Blue Mounds State Park Campground

Last August we headed to Blue Mounds to investigate out the SW corner of our state for the first time. We swung through New Ulm on the way there to check out the Schell's brewing company and we also stopped at Laura Ingalls Wilder's Plum Creek to break up the drive from the twin cities. The drive itself got pretty boring on the last half- lots of flat fields and cows. As you get closer to Luverne things start to become more interesting and the town of Luverne itself was an unexpected delight.

Yes, the water currently has e.coli in it. There is a huge alert on the park's page explaining how you can go about accessing water and showers nearby. The $17 rate is the discounted price to reflect the e. coli discount. The main campground is pretty open, some sites have shade, it is a prairie after all. The cart-in campsite offers much more privacy with the grove of trees there. The bathroom facility at the drive-in campground is much nicer than the one for the tipis and cart-in sites.

We spent one night in the tipi (cool experience for $30-$35 a night) and two nights at a cart-in site w-09\. Some of the paths to the cart-in sites are not flat and rather long, but ours wasn't bad at all. I would definitely consider staying at that campsite again. I don't think I would necessarily stay in a tipi again unless I could book it on short notice if I knew that the weather was going to be dry and cool. The day before we got there it had rained quit a bit and when we arrived it was HOT. This meant that we got to enjoy our tipi experience with the aroma of hot wet tipi. The tipi floor is a platform made out of manufactured deck boards that keep you off the ground. The tipi itself isn't nearly as critter-proof as a tent. We wound up packing up our belongings and putting them in our car between leaving the tipi and moving into our campsite since we wanted to go check out the local area before we could check into our next site and somehow a garter snake got transported out of the tipi in our belongings and into our car- awesome haha.

The park was flooded a few years back which washed out a quite a bit- the lake that used to be there is now gone and just overgrown with plants. Most of the park is dedicated to the bison, so hiking opportunities are kind of limited. There are a ton of bison, but you either get to see them or you don't unless you go on one of their bison tours. They were present by the fence twice while we were there. There is pretty much a large trail loop with another large loop that swings off of that. Bring a wide-brimmed hat and tons of sun screen, not much tree cover on the trails. The one visitor center located in the southern portion of the park appeared to be permanently closed.

Luverne was cool. There are tons of historic houses and next time I'm out there I'll spend some time driving through neighborhoods to check them out. There is a basic grocery store off of Main Street for anything that you may need to pick up. I kind of wish that we had gone out to eat in town more because of how great the food was. Sterling's was delicious and much more upscale than anything I expected to find out there, the local Buffalo Sweat beer was great enough that I tried to find it at the local liquor store before I left. Showers are available at the Luverne aquatic center for free.

Overall I really enjoyed my experience and I look forward to my next trip out there, whenever that may be. If you are coming from the Twin Cities make sure to hit up Schells and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Plum Creek homestead like I mentioned above. Nearby side trips are Pipestone, Touch the Sky prairie, and Jeffers Petroglyphs

Unexpectedly amazing

Honestly, a severe storm and lealy tent ruined tje moght. But the grounds and park are beautiful!  Hiking is excellent, challenging, and the views are AMAZING! From flooding a couple of years ago, they are having some water issues. They give you jugs of drinking water on check in, and for now. the showers are swim beach are off line.

Heavenly

Love the hiking and lack of bugs compared to most Minnesota parks. Great prairie views and it's always great to see Bison. Didn't love the lack of potable water. Would be nice to see more investment here- real gem of a park.

Great Park- Needs more love 

This campground is still charging $17 for a camp site, $7 transaction fee and $7/day entrance fee despite the fact they have no running water. The toilets still flush. In the morning our car filled up with flies that bit us for hours before we were able to eliminate all of them. It is a 5 mile drive back to Luverne if you need supplies, and I was unable to locate a grocery store.

Two good things; they have a Free Little Library and at night the lawn was covered with fireflies

The campground was so miserable that the campground host had abandoned their trailer and was never present. We did have several locals drive through the campground to spy on us, presumably to see who was stupid enough to camp there. You are entirely responsible for knowing what site you reserved because there was no attempt to label reserves sites.

There is no privacy between sites. This is just a big lawn with driveways, picnic tables and fire pits. The landscaping is nicely done with blackberries popping out of some hedges and providing eye-level interest at the base of trees.

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No water and biting flies

This is a beautful state park campground. The sites are large and wooded without feeling closed in. There is biking and hiking. I believe you can also fish in the river, but we didn’t try it. The only downside is that their water is contaminated. They provide directions to a city site where you can fill your camper tank, and they give out a gallon of drinking/cooking eater when you check in. At Blue Mounds you can experience the prairie and what it must have been like for early settlers.

Beautiful peaceful state park

Amazing remnant of Minnesota prairie set among the farm country. With the prairie in Minnesota gone except for a handful of small conservation areas, Blue Mounds State Park is an oasis of prairie in a sea of corn and soybean. Bison roam a small area of a few hundred acres where prairie smoke and other native plants make a last stand in a landscape of Sioux quartzite rock outcroppings, cliffs, streams, rivers and waterfalls. Hike the park or drive over to touch the Sky prairie, there’s plenty to do. The campsites are high and dry with some set overlooking mound creek or nestled amongst the shade trees. In cooler months the park has a stone shelter with a wood burning stove to escape the rain or chill. There are three spacious tipis for rent. $30-35 a night that can sleep 4-6 people. Those sites are set to the side and offer some privacy. 

Tipi on the prairie 

This was a drive-by site for us and not a destination, so our review is based on only one night. We found the park to be very quiet and only had a few camping neighbors during our stay. It seems like it might be a destination for retired RVers, as everyone seemed to know each other well, which was fun. 

  

Highlights include nice, easy trails through the prairie, lots of wildflowers, and a herd of bison. We only saw the bison from a distance, but apparently, there are tours. We experienced lots of bugs in early July - biting flies and mosquitoes, and there was a constant humming noise from a nearby farm that really detracted from our experience.   
  
Otherwise, the campground was really peaceful and the bathhouse was clean. We arrived around 4:30 pm and the office was closed. We didn't see a single park employee or campground host during our visit. 

  

We checked out the tipis, which looked really fun, but with all the flies, we opted for setting up our tents to keep them out. We'd totally stay here again, but we probably wouldn't go out of the way to visit.

Quiet little oasis in the middle of the Minnesota prairie

I enjoyed my stay here--except for my neighbors. It was beautiful, filled with trees, along a river, great bathrooms and private showers. Very clean and well maintained. I just stayed one night in my van in an electric site, but they also have tent sites with no hookups. I would recommend this place. 

This place was nice

Ggorgeous campground for looking across the grasslands or dunking in the stream. There are two main camping areas. We stayed in the more remote one, which meant further from the bathrooms, but worth it for the beauty and quiet. All the sites are very private. Nestled in trees on winding paths that lead down to a stream we absolutely took a dunk in as it was a very hot day. We didnt see the buffalo herd, but were only there for one night. Good birdwatching and I've never seen so many fireflies!

Beautiful quiet grassland

The campground is smaller but it is very well maintained. New bath house. They have done a lot to make this park accessible.  Grassy sites, some better positioned than others. Very good shade. Some random placement for trash bins but I’d rather have too many than not enough. 

There are lots of hiking trails with options for lots of distances. It was cool to see the Bison (from the west loop). The dam is pretty as well. 

Very well maintained park


Really beautiful landscape with a late check out time so we could explore the park for a while in the morning. Bathrooms could have been a bit tidier but they weren’t terrible. Pick spots deeper in the loops of the campground for a bit more privacy. You pay for the site as well as per car, but it is a very reasonable price. 

Great experience!

I find writing a review for this state park and campground to be quite difficult. The park itself is great. It’s very beautiful, very serene, and not crowded. There’s a little more action around the rock climbing area, and the play area can get quite rowdy with local children as well as campers.

My problem totally lies with the campsite. First and foremost all of the campsites are extremely cramped and extremely open. Even the ones that look like they are hidden in trees and bush, are actually mere feet away from the next campsite. And therefore there really is no privacy or feeling like you’re out in the country.

This campsite, as a whole, from what I could tell on my visit, is used by people whose primary objective is to sit outside with their friends and drink. This is not a campsite to serve people who are coming primarily to enjoy the park. This means that there are a lot of screaming children, rowdy late night conversations, and more than a few misbehaved pooches (the dog in the site next to me —to my right by 20 ft—was territorial and growled at everyone who walked past). 

I would come here again to enjoy the park, but I definitely would not camp here again. It felt more like a Boy Scout jamboree, but with adults and alcohol. 

Tight campsites and seems like a party park

We had a cart-in site. One of the few state parks in Minnesota that had sites open the weekend we went. It was a long drive for my sons and I but we enjoyed it. Our site was closer to the bathrooms than I’d prefer (pit toilets in a nice building) but it wasn’t too bothersome. There were plenty of trees in our sites and though we could see some of the other cart-in sites it was pretty quiet and relaxing. 

A bit of good hiking in the park. But most is shade-less prairie hiking, so on summer days it can be quite hot. The bison are neat to see. There is a dammed up part of the creek, but it didn’t look like water you’d want to wade or swim in. We drove into Luverne to “The Lake” to swim and cool off. 

Quiet Prairie Camping

Easy to reserve and check in, firewood for purchase. Clean bathrooms, showers and spaced out campsites. Not too busy and everyone was friendly. Right next to a Buffalo conservation. You can hike and see Buffalo right in the area which is super cool 

Awesome campground 

I reserved a site fairly last minute after seeing the unusually nice April weather forecast. The check in was seamless and firewood is readily available ($6/bundle when I went). Each site has a picnic table and fire pit with a cooking grate. I ended up selecting a site next to the river and had a cool access point directly from my site to sit on a rock riverside. There didn’t seem to be any obvious access point into the river itself but it was too cold to go in anyways. The sites next to the river don’t have much for shade but other sites seemed to have better coverage. The sites are quite close to one another and if the campground was fully reserved you wouldn’t have much privacy at your sites.

The main park hiking trail starts a mile ish away from the campground. Beware there is NO SHADE on the trail. The quarry is worth the adventure!

Photo included of morning sunrise!

Great campground - limited privacy

This was a very nice park with hiking trails and bison viewing areas. We were in site 73e, it was nice a quiet. Had great AT&amp;T cell coverage. 

Beautiful park in SW Minnesota 

This is a small but beautiful park on the prairie. We stayed in the cart-in campground as it offered more privacy between campsites compared to the drive in campground. We stayed in site 6, which is down a path way and makes you feel like you are not close to any of your neighbors. The bathrooms in the cart-in campground are vault toilets but the building is kept very clean. 
My girls enjoyed the variety of birds and seeing the bison in the park. 
The flies and ticks were horrible while we were there so be prepared for them!

Beautiful prairie park

Stopped here on our way back from the badlands heading to Indiana. Quiet place with nice bike and walking paths. Electric only 30amp water close by. Full dump station.

Nice place for an overnight

Blue Mounds State Park campground is located on tree-lined paved roads tucked in between a prairie and farmers' fields. It's quite peaceful and relaxing, especially with most sites unoccupied during the week. 

  

While the sites don't offer a ton of privacy, they are well-spaced for the most part and some of the loops have foliage behind the sites so you have a bit of a buffer there. The loop we were in (on site 28) has a relatively new bathroom and shower house that is very nice. The other loop has the older-style bathroom and shower house that looked clean but is showing its age. 

  

Even though you probably could rely on your cell phones here due to good and great signals (Verizon and T-Mobile respectively), the campground also offers WiFi that is actually quite good. The transmitter for our loop is on the bathroom building and we have been able to work, including video calls, all week without any issues. 

  

The sites themselves have gravel pads and decent-sized grassy areas to set up screen tents, etc. The park itself offers several things to do, including watching for the protected bison herd out on the prairie, as well as hiking and biking trails that can lead you to a historic quartzite quarry and some great vistas of the area around you. At night, it's nice and dark so you can see a lot of stars -- if you walk a short way down one of the trails from the campground you can even see the Milky Way.

  

If we are in this area again, Blue Mounds would certainly be a place where we would check for openings.

Nice campground with decent Wi-Fi and good cell service

We camped here in July and had a blast. Buffalo, an old rock quarry, a mulberry tree, prickly pear cacti and more! The view from the ridge goes for miles, you can actually see Iowa. Site #9 is partially shaded and very level with just a slight walk to the restroom facilities. Take a short drive to see the Pipestone National Monument if you have time, you only need about 30 minutes to see the monument itself. This park was definitely worth the 4 hour drive we took to get there. Luverne, MN is a cute little town to visit as well.

Lots to See

Well maintained and monitored. Bathrooms and showers are clean. Beautiful areas to explore here and nearby. (Pipestone National Monument) 

Quiet, Clean, and Peacful

Pulled into this park on a whim after a day of driving along I-90 and so glad we did! This was an excellent park with great amenities. We camped in the cart-in sites overlooking the prairie. The sites were back in the woods, but the park had carts you could use to haul your stuff back. Lots of bird watching, and we even spotted the bison herd on the range! Spectacular views on a clear night too. I will definitely stop there again when I’m nearby! 

Excellent stay on the prairie

Spots are private and shaded. Bathrooms are clean and up to date. The state park itself is beautiful with a lot of wonderful hiking. 

Beautiful Campground!

The campground is grass and trees, with gravel pull outs.  Sites are reasonably spaced, but not very private.  Sites at the end of loop A have a view of the prairie. 

Bathrooms and showers are clean and modern. 

Beautiful quiet park

Well maintained even, grassy trail circling the campground + huge ample restrooms 

MN state parks don’t miss! 

Great state park. Bathrooms are nice and clean. There's a little library near the restroom. Layout for getting water and dump station is a little odd. Would love to come back and do some rock climbing here now that I learned there are spots! 

Great park!

The sites were nice and clean. Ok size. We weren't on top of anyone but would have been nicer if they were just a tad larger. We loved the fire ring! Not to large or deep that we couldn't see our campfire in the evening. 

Blue mounds 

Very well maintained park! Good easy hiking trails. Bison tour was super, was brought up close to the bison and educated about them and the prairie. Quarry was neat to view from on top and from inside the quarry. Many great views looking over the prairie. 

Campsites are spaced apart fairly well, all open between sites. Many nice trees in the campground for shade. 

Bathrooms are SUPER CLEAN and there are two different bathroom and shower buildings. The older building Mens showers we prefer because the water temperature isn’t scalding hot. The newer bathroom showers are well designed like at the other newer MN State parks and have nice handicap bathrooms and showers. 

Beautiful Prairie 

We stayed at Blue Mounds at the very end of July and it was a great first tent camping experience! We stayed in site 73E which was a little secluded from the rest of the campground but was across from the parking lot.  We stayed on a Sunday night so being at the entrance of the park/across from the parking lot wasn't really an issue at all but I could see if it was a Friday/Saturday it might be.  We only stayed one night so didn't use the showers but the bathrooms were very nice and clean. We weren't able to hike as much as I would have liked but my kids 5/9 still made it about 3 miles on one of the loops and we found our hiking club password. We didn't have any issues with bugs. Luverne is super close and we hit up Tasty's Drive In for supper and it was great!

First tent camping experience, great place to start!

Stayed at Blue Mounds on one of the hottest weekends this summer! We booked site 12 initially based off of reviews from the Dyrt suggesting riverside sites. Site 11 and 12 were NOT good. There's a dumpster in the middle of the two sites, absolutely no privacy, and no shade. Thankfully, there is good cell service (and free wifi!), and we looked up what other sites were open. 13 was open! And boy did we luck out with this. Even though it's just adjacent, 13 had a nice little secluded area for our tent, and a \*private\* riverside walk out to the cliffs overlooking the river! No direct river access- it's about a 15 foot drop to the river. The moonrise from this site was gorgeous. Had a spooky visit from the Starlink satellites. We drove in the morning to the bison area and saw about 12 of them roaming near the fence.  Bathrooms were decent. Close by to Luverne for any last minute needs while camping.