Best Campgrounds near Fairmont, MN

Nice little park to stop at for a night on a trip. Only stayed here for a night on my way out west in 2024. Arrived a bit before dark and decided to sleep in my car rather than my tent just due to the timing and being tucked away by the river by myself. Never did figure out where a bathroom was unfortunately. There was a gas station right down the road for any conveniences you may need. There is a kayak launch right by the campsites that I would've put my inflatable into if I'd had more daylight/time here.

Not sure how larger campers would set up given the layout and how small the pads look, but there was plenty of room in front and behind the pads.

Great little park bathrooms are very clean! They are just long drop toilets though. Tried to book online as there is no in person drop box. Can only pay online. I found the site to not be very mobile friendly. Kept kicking us out of selected field. Had to call to pay for the site. They were very friendly over the phone, though there was a pretty long wait time.

Have to pay for a separate vehicle pass but that gets you access to the bison refuge and the water fall.

Was a great .6 mile hike from the campground down to the river with a great sunset view over the water.

Lovely park to camp at! There is a beach for swimming. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. Bathroom and showers are in the campground and there is wood available for purchase. Lot of day use and activity. Around 5-6PM or so, it starts to slow down as people go back to their camp or head home for dinner. The camp sites are pretty much on top of each other with no privacy whatsoever. In the off season it's not too bad as the campground is not so full. There was more "thru" traffic here than any state park I have been to. Seemed about every half hour or so someone would drive thru then leave. The trails are marked well and are maintained.

First thing to know is that you cannot pay for anything there directly... no cash, no checks, no credit cards, no tap, nothing. You need to use the Yodel app to purchase firewood and, even if there is staff present, you'll need to pay for your site on the MN State Park reservations system. What's nice is that there is no convenience charge when you are on site. This totally threw us as we are used to pulling up and paying with cash or card to a human. And, they have no wifi. So you'll have to use your phone or, like I did, use your phone as a hotspot to use your laptop/tablet.

Once that was all finally taken care of, we got to enjoy our spacious site. It was HOT, but there is a tree in the center of Site 7 that offered shade and lots of bushes and trees around that offer shade. We just had to keep moving to get it. Each site has a firepit and picnic table. Site 6 has a trail going through it on the edge while Site 7 had a trail on the other side but it was several feet from the actual site. I'm not sure it ever gets busy there, but if it did, you may have people around your site if you choose those edge sites.

This place was SO quiet! I know that also has to do with the other campers, so thank you to our fellow campers that weekend who kept it quiet. No road noise at all. There are fields nearby, so if it's plowing season I imagine it would be quite noisy and quite dusty.

At the end of September, along with the heat, there were tons of what we later learned were Asian Lady Beetles, which actually do sting. Surprise! Then when they started slowing down, here came the midges/no-see-ums. So I came away with a lot of stings. Boo! My spouse did not. So I guess they just liked me a lot.

I would totally recommend Kilen Woods SP! It was a total surprise to use as we were looking for a last minute place to camp, so that was wonderful. If you're driving along I90 in Minnesota or I26 in South Dakota and need an easy overnight, check this place out.