Best Cabin Camping near Frontenac, MN

This is one of my favorite campgrounds in Southern Minnesota! It is only 1 1/2 hours away from the TwinCities which makes it an ideal getaway. The campsites are wooded and have enough distance between them that noise is minimal. I especially love the view of Lake Pepin and the nice little swimming beach. On our last stay, we were able to watch eagles from our campsite, which was amazing. They have recently added 3 small cabins to rent which would be a nice alternative to tent camping. If you do plan a camping trip to Hok-Si-La and you're driving in from the Twin Cities, be sure to take Wisconsin Highway 35 through Maiden Rock, Stockholm, Pepin, and other small towns. You can loop back into Minnesota through Wabasha. This adds about an extra half hour to your drive but it is definitely worth it!

Each cabin has four sleeping spots: 2 bunk beds, and the 2 couches convert to beds. There's a heater inside, but no AC, which makes these the most suitable during the spring and fall.

There is a fire ring outside of each cabin, along with a table. No cooking is allowed inside the cabins, which can make things rough if the weather isn't cooperating. 

We enjoy hiking around the trails, but we primarily go to decompress, lounge around, and play games, read, etc. There's WiFi available, but depending on which cabin you reserve signal will be took weak for real usage. Same for mobile data -- don't plan on cell service here.

The bathroom facilities are nice. Outside water is shut off during some parts of the year, so bring your own drinking water if you are camping close to/during winter.

Cabins are accessible for those who need special assistance, which is nice. The only caveat is I don't recall there being an automatic door opener to the cabins.

While the cabins are close together, noise is not a factor once you're inside. 

It's difficult to get reservations, so I recommend trying to start booking 120 days in advance, which is the farthest out you can reserve. For example, as of this review (early June), all weekends are booked for all cabins.

Camper Cabin (Eastern Bluebird)🏡🐦

Perfect little cabin nestled in the southern half of the park! Screened in porch, heated with electricity, and two double bunk beds!

Aefintyr has it all!

A beautiful cabin, hike-in glamping or bring your own gear.

I was able to stay in the cabin for a couple nights with two friends. The cabin was cozy even during winter. The space was perfect for us. 

I also brought my own gear and camped up on the bluff. It was so fun to socialize in the shared space around the fire and play games. 

If you are up in the bluff, be sure to wear good shoes for the hike up. 

I love that each site has it's own fire pit with fire wood.

The Whitewater area is so beautiful, I enjoy hiking in the area.

Looking forward to going back!

I enjoy this park year round whether it be staying in the group cabins during the colder months (an incredibly fun stay with snow), or day hiking in the meadows or up the ridge in the summer. Never camped in the campground but I've heard good things. My father and I go flyfishing here in the summer and he has a great time. He thinks they have some of the best spots near Minneapolis.

Such a quaint town and park!

We spent one night here and booked it for our wedding venue as well! The lake view was spectacular and the park manager, Joanne was so humble! Joanne lives on the grounds so it made for easy access to any answers we needed while camping. We were looking for an outdoor space surrounded by tall trees for our 2020 ceremony and this site hit the sweet spot! There are a number of grassy campsites as well as dirt sites. Bunk cabins are available as well! We stayed right on the edge of the lake and absolutely loved it. So serene!🙌🏾May is the perfect time to go if you’re looking for some peace and quiet away from other campers. This campsite also doesn’t allow cars or generators on any of the camping spots, so be sure to keep that in mind!

Can’t wait to go back!

We stayed on one of the group sites, G6 on the Tour De Pepin weekend. The campground was very full that weekend but the group sites are spacious and well spaced out, (if you can I would recommend G4 or G5 right on the lake for group sites) you definitely don't feel like you are on top of each other or another group. Near the group sites there is also a set of vault toilets.

The campground is very green and luscious, full of beautiful trees, plants and wildlife, we heard bullfrogs, owls, woodpeckers and more (there are also train tracks near by so a couple trains too). This campground is a tent only campground with a couple cabins as well, which adds to it's secluded feel.

There is great lake access for swimming and a shower houses (bring your quarters though, showers cost 50 cents for 3 minutes). The only down side is that you cannot leave any cars near your campsite, you can drive in to drop off or pick up your gear but otherwise vehicles are parked in the main parking lot outside of the gate, which is not a big deal but from the group sites it is a trek to the lot and to the beach.

I would definitely stay here again, the lake is incredible.

We had a reservation on the North Shore, but switched it to Whitewater when we saw the ice and snowstorms in the forecast.

Our site was large and easy to back into, all sites have a picnic table and fire ring. We had no cell service at our site, but 2 bars plus WIFI outside the visitor center. A water spigot was there, too, since the water and bathhouse are off/closed for the winter season. Firewood is available for $8 per bundle, you can pay by QR code if you have enough service. Or you can grab wood and pay in person at the other end of the park - a small shop is there near picnic areas and trailheads.

The wood was small pieces of mill offcuts, but it burned better that we expected, enough to warm up and to cook. It started drizzling, so we didn’t sit out by an evening fire. We think our bundle was oak. In any case, it was good, dry hardwood. It exceeded our first disappointing impression.

We had great weather our first day and saw few other people on the trails. It got colder and rainy and most of the campers left.

Overall, this was a great spot to get away into the fresh air. We’ll be back another time for fishing.

2/22/20-2/23/20. BP11

Less than an hour from the cities, this is a perfect little camping getaway. If you are looking for a nice backpacking experience, Afton has this and more. We pulled a sled and hiked 1.4 miles to our campsite. The hike was very challenging and uphill. The campsites are nicely spaced and diverse. Some are more wooded and others in the open prairie. We selected campsite 11 as it had some nice trees and was down a ridge, very private. There is a vault toilet, solar well water (year-round) and a wood pile available right at the campground (pay later) - these amenities were closest to campsite 10 and 11.

The state park is gorgeous. There are rolling hills throughout and some of the hikes can be deemed as “difficult”. We opted to get off the beaten trail and snowshoed in the woods, following deer tracks. This is one nice thing about winter hikes as you are allowed to leave the trail. We went up and down ravines and got in a beautiful hike and workout. They offer xcountry skiing, snowshoeing and hiking in the winter. We hiked 19 miles in 2 days.

We camped here 2 years ago in the spring and really enjoyed campsite 1 and 2. They are wooded and private. Campsite 2 has a few great hammock spots. We snowshoed around and really enjoyed campsite 18 as well, as it overlooks the river. They also have a beach and swimming in the summer on the St Croix. Afton really has it all. I HIGHLY recommend this state park.

GGreat campground! Awesome hiking, nice swimming beach. Big nature store with lots of great stuff. Lots of spots for great fishing.

Best part: very few mosquitoes!! (The cold, constantly moving water helps keep them away.)

One of my favorite parks in the state of Minnesota.

Whitewater is by far one of the top state parks in Minnesota. Their camping facilities are clean with running water and free showers. The campsites are quite spacious but not too wooded. They have a few walk in sites but they go fast.

The best part about whitewater are the trails and views. It is located in a carved glacier valley and is surrounded by limestone. I recommend moderate to experienced hikers due to the intense climb to get to the popular views. It’s worth the visit!

About the park Whitewater State Park is a much sought-after place to camp for those that know about this region’s#1 feature- MINIMAL MOSQUITOES. I won’t say zero mosquitoes because there might be one or two that wander in there, but we did not encounter a single one on our overnight stay there. We kept on exclaiming how weird to not hear and contribute to the camping soundtrack of bugs getting slapped. Basically what you need to know is that the last set of glaciers missed this region, which left behind limestone that absorbs rainwater quickly- and since mosquitoes breed in warm shallow water they don’t really have a lot of opportunities to do so in this region.

This region also has many more bluffs and valleys than the rest of Minnesota- this is also the result of a lack of glacier activity during the last glacial era that filled the flat parts of our state with“drift” sediment. What this means is that a lot of the hikes have a lot of elevation gain. We hiked to Inspiration Point from the Cedar Hill campground- if you do this I would not recommend taking the staircase that you encounter way before the picnic area parking lot UNLESS you really like having to climb over things.

The trail also comes across Chimney Rock- if you are hiking on a hot day you might as well give yourself a few minutes to cool down by climbing into the rock- it is much cooler and there is often a breeze that is funnelled through it. If you aren’t terribly afraid of heights you should definitely keep going to Inspiration Point! In order to get back down the trail quickly you can go down the staircase that is visible from the last part of the trail to the point- you can also completely bypass all the strenuous hiking if you would rather just take this(relatively strenuous) staircase up to the point, look around, then go back down.

A river runs through the park that plenty of people were wading in and there is a swimming hole that we didn’t participate in. I have Verizon cell service and I did not have reception- I think people who have AT&T did though. The visitor center does have free wifi and a free phone to use outside the building.

About the campground Much of Cedar Hill campground is for both tents and RVs, if you don’t need an electric site then the BEST spots are along the river. I specifically liked 66, 67, and 69. Some of them had foot paths down to the river, some didn’t, but either way you get to hear the water and the sites are quite spacious. We wound up staying in site 37 which has electricity(perk of this is being able to make macaroni and cheese in an instant pot!). One thing I hadn’t considered is that 74 cuts through the park, and we were pretty close to it so at a few times there was definite car noise. It wasn’t nearly as bad as camping along the north shore though when your site is squished between Lake Superior and Hwy 61 and you hear fast traffic all. day. long.

If you are camping on the weekend expect the campground to be quite full- we camped on a Sunday night and while the majority of the neighboring sites were occupied by RVs, the campground wasn’t even halfway occupied. Most of the sites had enough tree cover to be considered private. One weird thing is that a few of the sites are kind of like adjoining suites with tiny clearings between them- it was kind of startling to look up and see two people taking a shortcut(not really though!!) through our clearly occupied site to get to theirs. Weird.

One of the negative aspects about this park is that the bathroom facilities in cedar hill haven't been updated in ages, so they are finally getting updated in 2020 so this campground is closed for the season.  The newer campground is open, but I don't like it as well since there isn't much privacy or shade.

This campground is a bit more spendy than state parks and regional campgrounds, but the security and family friendly atmosphere make it worth the extra cash. Stay in the N sites, they are a little more private, and a few offer great views of Lake Pepin. N1 is a prime site. If you’re staying with friends or have a large family, the group sites G0 and G2 offer views and lots of space for multiple tents. We’ve stayed here with a group of about 20 people with plenty of room.

The sites are semi-walk-in sites, where your car stays in the main parking lot, but they do allow for drive-up loading and unloading, so don’t feel like you need to pack extra light. It limits traffic driving through the campground, and is really nice to not have vehicles driving through at all hours.

Overall, I highly recommend.

This is a great site a few hours outside of Minneapolis where 2 of my closest friends hosted their wedding. The campsite is really beautiful with lots of great walking paths and a beach area where you can swim in the river. Make sure to reserve one of the large campsites along the water as you will get a spectacular sunset view and there are some great trees for hammocks. The sites have benches and fire pits and are large enough for a good sized group. There is also plenty of parking at each of the sites and they are fairly private.

If you are looking for a place to host a wedding I also highly recommend this location as it is so magical and already has a chapel space.

Great group campsites that allow you to have privacy and a great time.

Close to Minneapolis and beautiful scenery of Lake Peppin.

This is my favorite place. Been going here since I was single and wild, and now married and boring. It is great to have a fun time with or without kids. The group sites are spacious and the cleanest outhouses I have ever seen.

Relaxing.