for the nearby Crow River. There are also boat rentals available, I’ll attach a pic of this season’s current rates.  There are also two fishing docks located not too far from the main beach area. I didn’t get in the water so I have no idea how clean it is, but there were many happy swimmers. Keep in mind that there are no lifeguards on duty.

In addition to the single track unpaved trail there is also a horse trail and a paved trail that looks in good condition- I’m hoping to bring my horse to check out the former and my roller blades to check out the latter. This park has always been relatively nearby to where I have lived, but I have never actually been before my visit this weekend since other horse riders have always had cautionary tales about how bad the bugs are here. I am not sure how they are on the horse trails, but I set up my hammock in a wooded area and I didn’t think that the amount of mosquitos that approached me was anything note-worthy. 

I haven’t been to the group campsites yet to scope them out, someday soon hopefully, but these are the descriptions that I was able to track down online. My one gripe about the Three Rivers park district is that finding information about the campgrounds isn't as straight forward as it should be.

Sarah Creek group campsite can accommodate 80 people and it has a barn and hitching posts. The amount of horses that it can support is unknown. There is a volleyball net, grill, fire ring, water pump and latrines (so I’m guessing rustic).

The South group campsite seems to be geared more towards mountain bikers since it has a garage-esque structure that I’m guessing you would store your bikes in. It can accommodate 50 people, has a grill, water pump latrines, fire ring, and horseshoe pit. 

Weeknights are $70 and weekends/holidays are $85. This seems like a huge steal considering how many people these sites can accommodate!!!

Product Review

As a Dyrt ranger, I received a gift card to REI for participating in a recent campground review contest. I recently became obsessed with hammocks, and thanks to a BOGO from Trek Light I now have two. One of the hammocks I received was part of a bundle and came with ropes already, but the other didn’t. Before I bought a second pair of the same ropes I decided I wanted to see how well they worked before I spent another $20 on just basic ropes that aren’t terribly long. 

I purchased a set of ENO Atlas hammock straps for $29.95 and they are well worth the $10 price difference. The ENO straps are 9 feet long each and together can hold up to 400 pounds. Instead of fiddling with tying knots and retying them to get the perfect adjustment, I can just move the hook on my hammock between the pre-stitched rings as necessary.  The extra length and the quick adjustments are greatly appreciated by someone who is still new to hammocks and isn’t great at eyeballing things. ENO does have a set of longer straps that are each 13.5 feet long, but I figure that if I find myself in a situation where the trees are too far apart for these straps I can just attach my ropes to the Eno straps and take advantage of the double capacity feature of my hammock. So Far I’m really impressed with how easy these are to loop around the trees and adjust the tension of my hammock.