Best RV Parks & Resorts near Fort Ripley, MN

This is a quiet and fairly small but impeccably maintained campground located near the town of Long Prairie. It would be a nice family friendly destination for an easy lical get away. There are weekly, monthly and seasonal site rentals with RV hookups, plus they do have a fully furnished on-site RV available to rent for those who dont have their own. The owners clearly take pride in maintaining the campground and in building a friendly camp community for families

I am not an RV camper, but thought I would visit as I was passing by and this campground had no reviews yet. For RV camping, this spot is very nice, very upscale for an RV park, and rental of a camp site not only comes with full electric water and sewage hookups but also a slip at the marina. The grounds are immaculate, and the setting on Gull Lake and near Love Lake is very pretty and will appeal to fishermen and boaters fir sure. The only downside is that there is no daily or weekly rental possibility, only monthly or seasonal. The monthly rate is 2500$ for one month, but the seasonal rate for five months (May to October) is 5500$ inclusive. If you hsve you own RV and boat and want to park them for the summer season and go back and forth between home and “The Lake”, this seems like a reasonable option as the price is right and the campground is nice. I am giving it a 4 star rating rather than 5 because of the lack of short term camping options, and also it doesnt seem family friendly in terms of amenities like playgrounds, but I think adults would really enjoy it!

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.

It's been a couple of years since we stayed here.  It was nice and we had a fun time.  Concrete pads was a nice touch.  The pool was small but ok.  It was a recently developed RV park when we stayed so it was still being developed.  Biggest negative is that the utility hookups are designed for a Class A Motorhome so for my trailer, they were on the wrong side.  Had to get a longer water hose and extension for sewer line....NOT IDEAL.  

The park isn't far from the bike trail so that was the biggest plus for us.

Stayed in Petaga (drive in) spot #52. The spots were pretty private - the surrounding campsites were definitely visible through the trees, but there was plenty of distance so you weren't overhearing everyone's conversations or anything. The site was very roomy! It was a short walk to the bathrooms, water was nearby. The paths to the overlooks on the Rum River were close as well. The inner campsites are RV hookup sites, and the sound definitely carried when someone came later at night to set up their RV. We lucked out with great weather, and bugs were not bad (some mosquitoes but not overwhelming). Campsites have easy access to the trails that connect to the west interpretive center. Some things were closed due to COVID (including the fire tower), but bathrooms were open. No boat rentals right now either, but the river looked like a great, calm spot to kayak.

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”!

This was a cute place and it was clean and nice. There are no designated tent spaces or directions as to where to set up your tent. That was confusing. I just ended up parking it by one of the shelters. Overall it was a great day and it was mostly quiet. The other RVr’s were quiet, you could only hear a little bit of rumbling from the nearby highway. The bathrooms were nice with all things considered. There were two bathrooms and one shower stall. The price is no longer $10 for tent camping, it is now $15. Full hook ups was $30 now.

This is an excellent campground for tent (or van/truck) sites and mountain biking. Sites are gorgeous and secluded, a bike trail heads off from camp, there's showers, a sauna, and a lake. Wonderful vibe, not an RV park (although there are 3 or 4 RV sites), more similar to a national forest campground. One of the best private parks we've stayed at.

No lake but a pool. More like an RV Park although they do have rustic sites. Nice facilities including 2 bathroom facilities, playground, volleyball court, dog walking area, baseball field, a lodge with games and a store, and a hall where they hold bingo and other events. Chris is super helpful and will do just about anything to help you! We’ve been going here for over 20years.

This is one campground in Minnesota that offers a handful of electric hookups for winter camping. The beauty of this campground, is that while the campsites available are in a row, there's plenty of space between sites and some of them are even pulled through. Making it easy for RVs to pull in and hook up.

The vault toilet is not easy to find from where the electric openings are in the winter. While these spaces are right next door to a shower house with toilets, this is closed in the winter. The vault toilet is several rows over and down, making it hard to find if you don't already know where it is. But it was clean, and it was available.

The campfire rings seemed clean, and each had a picnic table as well. We loved the pull-through site because then we were a little more protected from the road, although it's not busy this time of year at all. So it was very quiet except for our neighbors, and they didn't make much noise at all.

There are trails nearby that are easily accessible on foot from the campground, and you can make loops that come back to the campground as well.

There are two campgrounds at this park, but this is the one that has availability in the winter time. Ironically, they also have a couple of walk-in spots that are also open this time of year. If you're willing to brave the temps without an electric hookup. Not hard to find, not hard to access, but no electric hookups at these sites.

We stayed at Chlebecek’s Riverview RV Park for 4 nights in July. It is a smaller campground. Most of the units are set up “permanently” for the season. People are friendly and the facilities are clean and well cared for overall. There is recycling/garbage readily available to use as well as a dump station. The only drawback is that, despite the name, it is not on a river. It is near a small creek/tributary to the Pine River. The creek is only a few feet wide and runs through a bunch of reeds. A bridge crosses over the reeds and creek to get to the office for the campground. We used this campground as a place to sleep and eat but spent most of our days out exploring the area. Pine River itself is small but has a nice park on Pine River with a small beach area and playground. There are also docks there for fishing and we took out kayaks there and could leave and return from the same place. You do need to call for a reservation and leave your credit card number to hold your site. At this time it is not possible to book online or by email.

Right on the lake with private dock. Sites a close by. Most have water and electric. Full hookups are very limited. Only 4 site near the back. Off of a quiet road. No traffic noise. Lake is clean but dark with ore. Loons frequent. Turtle lake channels over to another lake. Makes a great boat or kayak trip. Boat kayak paddle board and paddle boat rentals available.

End of October, Stopped for just one night, probably about a 20ish minute drive from 94. Was able to purchase firewood after closing, and the campsite were easy to find after (7$)entry to the park. Campsites are reserved through an online system. We found the top campsite completely empty and plenty of sites had good tree coverage for privacy/ way no protection. Nice level sites with soft ground. Each site had a fire ring and picnic table. The only bathroom in walking distance to the upper campsites was a vault toilet located amongst the cabins. Seems like a great place to stay any season.

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.

Great rustic campground with trail access to Cuyuna MTB trails. Offers hot showers. No water/electric hookups. A couple sites allow for smaller RVs and pop-ups but mainly tent sites.

For someone who likes to do it all Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area is the place to be!!!

From Rv Camping and tent camping to amazing secluded Yurts on a trout pond there are more than enough options to camp and stay.

The campground itself isn’t anything to rave about, and is mostly open and pretty close together but the yurts, those are a different story!

The yurts are set on a beautiful only mine pit that is stocked with all kinds of trout. The have a wood burning stove, bunk beds, table, chairs, bear locker, fire ring and picnic table. There is a pergola style shelter with a full roof for outdoor cooking.

The view of the trout pond is absolutely stunning and fishing isn’t bad either if you know how to fish trout. There is a shop in town that will deliver kayaks and pick them up when you are done for a small fee, like 50$ for the day?

The old mine pits around and in the park are pristine and literally crystal clear! You can see hundreds of feet down through crystal clear water making it an amazing place to canoe and kayak.

If you are into mountain biking, this is definitely the park for you! Some of the best mountain biking red dirt trails are located in this recreation area! Shops in town rent bikes too! The views from the trails are breathtaking!

Overall, one of my favorite places to hike, bike, camp and, paddle!