Banning State Park Campground

Nice campground well maintained. The water and subsequently bathrooms were not available but this information was available ahead of time of the state park website. The vault toilets were in great shape

Nice well maintained State Park. Some sites (12e) are hard to back a trailer into because the main road is VERY NARROW and not enough radius to back a 24ft trailer using a full size truck, extended cab, with long bed. Nice sized sites and picnic tables.

BRING DRINKING WATER! The water is VERY RUSTY! We even ran the water through a filter and still couldn’t get it cleared up. Sign says better water is by the park office.

Can hear the interstate highway in the park during the night.

Great trails.

We will try site 34 next time, nice location.

Lots to do here and even has a bit of history thrown in there for some education. Good trails that everyone can enjoy. Great to come out here in the winter and walk around when it is a little bit more peaceful. I’ve stayed here during the warmer months and really enjoyed it. Close to the cities which is always a bonus for a quick get away. Also floated by on the kettle River a few times and noticed that you can access the campgrounds which is nice. Gotta portage but still nice to know you can get here if you needed too.

Bawning park is a walk through the history of the area the self guided tour is both informative and entertaining and the hike along the river is one to remember featuring the only class 5 rapids in Minnesota the park is well maintained and signs let you know where your at this is just a beautiful peaceful place to enjoy nature and find the peace your looking for

Sites are spacious and offer lots of tree coverage for shade. Sites with electric, sites without electric, and cabins are available to reserve. Highly recommend the hike along the river.

Nice campground near great hiking.  If you can be picky when booking I would avoid 2E, 4E and 6E as these sites are wide open with no privacy from the foot traffic to and from the restrooms/shower.

Beautiful hiking trails and spacious campground. Campsites are more sand than rock which is no so great. Bathrooms and showers were not open for the season unfortunately. They have vault bathrooms.

We had sooo much fun hiking with our family here. There were plenty of easy trails for my young children and grandmother, and even a few more advanved trails for us adults that could handle it.

The scenery was absolutely stunning! We had a blast finding new places to explore on some less beaten paths, and plenty of learning on the more well known ones.

The falls were a little difficult to get to for my grandmother only because there was no easy way over the boulders. But we made it!

There are wonderful hiking trails to be hiked here. Make sure you go to the big spring falls trails. Best part of the hikes there with the river/falls/rocks area. Campground is nice as well (as long as your neighbors aren’t blasting jazz music and their AC at 8am)

10/11/19-10/13/19. #9

We booked a site in advance and hoped to catch the fall colors. It was our first time camping at Banning. Fall came early in MN and it was just past peak. Most of the leaves were yellow (or on the ground), but it was still pretty. As we were setting up our camp, it began to snow. We selected 9 as it was on the end of the loop and somewhat private. The campsites were fairly well spaced, wooded and offered some privacy. There were multiple vault toilets in the campsite loops.

There are several hiking trails with different points of interest. One leads to Wolf Creek Falls and is challenging and beautiful. Another goes along the Kettle River with beautiful views. You can also explore the sandstone quarry and do a self-guided tour to learn history of the ruins from the mining years. We really enjoyed our stay.

We stayed here mid-week in August and there were a few campsites available. The sites themselves are spread out, so they feel relatively private for a campground. Each site had a woodchip bed upon which you can pitch your tent, making sleeping here one of our more comfortable camping experiences during our road trip. You can conveniently pay the site reservation fee online, no printing necessary. You do need to remember to separately pay your car entrance fee, also online. The campground had nice, clean bathroom facilities and an impressive recycling system. Only downside is that the sites in our area smelled faintly like an outhouse, which was likely worsened by the recent rain.

Very quiet retreat. Campsites are well kept and bathroom/showers are nice. Trails are nicely maintained and the waterfall is beautiful. Camp host is helpful and great to just talk to. The office staff were great and very nice. Recommend! We will definitely stay again.

The fall colors are spectacular, the trails are amazing, and it does t matter what time of year you arrive.

I make 2 trips here a year.

Secluded campsites, electrical hookups, friendly staff. Beautiful sights and amazing trail heads. Some were challenging but worth it! Bathrooms/showers were really clean as well.

Banning is located just off I35 but you would never know it; unlike other parks close to highways, we didn’t hear any road noise at all. Small campground (34 sites including one cabin, about a third with electric). Some sites (18-34 especially) offer great privacy. Clean bathrooms. Great hiking trails (although the Wolf Creek Trail between the split from High Bluff and the falls is not marked and can get a little confusing to navigate). The Quarry Loop Trail is also interesting and you can pick up an interpretive map.

This park seems to be a missed gem as people head farther north towards Superior. This park has decent facilities and fun hiking along the bluffs of the Kettle River. There is a self guided tour of a historic granite quarry, and a great swimming place with a waterfall.

We will definitely be visiting again!

Camped here #7 for an overnight while heading to the North Shore. camp site was nice and adequate for what I needed. Next morning I captured the geocache I was looking for and back on the road. I loved how the park had clean pit toilets and recycling bins!!

Plenty of trails to hike, pretty waterfall and some interesting history. Easy to get to just off of I-35

This campground has many trails to hike right along the kettle river. Hike along the dirt trail or make it a little more adventurous by holding along the cliffs right over the river! There is also a beautiful water fall sort of like a treasure if you decide to go for a long hike! Wonderful place!

I had the pleasure of stopping at this park as part of a day trip to do some hiking and relaxing and can’t wait to get back!!! Banning State Park also has an old quarry you can see if you’re interested. The hiking trails were well marked and clean and the bathrooms were also nice! (I can now say I’ve been in a composting bathroom that the smell didn’t make me want to die- super bonus!!!) However the real magic of Banning State Park was the beautiful river and the fauna. It was so so incredibly beautiful. Tall and lush trees in every direction! We also saw several different Warblers!

We decided to try an extend the camping season by staying here in the first weekend of October, and we were rewarded greatly! The colors were near peak and the water was really high, so there were many kayakers going down the river as we hiked along the parallel trails. There was so much natural beauty along the trails, this park stands out as unique among several beautiful state parks along the St. Croix in eastern Minnesota.

Typically my family likes to camp where we can swim, and there is not a great option for that here, but this late in the season, hiking was on the agenda and this park is amazing for that!

Went here to check out wolfcreek and stay the night! It was a nice camp ground and liked the hiking trails!!!

We stayed early spring so there was maybe one other camper at the park? There wasn't much greenery but we did hike down to the waterfall, very peaceful! Curving stream through the forest, small waterfall but the rocks it fell over were beautiful!

The hiking here is amazing! The Quarry Loop along the Kettle River has a ton of history, allowing you to explore the remains of the 130+ year old sandstone quarry. Seeing the drill holes in the cliffs was really cool and the remains of the old buildings were a highlight even to our small children. Would definitly make a trip back to explore even more!

Rustic campground with beautiful trails settled along the Kettle River. This is a must for kayaking and you will see people running the rapids. Bring your camera as you hike the beautiful trails.

My pup and I had a blast hiking at Banning!

Great hiking! In a few areas it became difficult to know where the trail was but that just made it interesting!