Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Bigfork, MN

At a rate of$40 a night for camping here with all the amenities of a resort, this is a pretty good deal! Campers have access to the heated pool, free use of canoes and kayaks, there is a camp store and bait shop, showers and bathrooms and indoor recreation facilities in the lodge, and a boat launch(though you do have to pay extra to reserve docking space). The campsites are pet friendly too. However, the campsites are a bit close together and would not be my favorite way to camp. For paddlers crossing Lake Winnie on the Mississippi Headwaters Water Trail, this is a convenient place to camp, with easy pull out to the southwest side of the Winnie dam, and more amenities than the Forest Service campground or COE campground on the other side of the dam. From here, paddlers just have a short portage on the paved road across the dam to the downstream boat launch below it.

This is a full service fishing resort with a lodge and cabin rental, but RV and tent camping is also available. The campsites are very nice and wooded, the tenting sites include some very secluded spots back in the woods which is nice for solitude but precludes a view of the lake. There are daily rates as well as weekly rates for camping or cabin stays. This is a top notch place to stay for a fishing vacation, off the beaten path but with full amenities. It can be a destination vacation spot, or can be a great stop-over  for through-paddlers crossing Lake Winnie on the Mississippi River Headwaters Water Trail. Although near the National Forest campground on Tamarack Point, this has many more amenities which is nice when you are so far from the nearest town, especially if you are paddling through and have no vehicle for travel. Amenities include groceries, ice cream shop, full service boat launch and fishing supplies, and more. You might not be into winter camping in a tent, but there are ice houses to rent that you could camp in if you come in winter. More expensive than usual campgrounds, but with more amenities provided and with a stellar location. Pets welcome at no extra charge! Seasonal campsite rental can also be arranged.

This is a small county park and campground off the beaten path. It is located adjacent to the Little American Falls, and alongside the Big Fork River water trail. There are several campsites you can drive into, and if it is not the muddy season you could drive with a trailer or small RV into some of the the camping sites. Although the sites themselves are pretty well kept, campers are advised to pack out their own garbage but it seems some folks don't feel they have to--so there is some litter around, and evidence of campers burning garbage in the firepits. There is little to no cell phone service here, no on site ranger or camp host, but sites have basic picnic tables and fire rings, and there is an outhouse available. You should bring your own water; any RV's should know there are no hookups of any kind, but you are allowed to use a generator here. 

The main appeal of this campground is access to the river, which involves going down a steep bank (there are stairs) but worth it for fishing or kayaking or canoeing. The falls are beautiful, and worth a visit. There arent official biking or hiking trails but you could easily walk or bike on the back roads adjacent to the campground. If you want more privacy, there is a canoe campsite on the bank opposite of the county campground, just downstream of the falls, that is maintained by the Minnesota DNR and is water-access only.

There is no cost to camp here, but also no reservations so first come first served. For maps, you can refer to the Koochiching County recreation maps to see location, which are here: 

https://www.co.koochiching.mn.us/DocumentCenter/View/135/Outdoor-Recreation-Map-PDF?bidId=

https://www.co.koochiching.mn.us/DocumentCenter/View/994/Koochiching-Recreation-Map-2018-PDF

The Big Fork Water Trail map is here: https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/canoe\_routes/bigfork1.pdf

And for more info you can contact the Koochiching County Lands and Forests office here: https://www.co.koochiching.mn.us/178/Land-Forestry

Nothing says Minnesota like the call of the Loon and that’s what greeted me upon arrival at my site! This site is lovely—water and easy to access to water sports on either Sturgeon or Side Lake. Some road noise but not too bad. I am imagine it’s much more hectic in the summer with the big beach across the road. Great for kids! Easy trails for walking and dog friendly. Can be buggy but that’s MN. For more rustic, head further up to Beatrice Lake Campground.

Scenic State Park has a variety of camping options, including a small lodge, standard RV campsites with hookups, and standard campground tent sites. But, best of all, they also offer numerous remote backcountry campsites that require you to either backpack in for a few miles, or paddle or boat in a mile or two, and a few where you can access the site via either backpacking or boating in. The backpack in only sites are on trails a few miles north of the lodge campground, and the boat-in only site is on Coon Lake about a half mile from the Lodge campground boat landing, and then there are 4 sites on Sandwick Lake to which you can backpack in or boat in. Sandwick Lake is located to the south and east of Coon Lake and is reached by boat or canoe by launching from the main boat landing, passing through Coon Lake , and then down a channel into Sandwick Lake. To me, the regular campgrounds seemed pleasant but pretty busy; the remote campsites, however, are absolutely exquisite and peaceful and quiet and off by themselves.  we camped at campsite #6 on Sandwick, you would have to backpack into it by hiking about 3 miles, or you have the option to boat in which we did. The boat-in campsites do each have a small dock, perfect for accomodating canoes, kayaks, and very small fishing boats like ours; larger boats would have trouble I think, because the docks are firly shor and there isnt much room to pull in alongside them. From the dock at our campsite there was a sloped path to walk up from the dock to the campsite, but the three others on the lake have a small set of stairs. Our site had a three sided log lean-to as well as a bear box, picnic table, and fire ring with grate. Our site had room for one tent, maybe another small one, but we visited site 4 and it had space for maybe 4 or 5 tents so you could had a scout troup or large family at that site. There is a pit toilet off in the woods, "al fresco"  because the site is isolated on its own. The campsite we had was up on a hill with a beautiful view, and faced north for catching wonderful breeezes that kept the bugs away! The lean-to was great for doing food prep, and would be a good shelter if a storm came up. The grill on the fire ring was sturdy, and the bear box looked to be brand new and indestructible. The shoreline had a pretty dense cover of cedar trees, but you can swim by your dock, and the water is crystal clear! If you boat in to this site, then you will be off on your own in a peaceful quiet spot, but you can hike either north or south on the hiking trail that passes nearby, you can paddle or boat acrros the lake to the unique esker where there is an educational geology trail, or you can go fishing, or bird watching, or get back to the main part of the park for nature programs or accees the many miles of trails that have trailheads near Coon Lake. If you dont have a watercraft of your own, the park rents canoes and kayaks that you can use. The state park is in the middle of the Big Fork State Forest, and the Big Fork River Water Trail runs through the area with many access point nearby. if you need supplies, the park's camp store is currently closed due to covid, but the town of Bigfork is about 7 miles from the state park entrance, so you have access to groceries, gas, hardware etc there, as well as a small hospital if needed. All the campsites are currently reservable online, and you must use that system because the main park office is closed to visitors at this time due to covid, though park staff are out and about in the park for cleaning and maintainence and campground supervision. I highly recommend this park, and especially the remote sites, but they are taken quickly on weekends so you need to reserve ahead!

I would highly recommend this campground,it’s clean,great fishing,swimming,walking. We stayed for a week with our dogs,and our girls had a blast. Thank you

We first went to Scenic State Park in 1970. Have tent camped stayed in the Managers House, the cabin, in a pop up camper, and last I stayed in Chase Point .Campground. That time on my RV. Scenic is second to none and we have traveled the world. Lost my love in 2020, so now it is me and my dog.

This site has better private camp sites compared to the East. IT also have more sites located with water access. Very deep sites so you get lots of privacy as well. Very wooded and secluded so you have to watch out for the ticks as we pulled several off of our dog. Mostly tent and small pop ups at this campground...hard to get a big rig in here or anything really over 20 feet. Some of the sites don't look like they get used much and they were not overly maintained, but it was full!

First off, and most appealing to me is the fact that there is no cell service. All 12 campsites are first come first serve and you can’t jump a line by going on a website to reserve a spot.  there are no water or electric hook ups but there are hand pumps for pumping water and you could bring a generator or not.
Located north of Grand Rapids Minnesota about 60 miles or 35 miles from Nashwauk Minnesota which is the closest gas station, grocery store or post office. All the sites are back in no pull through sites, generally level however there’s a few that are on an angle

We really enjoyed this park. Electric loop was tight and some sites had minimal privacy. The non electric sites were much more private. All sites had nice shady trees. It's a very forested park. We really appreciated the new restroom facilities. 

We had easy water access for our kayak off the campground loop. And it was easy enough to carry the kayak across to the other lake to explore out there. The beach on the big lake was very nice, clean and there were easily accessible "ends" of the beach to have a dog. The sandbar was expansive! 

This was a great park for campers of all styles; very family friend - it was very busy with lots of kids. Trails can be reached from the campground but the hike to the trails would be a hike in itself for some. Trail heads seemed remote compared to other parks. 

There were temporary problems with the drinking water on the whole campground - couldn't brush teeth with sink water, and had to go to the dump station to fill up from the one safe water spigot, but it wasn't anything that would keep us from coming back.

I camped at this location with my siblings and cousins in early August a few years ago. We had 2 tents for sleeping and a canopy shelter near the picnic table. The campsite was plenty big enough for a party of 7 & 2 dogs. The area and campsites are wooded, mostly shaded with large evergreens. Bathrooms and showers were nearby, just a walk across the road from our campsite. We were on a back road, which was enjoyable yet an easy walking distance to the beach. The lakeside campsites also looked nice. We had friends that were camping in a RV nearby who's campsite was also inviting. The ground space is level and gravel/dirt with occasional pine needles from overhead evergreen trees. The bike path goes along the lakeshore/woods that provides access of miles of bike paths in the Cass Lake & Walker area. The beach was sandy & provided gorgeous views of Cass Lake. I highly recommend this campground to those that want to experience Cass Lake.

We celebrated the 2017 Minnesota Walleye Fishing Season opener at one of our favorite campgrounds. North Star campground has 38 sites between north and south loops. The sites are not reservable, and are available on a first come, first served basis. Camping is $14.00 for a single site, and $28.00 for groups. Each site has a fire ring and an oversized picnic table. There are also outhouses and a well water pump on each loop. This year we were greeted by a new campground host who was very friendly. There are many smaller sorounding lakes within a few miles to fish from, and if you like hiking and historic sites, don't miss the Suomi Hills hiking trail. Listening to the loons tonight reminds me of how very lucky we are to call Minnesota home.

After a few days at state parks my dog and I needed so time with less distractions. We drove over to the Chippewa National Forest and found a few campgrounds close together. We picked this one and found wooded sites adjoining a serene lake. 

Campground review:

Registration is self-service but there is also a camp host. We drove around the two loops and found many reserved. This is a popular place for those with boats looking to catch some fish. There were still plenty open so we picked one that was nestled among the trees and brush. After parking, I was surprised at how much room was still here. Some of the other sites are smaller but our was plenty big. The vault toilets are clean and the area was well kept. Most sites have electric hookups. A few tent only sites were non-electric. There was a very short walk up from your car at these sites. 

We walked around the quiet campground and found a park right by the lake. It opens onto the small dock where several boats awaited fishing excursions. 

Intermittent cars can be heard along the main road but it’s not that busy. The plentiful birds sing away the motors. 

This was a nice stopover for the night.

We camped for Minnesota Grouse Hunting Season. The sites are roomy (boat in, drive in, or backpack available) The Chase Point Trail is gorgeous for hiking!! You are not allowed to bring in your own firewood, but the campground host has bundles of split wood for purchase.

Was here last year also. Great place for older people that have a national parks card. $13.00 a night is unbeatable. Park is always clean and well maintained. And free laundry too. Yes, there are skeeters, but this is summer in Minnesota. You learn to deal. Quiet and not packed at all. Site is large and flat and trees galore.

This location is actually a duplicate of The Dyrts Plug Hat Point listing which is here and should be merged: https://thedyrt.com/camping/minnesota/plug-hat-point

Also, note that the location needs to be corrected, Plug Hat Point Campground is at Latitude 47.439 N Longitude-94.055 W .

This is a small National Forest camping area with picnicking, fishing, and a boat landing. At present time, there is full boat access, picnicking and parking  available at this location, but the  adjacent drive-in  campsites are closed to vehicle camping during the pandemic due to reduced Forest Service staffing. However, paddlers on the Mississippi Headwaters water trail are allowed to tent here as dispersed campers adjacent to the picnic area while through-paddling. There are outhouses and water avaialble in the picnic area, as well as use of the boat launch which has a nice dock and cement ramp for easy access. From here, paddlers with a canoe or kayak cart can easily portage around the Winnie Dam about 1/2 mile to river launch site below the dam, thus avoiding the  very steep, rocky and difficult portage that is located right at the dam. You do need a good portage cart, however, as the access road from Plug Hat Point is not paved.

This is a paddle-in only campsite within the Chippewa National Forest, and is an official campsite on the Mississippi River State Water Trail in Minnesota. It is located downstream from the Lake Winnie Dam, and is a good place to stay after portaging the dam if you dont want to stay at the Winnie Dam Campground. It is located near upper River mile 1225, on the left side of the river. The access point appears very overgrown from the river, but look for the brown watercraft campsite sign with the yellow canoe, and if you land at that point you will see a mall trail that leads to wooden timbered steps up to the campsite. There is a nice view over the river here, and a bit of a breeze, which is especially good in early summer when bugs are bad. This is a typical water access only campsite for paddlers on the water trail, and includes the basic such as picnic table, fire ring, and pit toilet. There is no potable water water avaialble here, so be prepared. There is room for several tents, so a small group could camp here. 

The next watercraft campsite is downs stream quite a few miles, so if you are passing mid in the afternoon it might be good to stop here. The next recommended campsite is at Gambler's Point, the previous campsites on Lake Winnie include Lake Winnie Dam and Tamarack Point.

If you are a through paddler on an extended trip you may already have maps and water trail info, but if not, check out these links: 

Info for camping at watercraft campsites: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/watertrails/watercraft-campsites.html info and maps for all of Minnesota state water trails: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/watertrails/index.html map for Mississippi River State Water Trail: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/watertrails/mississippiriver/index.html section map on which Crazy James landing is located, just upstream from River Mile 1225: https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/canoe\_routes/mississippi2.pdf