Best Cabin Camping near Glenwood, MN

I stayed here with a few friends in the winter when the park was doing their lantern-lit snowshoe trail. They have 1 site (electric) available in the winter. We had room for a truck bed camper and a pop-up clam ice fishing tent. A couple and their 2 dogs stayed in the truck camper and me and another friend stayed in the clam with an electric space heater going in addition to our 0 degree bags. It stayed pretty cozy! Fire ring and picnic table at the site. I believe the bathrooms and showers were closed for the season but cannot recall. Firewood is available at the office.

Woah love this park! Has so many things to do.

• Went on the hiking club trail around Annie Battle Lake, most of it is even paved for biking or groomed for skiing.

• The yurt and watercraft sites are secluded and so awesome with great views, right on the lake, firewood and water back there available specifically for that area... so cool.

• The cart in sites and camper cabins are in a little old growth forest area right on the lake up in a little hill area. Spaced out quite well, all have views of lake (even though on a hill so for swimming/boating access you gotta go to appropriate spots). What a site for camping!

• Very clear and calm lakes, sandy, and the little creeks/rivers betwixt them are just begging to be canoed or kayaked.

• Great swimming areas and picnic tables and fire pits everywhere. Vast views and also pretty wooded areas.

• Shower and rest rooms very modern by the trail center.

All in all so cool that they kept it so rustic has a cool history! Big views and wooded views which I love. Various walks, streams and lakes. Campground is the real deal and good for anyone who wants a wilderness experience without actually backpacking! Great for kids, for sure!

Amenities I remember when we had a seasonal spot here: cabins with beautiful lake view, boathouse lodge and game room, sunbathing dock on the water, large picnic grounds, sand-filled playground, paddleboard &kayak rentals, boat ramp and launching service, boat & pontoon rental, boatlifts, gas, oil, tackle and live bait, screened-in fish cleaning house, sand volleyball, mini golf, laundry.

The nearby town of Osakis has convenience stores, grocery, liquor stores, gas, bars and restaurants, etc. Lake osakis is usually pretty good for fishing.

What a privilege it was to spend a night here! I had been out of town and away from home the previous week, and decided I would stop here on the long drive home in order to break up my trip. It wasnt just goid stopover, but a great retreat to restore body, mind and spirit. This listing for the Creekwood Cabin is a new listing on the“Hipcamp” website, which is like Airbnb for campgrounds, campsites, camper cabins, etc, that are located on private properties like farms and vineyards. The Theisens, Todd and Sarah, are the stewards of a beautiful farm focused on organic, sustainable and restorative land practices on acreage that is a mix of prairie, forest, wetlands, and rolling hills. They have free range cows, pigs and chickens who roam the farm freely and who are pretty happy campers themselves, it seems! The Theisens also have a traditional woodcraft and wood products business using sustainable harvest of hardwoods on their land, turning downed trees into planks for hardwood floors, wall panelling, countertops and other home woodwork for area homes. Currently in production when I was there were several outhouses to be uses at the campsites they are setting up in various wooded groves on their farm, and in the works are the production if several tiny homes that will serve as camper cabins on their farm. Any tree wood not used in their products is chipped and used as woods for the miles of walking trails they are setting up over hill and dale on the property, and for sawdust for their composting toilets for their guest facilities. As of yet, the tent campsites and tiny house camper cabins are still being constructed and are a“work in progress”, but given what I saw will be really wonderful when finished. I had the opportunity to stay in their recently opened Creek Wood Cabin, which is an amazing showcase of both their hospitality and their best woodwork artisanry. This cabin is set in a shady grove of mature trees on a hill overlooking a peaceful pond and marsh. I was serenaded all night by frogs and owls and more. The cabin is constructed with all local materials, including of course woodwork from their own trees. The cabin has a full working kitchen including microwave, stove, fridge and sink, so you can bring all you need for your own meal prep. There is one open bedroom with a comfy double bed on the main floor, and two more double beds in the sunny loft above. The sitting area is complete with two rocking chairs and a library of amazing books related to sustainable living, simplicity, camping, and various topics to restore the spirit. There are large sunny windows on all walls which makes the cabin sunny and cheerful and makes the interior woodwork glow with warmth. There is a wood stove and a well stocked wood box, but there is also electric baseboard heat. There is running water with an on-demand water heater, but the toilet is an efficient low impact composting toilet so be prepared to flush with sawdust instead if water when using the facilities! Next to the cabin is a heavenly sauna that is set up for either dry or steam saunas. I loved having a sauna before bedtime and sleeping soundly til the rooster crowed at sunrise. When I had arrived the night before, Todd took me out in his RTV to tour the whole farm to see all the animals and the farming and woodworking operations, and also showed me all the trails I could go on. So, when the rooster called me forth the next morning I knew just where to go for my morning walk. When I returned, I reD for a while and journaled for a while til Sarah showed up at the cabin door with a basket containing my piping hot breakfast complete with fresh scrambled eggs from their henhouse. After breakfast, I visited the cows and their calves in their peaceful meadow, including one calf who was pals with the Bernese mountain dogs of the farm and preferred to frolick with the dogs rather than the other calves! Then more resting, writing and relaxing in the cozy cabin before continuing in my way. I would have to recommend this cabin stay as one if the loveliest I have experienced, and I know I will be back for more! In summer, guests would enjoy being in the farm itself and learning all the Theisens can share able simple low impact living and sustainable farming and restorative land management. If staying here you could also visit like-minded facilities like the organic gardens or art studios of the nearby College of St Benedict, or the solar farm or Arboretum and restored prairie at nearby St Johns University. St Johns and St Bens also have myriad hiking trails and places for meditation both indoors and out. Guests of the cabin can easily access both campuses just minutes away by car or bike, with additional biking further afield on the nearby Lake Woebegone state bike trail. During the school year there are myriad cultural activities on both campuses that cabin guests could take advantage of, and a winter time stay would also be lovely with the chance for snowshoeing or cross country skiing on the farm itself or in the area, as well as the chance to just rest, read, write and restore in the peace and quiet and coziness if the cabin. It would be the kind of retreat that Thoreau himself would heartily recommend, but Thoreau never had it this good in his own cabin! Come check it out for yourself, or come for the tent camping or tiny house experience as soon as those options are ready!

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.

General: RV style camping on Pomme de Terre Lake and Kenny Lake. Many sites are lakefront or have a view of the lake. We were one of the few (if not only) non-seasonal campers at this campground. 

Site Quality: Our site was located directly behind the store/office but had a view of the lake. Parking was on grass. The site was level and had an electric hookup. A wooden picnic table (in good shape) and a fire ring complete the site. When I called to make a reservation, I asked for a non-electric site but was told the primitive sites are far from the restrooms. I’m glad we settled on an electric site as the primitive ones, besides the distance from the restrooms, would also only be suitable for tents. 

Bath/Shower house: Reasonably clean but I’ve seen better. Two showers, two toilets, and one sink. The shower had hot water and good flow, but it was cramped with little room to get dressed (plus the showers are located right inside the door, impeding privacy. 

Activities: All the activities you would associate with lakefront camping. None of these applied to us but it was a good overnight location for passing through. Several speed boats zoomed by on the lake, and I imagine that on a summer weekend, the boat traffic would be much increased. There is a fish cleaning station. There are nice docks with benches to enjoy the view of the lake/sunset. 

This campground is not our preferred type of camping – no privacy between sites but on a weekday toward the end of August, it was very quiet (but still HOT). We appreciate that we were assigned a lakeview site as not all of them are.

Leap Day 2/29/20-3/1/20 Frog Pond

We headed to Lake Carlos for their candlelight ski, this was our first visit to this state park. Tent camping wasn’t available and we were able to reserve a camper cabin - Frog Pond. It was a nice change and a warmer option, the cabin is gorgeous! Frog Pond sleeps 6 with heat and electricity. There are 4 cabins that share 2 vault toilets.

It was a beautiful 38 degree Leap Day and we took advantage of it. They offer a large number of ski trails so we xcountry skied before dark. The trails were icy, but still enjoyable. At dark we headed to the candlelight event. It was very busy and a huge turnout. We hiked 1.2 miles and then snowshoed 2.4 miles. There are ponds and bogs that they create snowshoe trails on, so there are even more trails to explore in the winter. It was a beautiful night and we enjoyed the wooded trails and starry skies. We had a fire and enjoyed a normal outdoor cookout before bed.

We did more skiing on Sunday and checked out the 2 campgrounds as they were on the ski route. One campground is on Lake Carlos and very open. Sites have beautiful lake views. You can apparently drive your boat right into a sandy shore and dock it. They also have a swimming beach. The other campground is a bit more wooded and more suited for tents. This campground is near the camper cabins. The trails are very wooded and pretty. We enjoyed skiing the hiking club trail and ended up hitting almost every trail in our stay. I assume this park would be equally beautiful in the summer. What a beautiful state park!