Judge C. R. Magney State Park Campground

Judge Magney State Park, Minnesota 

   This is a small state park near the shores of Lake Superior. Off Hwy 61, North of Grand Marais. Best known for the Devils Kettle Hike where there's a double waterfall

& one side disappears into a hole. It's very cool! 

  The campground is very small- only 26 sites. This is primitive camping- no electricity. There's water available. No dump. Dumpsters for trash. The sites are suitable for tents & small trailers, popups, truck campers, camper vans. We did see one larger trailer, but most sites are short.  The road is also very primitive - trees will rip off the air conditioners in your 45 footer!

There's a modern bathroom & shower house with 2 showers in both the men's & women's. Even though we never saw anyone- someone was keeping the bathrooms clean! 

  They also sell wood at the camp host site.

 We were here on a Tuesday thru Thursday. Everyone was respectful of quiet hours & no one was too loud. Most of the sites were full. Not sure about the weekends. 

  There's 2 loops. The outside loop is close to the highway & that gets loud around 6am until 10pm when it quiets down. There's paths to the bathhouse, which is nice.

 The perimeter sites are the best for more privacy. We were in site 11 & I loved it! Site 12 was nice too. I really enjoyed this campground & have to say it was my favorite one on our Minnesota vacation.

This is a rustic state park with no electric sites, dump station or water source for RV tanks, as well as nearly non-existent cell service, but it's a pleasant getaway spot. It felt like a rustic forest campground but had amenities like a bathroom/shower house. Regarding water, there is drinking water available to fill containers, just no hookup to fill RV tanks. They also have trash and recycling dumpsters available.

The sites are decent size; privacy depends on the site but most aren't crammed on top of each other. All sites are dirt/gravel and the roads are dirt so be prepared for some dust in dry conditions.

We saw mostly tents and smaller rigs but that's probably due to no electricity and no water source for RVs to fill from. Still, some sites were large enough for the Class As that were there.

Bathrooms were decent but be ready for push-button showers for water conservation. They run long enough to essentially do Navy showers, which works fine. Water never really hot but plenty warm enough to not be considered cold.

Each site has a picnic table and fire ring, plus firewood is available at the front office or at the camp host site (via self-service). Front office rarely staffed but there is a work garage and the DNR staff came through the campground regularly. Little to no cell service on T-Mobile and Verizon, but there is a WiFi spot available near the DNR work garage.

It's nice that you can hike from the campground to Devil's Kettle and another waterfall (same trail), both of which were great.

Access is from Highway 61 down a relatively short dirt road We would stay here again.

The state park campgrounds still being closed due to the pandemic is actually a prime time to assess the quality of different campsites! This was also somehow my first visit to this state park ever, despite coming up to the North Shore generally at least twice a year for the last 8 years. I think I was dissuaded by the constant references to all of the stairs required to reach the falls. I did not find them to be terribly exhausting, but if you are not in shape you will definitely want to take advantage of the rest bench that is about halfway up the staircase. 

The highlight is definitely Devil’s Kettle falls- where some of the water from the falls disappears into the rock and doesn’t obviously resurface anywhere. Science says that this mystery water resurfaces shortly after the falls, but people like the story about how if you throw in a ping pong ball that you will not find where it resurfaces. 

The campground suffers from the same issue that a lot of North Shore parks suffer from- their close proximity to Hwy 61 and its 60 mph speed limit which means you get plenty of road noise. The facilities are on the older side, and I anticipate that they will stay this way for quite some time since this isn’t one of the most popular state parks in this area. A lot of the sites are quite small, especially the smaller numbers. Please see the videos and pics for site comments!

Yes this park is FAR up the north shore, but that should NOT stop you from checking it out. I have stayed here 2-3 times and every time I find new adventures. There are great trails at the park itself, definitely check out Devils Kettle and marvel in where that water all goes. If you feel like exploring elsewhere there are so many options within ½ hour drives of this park it’s insane!

On our most recent visit last weekend it was raining at our site so we decided to drive into Grand Marais, about 25-30 min away - there was a little farmers market going on, we checked out the camp supply store where we were given advice to hike up Eagle Mountain, the highest elevation in MN. It was an AMAZING hike, 7 miles round trip but worth every step!

I have stayed at a few different sites at Judge Magney, they all offer their own charm. Most recently we were in site #24 and I think it was my favorite thus far. It offers a picnic table, fire ring, and flat clearing for your tent like all the others, but when the sun came up in the morning it hits your tent just right in the clearing to let you know it’s going to be a beautiful day. You can clearly see the people at the sites on either side of you, but they’re far enough away where you rarely notice them. Directly behind the tent spot is a wooded hill that leads down to highway 61 - being from the city though I didn’t notice the cars driving by. I actually noticed when there weren’t anymore driving by later in the evening and the frogs were out singing.

As most Minnesotans are realizing, the parks are busy and loud in the summers. This park was no different but I think most people here were aware of the sound they were making and no one was extremely obnoxious.

This is a great park on the north shore, one of the smaller and quieter state park campgroynds with a few nice bonuses. The park is north if Grand Narais ( be sure to stip there first fir groceries and supplies) and is well licated for day trips along the Gunflint or up to Grand Portage. There is terrfic hiking within the park, trailing alongside the Brule River and its waterfalls all the way up the Superiir Ridge to connect with the Superior Hiking Trail. There is also a shorter trail over to Lake Superior, for nice beach access. There us goid fishing along the way. The park is unique geologically, shaped by rhyolite flows from ancient volcanoes and with a unique subterranean kettle stream for which scientists cant find an outlet.

The campground is small and quiet and has modern bathroom facilities and potable water but no hookups for RVs. There us room at each campsite for trailers to drive in. The campground is heavily wooded and very peaceful. One of the really nice amenities is that, after a long day of hiking, you can dine out if you want at one if the most unique, romantic and historic lodges along the north shore, the Naniboujou Lodge, immediately adjacent to the campground. They also have a high tea in the afternoons, and a fantastic brunch in weekends. If you want great hiking, quiet tent campung, swimming in Lake Superior—and with unique dining OR campfire cooking, this is the place for you!

A big draw of this state park is the viewing on of this areas many waterfalls. A popular 2.2 mile (round-trip) trail leads from the parking lot upstream along the Brule River to “Devil's Kettle.” The river splits around a mass of volcanic rock leaving half the river to plunge 50 feet into a pool while the other half surges into a huge pothole.  The trail is dog-friendly so bring Fido but it can be crowded too so you may want to go early. The trail is considered “strenuous” and has nearly 200 stairs that need to be climbed but it was not bad and worth the trip.  The Brule River is very popular among anglers where brook and rainbow trout are said to be plentiful and I regretted not bringing my fly rod along for the trip.

The campground is small with just 27 drive-in sites for RVs or tents and one walk-in tent site. The first thing you notice is how wooded the campground is which is very welcome on the warm summer days.  The tall trees also provide a bit of privacy between sites and you get the feel of being tucked back in the woods. Picnic tables and fire pits (with grills) are at each site. Sites are without any hook-ups but there is potable water in the campground.  The bathroom was nice and clean with flush toilets and showers. During our stay, we routinely saw staff attending to the bathrooms and other campers were courteous and didn’t trash the place. The campground is very peaceful and quiet when we were there. Part of that is probably due to its small size and little traffic. There are numerous other great state parks in the area with gorgeous waterfalls and hiking.