Best Tent Camping near Chisholm, MN

Quiet campground with a short walk to the lake. RV and tent camping had separate areas. Restrooms and showers were clean. Close to Ely.

The park has a beautiful private lake with swimming beach, a few cabins available for rental, plenty of space for tent camping. A large pavilion with dancehall above and kitchen/dining on the lower level. There are memberships available to the park with sponsorship by a current member. There are fun events held at the park including a midsummer festival.

Check their website for scheduled events to come in and check out the park.

Stayed here for two nights in tents. Used it as a base camp while me and some friends were mountain biking RedHead Mountain and Tioga over the weekend. Beautiful spot, kind of secluded away from the rest of the campers but not tucked away by any means. Right on the lake. Grills are at all the tent sites but we used the fire. The fire wood provided was wet and sappy and didnt light but we iust grabbed some from town. Will be staying here again when I come back to the area.

Savanna Portage State Park is a beautiful and peaceful spot for camping, especially if you enjoy tent camping. The campsites are well-spaced, private, and perfect for tents, offering a great connection to nature.

The park features a lovely lake that’s ideal for kayaking, fishing, or just relaxing by the water. There are also several great hiking trails, ranging from easy walks to more challenging routes, giving you plenty of opportunities to explore the scenic forest and wetlands.

One thing to note—there are a lot of bugs in the summer, so make sure to pack plenty of bug spray! Overall, it’s a fantastic place for outdoor lovers looking for a quiet and rustic getaway.

We stayed at site 312E, pull through site which made it convenient with the boat. We tent camp and it had a nice flat grassy spot for the tent with ample room for the screened in shelter. (+’s)

1. New campground - bathrooms were nice and everything was freshly paved
2. Not that many sites which mean overall traffic was low
3. Boat ramp was within park
4. Soudan mine tours were awesome
5. Within reasonable driving distance to Ely which has the wolf center, shopping, etc
6. It has WiFi!!! This was huge for the kids - devices were ON

(-‘s)

1. No view of the lake
2. No beach
3. Garbage was 3/4s of a mile away - made taking the trash out a pain
4. No playground

We didn’t do any biking but should bring the bikes next time as the paths look good.

I see this campground more for RV and non-kid groups.

A really nice place with lots of fun stuff do to right in the campground including a beach and boat ramp on Pelican Lake. There is a nice playground area for kids. The place caters mostly to seasonal folks more than overnight roadies. I stumbled on it by accident when I was heading to Voyageurs NP but just wanted to get off the road for the night.

 Some of the seasonal sites have extensive decking and screened porches. The sites for the temp folks had full hookups but were gravel that was not well maintained and not level. The bathrooms were ok, maybe a C+. There was no soap at the men’s bathroom sink. There are only six daily/weekly RV/tent sites.  The rest are seasonal rentals.  It got 4 stars instead of 3 because it is so pretty and peaceful.

An extremely safe and pleasant location. You can either use the paid campground or stay in the parking lot, say if you had a sprinter travel van or some such thing. Alternatively if you are tent camping there are a couple nearly hidden campsites that you can use for free right by the canoe landing. A large part of the year clean showers are available and are free! although this fact is not publicized and at certain times of the year they are put under code for campground use only. I find that most the time they are open. A bathroom is attached each shower and can be locked from the inside making it great for a couple to use the facilities efficiently together. This is a one-of-a-kind place that does not exist much anymore. Free shower free camping clean bathroom , great walking trails, Great spot to fish. For a stop alongside the highway it has it all.

Bear Head Lake is an established, full service state park that has something for everyone. There are a variety of camping opportunities, from camper cabins to guesthouse to tent campsites with lake access to RV sites. Though you have to hike to the beach, the beach is really lovely and has boat rental. There is an extensive network of trails for both hiking and cross country skiing, with a really great indoor Trail Center that serves as winter warming house, indoor meeting place for rainy days, and classroom for park naturalist events. The lake is great for boating, fishing and paddling. though part of the lake shore is privately owned, the lake is quiet and peaceful overall, nestled in tall pines with easy access to the town of Ely if desired. The vicinity is known for bears and is part of a long term bear research study; visit the American Bear Center nearby if interested! https://www.bear.org/website/

The sites weren’t particularly large, the singular available vault toilet for the tenting sites was usually in disarray and the general noise level was surprising....but even with all of these unexpected speed bumps the trip was great!

Everyone was super friendly and I appreciated being able to have my 3-legged companion along for the adventure. Sites were clearly marked and easy to find, along with trails to the beach area. Lots of families with children, so if you’re looking for a place to bring your littles, this should be on your list.

This is a small state forest campground on a small bay of the larger Vermilion Lake.  There is a nice beach, group picnic shelter, docks, and an adjacent public boat landing. For folks who are looking for a quiet place to stay while on a fishing trip at Vermilion, this wold be a good location, though more rustic than a state park. There are 5 fairly open sites close to the shelter and beach where RV's and trailers could easily park, but there are no hook-ups so be prepared. There is drinking water available in several locations throughout the campground, though this is shut off by mid September. There are  latrine toilets, and garbage collection.  There are also a group of 5 tent sites located close together that would work well as a group camp area, also cloe to the beach and docks. Further back in the woods, however, at sites 12-19, there  are larger more private sites spaced much further apart and set beautifully in among shady woods. Further along the campground loop road goes up a hill with more quiet sites, and two REALLY  exceptional hike-in sites at #20 and 21.  Site # 20 is a true gem, beautiful tall pines, picnic table, fire ring and tent pad in a very secluded setting but still just a short hike from where you park your car. There is a path down the hill to the beach and dock area. Really a primo campsite if you can get it, though all the sites are First Come-First Served and not reserveable.

Bear Head Lake State Park is just south of the Boundary Waters, and shares a comparable wilderness element.  The shoreline is beautiful and very fun to explore by kayak.

Campground features: Cabin rentals, tent sites, and RV sites.  The campground is open in fall & winter. The campsites are private, well shaded, and level. Each campsite has a picnic table and fire pit. Flush toilets, hot showers, dump station, group sites, and electric are also available.

Hiking at Bear Head Lake State Park

• Bear Head Lake State Park Trail is a moderate 3.2 mile trail. This hike is a loop route. Dogs are allowed but only on leash.
• Norberg Lake Trail is a easy 1.5 mile trail. It is a trail for all skill levels and dogs are allowed but only on leash. Mostly wooded.
• Blueberry Lake Trail is a easy 4.5 mile trail. Longer than the other listed trails. It is an out and back hike that is mostly wooded. Dogs are allowed on leash.
• Becky Lake Trail is a easy 2.7 mile hike. Beck Lake is a loop hike that is mostly wooded. Dogs are allowed on leash.

Fishing at Bear Head State Park

Bass, northerns, walleye, panfish, and trout can be caught at this State Park. Many people fish from the fishing dock or shoreline. Panfish are all over the lake and most likely the first ones biting. Good walleye fishing after 6pm.

Other activities:

Boat rentals, cross country ski trail (groomed), snowshoe trails, and snowmobile trails.

Trout Lake is a small campground less than 10 minutes from Grand Rapids. We came here because we wanted to see Grand Rapids and liked that this campground was right on a lake that we could fish. The park is mostly occupied by seasonal campers who take advantage of the amazing fishing in the lake, but, there are some sites for transient RVers and tent campers. The park recently came under new management and they are working hard to improve the campground. When we were there the park was pretty full and because of our RV length they offered to let us park down near the pavilion. The site was great because it had a nice view of the lake with 30amp electric and water hook-up (there is a pump out service which costs $5/40 gallons) and we loved the privacy as the main part of the campground was a little too cramped for our taste. Unfortunately, the day after we arrived a woman with six kids drove up and set up her tent about 15 yards away from where we were camped. We complained to management because there were numerous other places they could have camped that were even more ideal than right in front of us. Finally, they moved but only another 15 or so yards. This campground actually has some really nice tent sites set right on the lake in some trees but apparently this woman wanted to be right near the pavilion. For us, it meant kids running through our campsite all day and night which kind of ruined our experience.

The campground has a swim beach which is a big attraction for kids. You can also launch a kayak or canoe there or use the concrete public boat launch right next to the campground. We spent many hours paddling the lake and had great luck catching bass and walleye. Apparently, the lake is well-known for its fishing in the area. The park was $35/night which seems a little high for what you get especially since a weekly rate is listed at $150-200. We did like that everything was on the honor system – self pay, firewood, t-shirts, etc.

This state park that may be well known to locals for its stellar beach and day-use picnic grounds, but seems to be off the beaten path and a well kept secret as a family camping destination.

I would give the beach area a five star rating, as the beach is on Sturgeon Lake which is incredibly beautiful (even on a cloudy weekend like when we were there), the beach is amazing with crystal clear water, shallow depths for kids and family swimming, great picnic spots all along the expansive shoreline, new beautiful bath house, and overall terrific accessibility for folks of all kinds, including families with young kids and folks with disabilities as there are great paved walkways and gentle access ramps everywhere. There is a public boat access onto the lake just south of the beach area on Sturgeon Lake, and also in the campground which is actually across the isthmus on adjacent Side Lake. It is worth camping here if you want a relaxing vacation with daily trips to the beach, or time out on the water of either lake for fishing and boating. There are canoe rentals avaialble if you dont have a craft of your own. There are also naturalist programs,and regular outdoor perfromances by local music ensembles too, so overall there is lots to do in a relaxing and fun outdoorsy location.

I am giving the campground itself just a 4 star rating for a couple reasons. First, there is currently a water issue--testing has found contamination in the campground wells, so there isnt potable water and you have to get drinking water from other locations in the area. The campground also seems a bit cramped, with most sites placed very close together, so you dont get a real quiet secluded experience. An exception are some of the sites at the end of the loop, such as campsite 30, where the neighbors arent so close. Also, the Group campsite, which is located in between the beach and the boat access on Sturgeon Lake, is probably the best camping option in the park, with its own indoor shelter and tent sites for groups up to 40--for your best camping experience here in the park, get a group together and go for the group site!

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!

Right on the Mississippi River, Schoolcraft State Park Campground has easy access from the river itself, so canoers have an option for tent camping, however, even the designated "canoe site" requires you to "pay to stay". Beyond that point, it was incredibly quiet and a good choice for our stay. While I was there, I tried out Boost Oxygen. I wanted to see what the hype was all about.

CAMPGROUND REVIEW:

Overall, the campground was quiet and nice. All sites are "primitive", as there are no hookups available, however, RV's are welcome to stay. They are all "pull in" sites. No showers, just outhouse style bathrooms.

We chose this campground for our first night of camping while canoeing the Mississippi River. Along the river, there are many "free" sites that are maintained by the DNR in Minnesota. This park appeared to have one of those sites, but upon closer inspection (which was not clear on the map nor at the camp itself) it appears that you must pay to stay here, even if you are canoe camping. I wish this had been made more clear all around. A lot of canoe campers don't carry wallets with them because they don't want to lose them on the river, and they make their "sleeping" choices based on the camps they can find that are free of charge. That said, it was a nice campground. Very quiet. I'm not sure it gets used very much, but it seems to be decently maintained, despite that fact. Our site, #16, was on the far side of the campground, closer to the water. It was a short walk (less than 100 yards) down to the riverside boat landing and dock, which made it easy for us to get to our things. Outhouse style bathrooms were nearby, and although they appeared to be fairly clean, there was that classic outhouse odor. There was a beautiful site right across from the bathroom (pine trees, open space for tents, really pretty), but I wouldn't stay that close to the toilets.

There was a pump style water source in the picnic area, which was separate from the campground, but still very close by.

Please note: It's very hard to find a garbage can here. There must have been one, but we never found it.

Overall, not bad, but I would choose differently if canoe camping to avoid a fee. This time of year, they wanted $15/night.

Product Review:

One of the perks of being a Ranger for The Dyrt is that I get the amazing opportunity to try out incredible products for free in exchange for an honest review. This trip, I took along a mini sized can of Boost Oxygen in Menthol-Eucalyptus.

Boost is available in two sizes: 22oz for $14.99 and 4oz for $9.99. It's strange...because it's a can of air...literally...it feels like there is nothing inside. It feels like an empty can, but I swear it's in there! There are four "fragrances": Natural (no flavor), Grapefruit, Peppermint and Menthol-Eucalyptus. They are enhanced with natural essences and have a bit of flavor, but not much. More like an essence on your tongue. There are approximately fifty "bursts" in the 4oz size, and 150 in the 22oz. They measure a burst as a "1 second inhalation". So depending on how deeply you inhale and for how long will actually determine how many times you can use the can.

People use this oxygen for many things, but it seems to have originally been promoted by athletes that needed a quick recovery. Since then, they have suggested use by those that get altitude sickness, those in need of muscle recovery, to combat fatigue, etc. You can refer to their website for full details and suggestions.

I used Boost several times in a variety of situations and here are my thoughts. Please keep in mind that I did not try it as a "professional athlete".

1. It is very portable, especially the 4oz version. It's roughly the size of a travel can of hairspray. Would fit very easily into a tote bag, purse or backpack.
2. All fragrances are very mild and subtle, but noticeable. Nothing overwhelming, so even if you chose the wrong one, the "flavor" is gone in just a few seconds. It does not linger on your tongue. It's more of an essence.
3. They say that eve though it's safe for airline travel, the TSA does NOT allow it on a plane.
4. Since I'm not a pro athlete, I didn't find the need to try it in that capacity, but I did use it in a variety of non-traditional ways and it seemed to work. You know that light-headed dizzy feeling you get after blowing up your air mattress while camping? Ya...that one. Well, I figured it was because my brain needed oxygen, so I tried out Boost and it seemed to help me out a little bit! Not sure that the company ever intended it to be used this way, but I had it with me and decided to give it a go!
5. I also tried it while feeling "tired". I was in the car and got that afternoon sleepy feeling. That one when the sunshine streams through the window and you feel like you need a nap. I inhaled a few times, and it seemed to kick-start my brain. I felt a bit more lively for about 10 minutes, so I'd use it again for that purpose.

I'm sure if you are and ultra-runner or a cross-country skier or Mt. Everest enthusiast, you may have more opportunity to test this out than I do, but in the few situations I decided to give it a whirl, it seemed to work!

Located just outside Hibbing and Chisholm, this campground is on Side Lake and Sturgeon Lake. If it is too windy on one lake, just walk across to the other one. Beautiful beach, with modern beach house and nice picnic area. The lake is shallow for quite a ways out so it’s great for water games and younger swimmers, as well as those who just just love floating around. The group campsite is beautiful. We have been Camping there now for over 10 years and it is still one of our favorite spots. Love listening to the loons at night and enjoying a campfire among the tall trees of the campground. This is also the best place that I have seen the northern lights.

To date, this is the best campsite I've ever seen. No joke.

My husband and I like to canoe, and this time, we were on the Mississippi for another adventure. That said, this one is a canoe campsite, so in order to get to this one, you have to be on the Mississippi River in Minnesota. The DNR in Minnesota has river maps (kind of like hiking maps of the major trails) that mark river miles and show where the boat ramps and access points are. It also shows the campsites that are available (most of them for FREE!) to those that choose to camp along the river. This was one of those.

Most of the time, there will be a picnic table (not always), a fire ring and a place to put a tent or hammock and usually a latrine. Sometimes a nice bench around a fire ring, and sometimes not. This one, however, in addition to other lovely amenities, had a pile of firewood in a useful "shelter" with a little roof to help keep it from the rain. There was also a peg hook with a saw! A note near the saw said "please replace what you can". I have never seen that before, but what a refreshing thing at the end of a long day of paddling! They asked that you use what you need, but also put back what you can. How lovely! This site also had a bear box...incredibly rare! It had a donation sign on the front that told who had donated it. So, in addition to an immediate fire upon arrival (which was appreciated this time because it rained very quickly after we got there), you didn't have to hang your food!

The latrine wasn't anything special, but they never really are, are they? Nothing wrong with it though. It served it's purpose and that is all I have to say about that.

There were a couple of lovely hammock trees and two good areas for tents. Except for the mosquitoes (which are to be expected in the summertime), this was the perfect site.

The only thing that was a little difficult was docking your canoe/watercraft and getting on shore. The water levels on this trip were very low (about a foot lower than normal) so it was a steep climb and we had to pull the canoe to a landing, but when you are on the water, this kind of obstacle is something that you come to expect and prepare for. So no complaints...merely and observation.

Definitely would use this site again!

Beautiful state park with a funky layout. Campsites are very pretty but sites are mostly gravel not ideal for tents more aimed at the rvs. 100-200 campsites seem better for tents over 300 sites. 100-200 have some grassy tent pads with a cool layout. Check it out!