Best RV Parks & Resorts near Balsam, MN

This park is beautiful and right next to a lake. Very green and full of trees. Park is clean. The only reason I gave 4 stars is because the long-term residence aren't very friendly. This location cost $44/night for full hookups.

Review for Indian Point Campground This campground is owned and run by the City of Duluth; I shouldn’t have to say more, but I will. It could be a real jewel, but sadly it’s not. We ended up staying here 17 nights (!!) Because we had some business to do in town and there’s pretty much nowhere else to go. We were moved 5 times during our stay, once because our site was sold out from under us. We weren’t offered any kind of upgrade or anything for the inconvenience, either. The staff is nice, but 2 quit right after Independence Day and left the others overworked. The bathrooms and showers are new but poorly designed (how could that happen in Duluth?) and often very poorly maintained- out of hand soap, paper towels, toilet paper, and overflowing trash receptacles (and dumpster). There are only 2 regular showers for women and 1 handicap bath/ shower prioritized for tent campers; same for men. There are no trail markers for the walking trails or foot paths to the bathrooms hence lots of traffic through the unfortunate campsites around those areas- avoid sites 58 and 59. This is the darkest campground I have ever stayed at, even rustic ones were better lit for safety and security. There’s no security and no bathroom codes. There’s a troubling amount of activity at night that isn’t involving campers- (drugs, prostitution, loitering, driving through and making noise,)and the Duluth police aren’t too interested in driving through at night. There only 7 full hook up sites, most sites are electronic only. Lots and lots of tent campers (21 dedicated sites, and they allow extra tents on the sites for an additional fee)and a few long term homeless tenters (they were not a problem but it’s sad and messy.) I would be more discerning about the campsite we took next time, if we ever return, and probably bring some outside lights with us as well.

As this was our second time here at Minnesota National, we had no problem finding the course or RV park. The RV navigation in our new Ford 450 was also spot on. When you turn in at the golf course, drive all the way to the club house/lodge parking lot and there’s a road to the right that takes you into the campground (CG). As you check-in online prior to arrival, you simply proceed to your camp site. As you turn down the short road to the CG, there’s a sign to help you identify your site location. We proceeded to back-in site 25 with full hook ups. The utilities are in the back of pad in this CG, so you may need 20+ feet of electric, sewer, or water cord/hose depending on your rig’s configuration. The sewer grade is a bit up hill. We got 3 bars LTE on Verizon and no CG WiFi. There is only a vault toilet/out house in the CG. We came here to golf for two weeks. The 18 hole course is quite challenging where the 9 hole Savannah is shorter and a little bit easier. The golf course restaurant has decent food and a good deal on draft beer during their Sunday to Thursday Happy Hours.There is not much more to do here except golf. McGregor is about 15 minutes away and is where we did laundry and got our groceries.

Spent a weekend at Red Pine Campground (formally Ogston’s RV Park). Check-in was smooth and staff was very friendly. Our 35’ travel trailer fit well into our back-in site. Full hookups and everything worked as expected. Site was gravel and a a little un-level, but nothing extreme.

We were traveling with friends and the staff (owners I believe) made it work out for us to have sites next to each other.

Park felt well cared for and attended too. Walked the grounds and had fun looking for agates in a rock pile. The small lakes or ponds around the campground were a nice touch. Was a little buggy at night but it is Minnesota in the summertime. There was some water craft that could be utilized by campers. Since we were self isolating due to Covid we kind of kept to ourselves and hung around our site with our friends.

Easy access to Duluth. Would definitely stay here again.

Our site was a fairly level pull through, full hook up site. The office had a camp store inside of it. Staff was extremely friendly and helpful. The bathrooms were very clean. The fenced in dog park was a big bonus for our pup. The grounds hosted outdoor games and volleyball/basketball courts. Would stay again.

Pokegema Dam This is a campground established by the Army Corps of Engineers, adjacent to the Pokegama Dam. Highlights include fishing in the rapids below the dam, or in the still river water above it, camping and relaxing under the tall pines in the campground, canoeing and kayaking on the river, and having a base to explore nearby Grand Rapids and attractions like the Minnesota State Forest History Museum a few miles away. Unless you are here for the fishing on site, though, you will probably use this campground as a base to do day trips in the area, as the campground is not big enough to feature hiking trails and other on-site activities. The campground seems oriented towards RV and trailer camping, with hook-ups and hard packed gravel vehicle access on most sites. A few sites do include sufficient grassy areas for tent camping. Almost all the campsites are located on the shores of the Mississippi River just downstream from the dam, and are sheltered under huge shady pines. The setting is more beautiful and scenic than can be seen from the road when passing by. Unfortunately, that road is the 4-lane highway 2, which provides easy access to the campground, but also adds a bit of road noise to your experience. Plus factors include a thoughtfully designed handicapped accessible campsite, several canoe campsites for paddling the Headwaters Water trail, and easy fishing access via boat landing, the dam itself, and various fishing piers. Everything is sparkling clean and there are bathrooms, showers, potable water, and a kids playground.

The sites were amazingly large with nice privacy between the lots. Easy to get into with plenty of room to spare. Each lot has full hook-ups, that was a huge bonus!! Definitely on our list of places to go back to!

City owned campground on a bay of Lake Superior. Should be nicer than this. Not very well maintained with few full hook ups. Have to use the showers because our site has only electricity. The showers have been newly remodeled but are poorly designed. Very small shower stalls with practically nonexistent changing area. After the 4th of July weekend there was no toilet paper. There are also the occasional non-campers hanging around. Management doesn’t seem to think this is a problem. I wouldn’t stay here again.

Nice little RV park right in the town of Cloquet. There are a few tent sites right against the river. On the west end of the property is access to a pedestrian bridge where you may find some fisherman in the summer. You can walk to the Northeastern Bar of the coffee shop. Nice little stopping spot if you are headed to the BWCAW or the Range.

Ogston RV Park is a great campground, it’s like a little slice of heaven with wide open spaces. The space between campsites is impressive, lots of room to walk, roam, stretch, or whatever strikes your fancy. the prices are good, the bathhouse is clean, you could eat a sandwich in there and not feel out of place! There are movies, books, and games you can borrow, happy hour every Wednesday, potlucks through our week, and overall it’s just a nice place to stay!

We are KOA members (who stay at a lot of KOAs) - our 1st visit at this Cloquet KOA was Sept 2020:

The staff were friendly. One staff drove a cart right to our campsite and helped us determine the best way to back in our RV for the most privacy. We needed a couple of items for our RV and the store had everything we needed including a hose adapter, ketchup, buns, dog treats & s’mores fixings. The camp is close to Duluth but still far enough away to get you completely out of the city and, while exploring, we came across Jay Cook State Park (only about 15 min away) which is beautiful!! The camp was relatively quiet. We were about 20 feet from another campsite on one side and 50 feet on the other. There are a lot of trees and wooded areas so our site felt semi-private. Our Pomeranian, who loves to camp, loved the woods!! Across from us were two camping cabins filled with 20 year olds celebrating a 21st birthday but the staff drove through often and we never heard noise. This KOA offers full hookups in some parts of the campground but our site was only water/electric so they offered a complimentary pump-out with a mobile truck during our stay. We will stay here again!

I prefer being in the woods, but this is great for last minute booking.
Pros. Full hookups. On park, next to playground and beach. Walking distance to restaurants and bars, And easily bike to the Cuyuna Mountain Bike Trails.

Cons. Road noise and low privacy.

Our RV GPs took us to the golf course, but we called the info phone number, which was the golf course clubhouse, to find out exactly how to get to the campground(CG) area. We were told to take the main road into the clubhouse, and right at the clubhouse, there’s a road to the right with a sign that shows the CG and where the sites are situated. We went in that way, where our other travel partner went past the golf course entrance(on the left side of the road) and took the unmarked RV park entrance less than a 1/4 mile past on the left. Either way works fine. We had registered online so we could go straight to the CG and to site 25 with FHUs. We had no issues backing our 40’ Brinkley TH into the site and still had room to put our patio down and park our F-450. The only problem with site 25 is that the entrance to site 24 comes in at a weird angle right next to the entrance of site 25. If our truck was centered on site 25, someone coming into site 24 might clip our truck. The utilities are in the far back of the site. I needed about 20’ of sewer, electric, and water hose to reach my rig. We got our Starlink maneuvered around the trees to get a good north shot of the sky. The loop we were in had quite a few trees along with the first loop as you come into the CG from the clubhouse area. The 44-50 loop more towards the golf course had fewer trees to block satellite. We got 3 bars LTE on Verizon, and there was no CG WiFi. The water pressure is very good at 60+ psi, so suggest a reducer. The sites were gravel with a picnic table and a nice fire pit. There were three 5th wheels in our group, and we parked in adjacent sites and did not need to use levelers; all the sites here are FHUs, and the CG does not have a dump station. There was one outhouse in the CG, along with a dumpster. The clubhouse has a locker room and shower, but there is no CG information or rules we saw at the clubhouse about the CG or whether you can use the showers, and we did not ask. The workers at the pro shop could answer simple questions about the CG. There is no playground or lake to fish, just golf. We had no issues, so did not need any more info or help. Occasionally, a worker drove a golf cart around checking campsites, and when we stayed, there was no CG host. The registration email stated that they charge 10 dollars a day for each dog. During our 7-night stay, along with the four seasonal campers, only one other camper came in for 2 days. The 27-hole golf course was in good shape and fun to play. McGregor is about 15 minutes away and has grocery, gas, hardware store, and restaurants. We plan to come back to this CG sometime in the future.

Our stay was okay. Office and store was clean and well cared for. Check in was smooth and we were shown to our sites. We were spending the weekend with friends and the campground was very accommodating.

Campground was very dark in the area of campsites which made setting up a bit difficult. Our sites were grass that was a little long and rutted from what seemed from previous tenants. This made getting leveling a little difficult and out fold out stairs touched the ground before fully being deployed. After leveling in the dark we began searching for our full hookups. Found the sewer in the tall grass and electric , but the water supply was no where to be seen. Gave the office a call and they were prompt to respond.

We were quick to learn that water hookups were shared with other sites and required “y” connections at the spigots. Our host(s) were prepared with the connectors in hand but seemed a bit surprised that we might need them and we were a bit confused that they didn’t mention this to us when reached out sites.

Then we all collectively began searching for our water source. Ours source ended up being 75’ plus from our RV. Thankfully I just happened to be carrying the extra hose for several years but never had to use it before. It was a little uncomfortable to turn off someone’s water supply, unhook their hose and place the “y” adaptor in line so both of out rigs could be hooked up to the water spigot. Because of the distance our hoses were run over by four wheels and side by sides. The campground host also seemed to be a bit uncomfortable too and really didn’t want to be the ones to do it.

After we were setup our stay was good.

Great proximity to Banning State Park. Enjoyed a great day of hiking around this state park and enjoying the water and ruins of old buildings.

We would stay here again for a quick get away from the Twin Cites but would want to arrive before it gets dark a d bring a lot of hose.