Best Campgrounds near Foldahl, MN

I'm always looking for a campsite late in the afternoon. And this one turned out to be perfect. I pulled into East Grand forks. Got out my phone and started looking, and I said oh, there's a state campground right near here. Here. Right in town in fact. I'm traveling with the dog on this trip so I'm always looking for places that I can run the dog, if possible off leash in the morning. Well, technically you're not supposed to have docs off leash here, there's plenty of space down along the river and trails that go away from the campground where the dog can have a little bit of a free exercise. Because it's October, the place is almost empty. And I got one of the no hookup sites, so it was reasonably priced.

Good: green, lots of trees, big dog park, adjacent city park and trail, cute town. Bad: hook-ups are awful—they are behind your RV spot, shared with the RV behind you; shared power pedestals so only one gets 50amp, whoever gets there first; the 20amp breaker was useless; sewer connections are 90° angle and 1/2” off ground so almost impossible to use sewer elbow and they have sewer flies; water is a pex tube coming out of the ground, shared, and had a unremovable fitting that did not allow me to connect my pressure regulator. Some sites have utilities on the COMPLETE OPPOSITE side of standard RV connections requiring two additional sewer hoses and extra power cord. Ridiculous.

We followed the instructions on the confirmation email across the bridge from Grand Forks to East Grand Forks, MN to check into the campground (CG). After going through the Avenue of Flags and near the Blue Moose Bar& Grill there’s RV parking in front of the little check-in cabin. Check-in was easy and as disabled veterans, we got a free Minnesota State Park Vehicle Pass. We then proceeded to the Sherlock CG, which is the camping area and site 106E. Site 106E is a long pull through with FHUs. Pulling in was super easy and utilities are placed in the middle of the long pad. The utilities worked great with water pressure at about 50 psi. We got two bars on Verizon. There are trees in and around the sites, but we were able to get a clear north shot for Starlink. The sites in our area were well spaced apart, which we really liked. We were on the back row where the cement walking/bike trail is located far enough away that you still have privacy. There are a lot of sites in this CG mostly pull throughs but there are back-ins. They are serious about the vehicle permits and you cannot just lay the pass on your dashboard. It must be adhered to the windshield. We went to the office to clear our ticket, which didn’t cost us anything as we were prompt to respond. The office also has t-shirts, which we purchased. There was not a formal dog park, but plenty of areas to walk. Red River is one of the better CGs we have stayed at in our 5 years of“Most Timing.”

If you're like me and hate camping 10 feet from a million campers in a crowded campground, then this island site is for YOU! The campsite itself is a double occupancy. We had 4 adults and 5 kids and had plenty of space for two big tents and all our stuff. The canoeing is a quick 15 minute paddle from the lakeside campground on the far east side of the lake. (I wanna respect everyone's ability to paddle a canoe, but this is a level 1/easy peazy/if my 9 year old can do it then so can you kind of paddle.)

The island is filled with tons of old oak trees and has plenty of space to string up a hammock or two in the shade. The tent pads aren't the most level, but they aren't the worst I've pitched on either. The dock is nice and low so getting in and out with your gear is a breeze. We camped over the 4th of July and even with the busy holiday boat traffic still felt pretty secluded, especially at night. The vaulted toilet was nice to have on the island too. We had to canoe in our water in portable jugs, but that's how we usually camp.

It would have been nice to have a food locker of some sort in the campsite as both nights we stayed we had a big old fat raccoon in the campsite trying to get into our food. We ended up putting our totes with all the food/garbage wedged under the bench of the picnic tables in order to keep them out. Still didn't stop them from dragging a cooler of ours into the woods one night. (Darn trash pandas.)

The only reason this didn't get 5 stars is because the area around the island is all weeds and muck. You'll have to paddle west into the big part of the lake (10 minutes) and dock your canoe next to the swimming beach if you want a muck and weed-free swimming experience.