Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Brainerd, MN

A great little campground right near the town (easy to bike in for coffee or beer) but it feels like you're deep in the northwoods! Some sites are better than others in terms of privacy. The bathrooms were always clean. Situated right on a quarry with fun fishing and kayaking opportunities. Connects to the mountain bike trails too! They do charge for pets.

First the negatives. No internet, medium phone signal. The campsites are too small and too crowded. The adults let their young kids drive their cold carts and atvs back and forth from the campground to the beach all day long. I counted one particular one make 34 trips in less than 6 hours. I used to golf and I occasionally used a cart but usually I walked. Kids and young parents are way too lazy now, because it's a small campground and short walk to the beach from the farthest site. I think they do it for 2 reasons, they are bored, and they can. There is only one road in and out so there is constant traffic, and the road is gravel so prepare to eat dust. The sites aren't paved or even gravel, you park on the grass. Now for the positives. Some sites have 50 amp, most just 30 amp or less. Water hookups at most. No full hookups or dump site. There is a beach and swim area on Skunk Creek. A playground by the bathroom and showers. That building is clean, showers are free. Lots of shade from all the trees. Mosquitoes are few, flies plentiful. It is a quiet park after 10pm, but although they say closed after 8pm there was traffic all night long. Ask for a site in the back to avoid headlights shining on you all night long. Rates are $40/night for the pull through site we had w50 amp service. It has a few seasonal sites, all located at the rear. There is a golf course right next door across the creek. That is where the office is located. The town is small, only a gas station and small grocery store, so bring what you need. A Subway and nice drive-in are close by. Oh, the water is in me/my dogs opinion not for drinking. I wouldn't suggest weekends here unless you're into hearing every conversation your neighbors have or want to sleep in. Maybe the week days are better? They do allow leashed pets.

We visit annually and love this campground. The sites are spacious and most are quite private! There are no water hookups at the sites so be sure to fill up when you arrive. It is a short 10 minute drive into Brainerd. If you are looking to eat out we love The Boulder Tap House and Rafferty’s pizza! You will love staying at this campground.

I live close so I visit frequently to use the trails for running.

This park boasts an amphitheater, trails along the river, a group center, an historic site, decent bathroom facility, and spacious camp sites.

The electric site area isn’t super awesome, as it gets crowded and is more like a huge group camp. But the rest are way more private.

One thing missing is tent pad areas- still grassy and flat enough to truly be NBD, BUT, always nice to have a designated surface.

Great access for canoeing and kayaking the Mississippi water trail. If you start at Kiwanis Park in Brainerd- you can make it to crow wing in four hours leisurely, or three fairly easily.

Nice trails, good parking, good shower facilities, and pretty trails.

The thing about State Parks is that they don't always know what they want to be.

Are they here to celebrate nature, and provide a moments breath away from the pace of urban life? Are they here for historical facts? Are they for revenue?

Crow Wing State Park suffers from this dilemma. While the tent sites are nice and spacious, the RV sites are stacked one on top of another, with no illusion of privacy. The weekend we were there, they were pretty full, but noise coming from other campers was acceptable.

There are plenty of water spigots, and toilet/shower facilities. The facilities are clean, but old.

There is an almost constant booming, however, coming from Fort Ripley, just down the river. The Fort serves as training for everything from the national guard, to state police, to the DNR. At one point, we could clearly hear live rounds being fired.

The walks and paths were well maintained, except that some were flooded out due to recent heavy rains. The area dedicated to the Old Crow Wing Village was well done.

What causes me the most confusion though, is that someone made the call to cover the roads with sand, instead of the traditional crushed stone. So, never mind that the sand made it harder to walk up hill to the water and showers, it got everywhere. When we tore down camp, I emptied enough sand from my tent, that I could have added a fresh layer to a cat's litter box.

I am very conflicted about this park. It is very pretty, but when you get right down to it, the little quirks that surround it add up. I'm not sure if we will be back. Not that we won't, it's just that we won't be rushing back.

Lots of nearby trails that are very peaceful to walk on. Dogs are welcome here! The campground was quiet and clean. My husband was with me and he and buddies went hunting for game birds. Great hunting!! Would stay here again!

Just kidding, our dogs hate camping but we definitely enjoyed Crow Wing. The park ranger was super helpful on our first visit to the park. The campgrounds were beautiful, hiking trails were fun and the fishing was a blast. We would definitely head back to Crow Wing for more camping adventures!

We loved the group camp site except for the fact the people would walk through it. There was a main hiking trail and lots of people came through. Our dogs did not care for that surprise. Otherwise fairly clean. They come and freshen up the outhouse daily and empty the trash cans. For the group site there is tons of space and very secluded which was great. Also right on the river!!

We give this resort 5 stars because, despite it not being visitor friendly, they are up front in their policies about visitors and the place is great in all other respects. If you want to have visitors while staying here it is best to consider these policy before visiting as they are strictly enforced. We won’t stay here again because of those policies despite how great the amenities are.

OK, for the good stuff. Sites are huge, very dog friendly, quiet, ice and firewood on site, cute little lake with gorgeous sunsets, huge kiddy play area on water, free kayak and paddle board use, nice little onsite store. Be aware much of the place is seasonal rentals but these sites are kept very tidy. Whole place is immaculate. Also have 3 docs and a small boat landing.

Hands down, one of the all time best campsites I've ever been to. Not many places you can camp and wake up to the sound of water babbling on the Mississippi River. This site was not only easy to get in and out of, but had more amenities that most campgrounds I've paid to stay in.

Baxter Canoe Camp is certainly accessible by canoe, and possibly by foot/car, but I'm not certain about the latter. There is a trail for maintenance workers to drive in (they come by regularly to empty the trash cans!), but I don't know if it's for drive in traffic as well. We were on a canoe trip down the Mississippi, which led us to this gem on the water.

note: this camp is not located exactly where it shows on the map. I'm not certain if the camp was moved after the map was printed, or if it was just printed in the wrong spot on the map, but it was about a 1/2 mile to a mile farther south of Brainerd than we were expecting

There are two spots off the water where you can get out of a canoe and hit dry land. The first has some stairs, but they are VERY steep. Not easy to ascend when you have heavy bags and sea legs (hey…that rhymed!). After trying that once or twice, I discovered a landing (better for canoes anyhow) about 20 yards farther down shore that was a better spot for docking as well as entering the campsite we chose. Although it was a steep step up a nook in the hillside, it was still easier that teetering on the wooden steps previously mentioned.

Immediately, we were stunned at the size, cleanliness and location of everything this site had to offer. There were trashcans. There was an outhouse style building with a pit toilet and…guys are going to love this…a urinal! (my husband said he has NEVER seen this before in any pit toilet style set up). And…drumroll…there was a giant, huge, monstrous sized pile of firewood. The DNR had left it there. All you had to do was chop it and you were toasty for the night! We had a huge picnic table, and the tent pad was level! No joke…flat as a pancake and right on the river. There was another official site with a fire ring and picnic table, and there were also plenty of unofficial spaces (open area) to drop a tent or hang a hammock. There were tons of hammock trees! Not to mention that some larger rocks just off shore made the water sing a bit when the water sloshed over them, so we had some lovely nighttime tunes.

We did have a nighttime visitor in the form of something big and black and furry. We didn't see him (her?), but heard the sounds of a bear. There was a trail behind the tent that led into the woods, and I think it belonged to this creature of habit. It never approached the tent, we never had to yell, and it never threatened. Simply grunted and "barked" a few times, and then wandered away. Fortunately, we had properly hung our food in a tree and left all the Snickers in the bear bag.

Bottom line, if you have a canoe and don't mind paddling a few miles, this is absolutely worth a day trip. Quiet, peaceful and serene. Except for the bear. But that's just part of the fun, right?

Sites are close together compared to some other Minnesota state parks. Lots of trees. Bathroom is older but decent. Hiking trails ok nothing special.

Crow Wing State Park is a good choice if you are looking for something close to the Twin Cities metro area in Minnesota. with this park being just under two hours away from the Twin Cities metro area it’s an easy choice for a nice weekend getaway. If you’re looking to stay for a long extended time it’s also a good choice as it offers electric and water. The electric sites are pretty open and close together so if you like to be secluded and not see other campers from your campsite I wouldn’t use this park. The electric sites are really on top of each other and don't feel like you are camping to me. The non-electric sites are pretty nice and secluded from each other which would make this park a park I would bring my tent to instead of my travel trailer. There is also a group camp That is separate from the main camping area.

The park office offers ice and firewood for sale. Firewood is 6$ a bundle at the park office. The only firewood you can use is the approved firewood in the local area or scrap lumber. See the Minnesota Firewood law.  Canoe rentals are offered at the park office for $15 for a half-day and $25 for a full day. There is also a water fill station and a dump station for your travel trailer or RV. This is a good park for hiking and exploring. 

If you wanna stay close to the Twin Cities metro area this is a good park for you!

This is a small park (only 750 acres) but holds a lot of history. There are many cool things to see, although some are across the street from the main part of the park and run by the Minnesota Historical Society (which means they have a separate admission fee). The campground isn't large at only 38 sites, and although they are secluded they are definitely on the smaller side. The bathrooms/showers were average for a state park, clean but could use updating. The hiking trails are not plentiful, but the ones we tried were decent. Overall it was a good park for a short, one time trip, but I don't think it's one we would head back to.

Right on Lake Mille Lacs, one of Minnesota’s largest. Walking distance from the bakery and bar! Newer, updated facilities. Boat access. Lake side sites (if you book early enough). You can hit Mille Lacs State Park if you want to knock them both out on one trip! This park seems to attract a lot of long term campers, as I’m sure it’s pretty reasonable to stay at the lake all summer. We went mid-July I think and the trees were literally raining caterpillars… it was tough to want to hang out in our tree canopy-covered site. Sooo.. we ventured outside of the park more at this one.

There was a festival going on in a town west of here that had a couple rides and a really fun patio bar. If you do decide to venture out at night, ask the bartender for the limo driver’s number; he’s the city’s “uber”!