Best RV Parks & Resorts near Hillside Terrace Homes, MN

The designers of this park have clearly never spent a night in an RV. This place pushes all of my buttons for things not to do when building an RV park.

Virtually every site in the park is a blind back in from the driver seat. You’re trying to back your trailer into a site on the right side without being able to see anything over there. Additionally, the site number pedestals for each site are right against the corner of the driveway where you have to back around them without being able to see them. Number pedestals for all sites are also right against the road, limiting the amount that you can swing your tow vehicle to the opposite side of the road to back into the site.  I will guarantee that not one person on the design team has ever backed, a travel trailer or fifth wheel into an RV site. The owners should have checked the credentials of the designers they hired. If they did, they were lied to. If they didn’t, then they just didn’t care about their customers. 

Finally, one of my all-time favorites, all of the sewer connections are cut off about 12 inches above the ground. This means that even in a relatively tall fifth wheel, you are going to be trying to make shit filled water flow uphill. These things need to be cut off just an inch or two above the ground level  so that your sewage can flow downhill. 

If you were here to spend an evening gambling at the casino, the place is roomy and well maintained. If you just want to spend the night, and not spend half of it trying to get into your site and set up, there’s got to be someplace close that would be better to go. We won’t be back.

We stopped here on our way to north Minnesota. Originally we planned 2 days but really needed to rest so extended it to 4 days. It was a little hairy getting to, the 2 lane winding road with the raging river on one side did slow us down a bit.  The Rangers were friendly and accommodating. The park had taken quite a beating with the winter storm that had been there the previous week, a lot of sites were closed due to trees down and snow.  While we were there they were actively cleaning up, but left in the afternoon so we had no disturbances from saws or equipment noise. The water was not turned on yet for the season, so the bathroom/showers and dump station were not available.  There was a potable water source at the front of our loop to fill our fresh tank and our water storage cubes.  The sites were shaded well, and easy to back into.  We had to work a bit to get our camper level but that may have been due to the snow and water that was on the site so we figured it was par for the course.  We walked to the Welcome Center and the swinging bridge, there were multiple hiking trails accessible by the camping area.  It was relatively busy on the weekend but cleared out during the week.  We had lots of wildlife visitors.  The park is pet friendly.  We found affordable propane and a dump site closer to Duluth.

I love Jay Cooke year round! The tent camping is great, the park is amazing for hiking and geology study, and there are camper cabins that I have often stayed at as well. This was my first time staying in winter, the camper cabins are cozy and fully heated and really nice. People use them when coming here in winter for the terrific cross country skiing or snowshoeing. The cabins are very simple and have beds, table, heat, and electricity, but no water inside (water punps are nearby, so bring a bucket ir canteen) and no bathroom (but you can use the outhouse nearby, and the campground will have a new bath house by early summer, it is inder construction and almost finished!) . You can use the facilities at the visitor center during the day but they arent open in the evening and are a bit of a trek from the campground. But, it you want to camp in warmth and relative comfort, and want to explire this amazing state park, the camper cabins are a great way to go year round! You can reserve campsites too if you have an RV or dont mind winter camping

This this is an amazing Campground for the family it's a wonderful County Park with really cheap sites ranging from $15 for just water hookups to $18 for a site with electric and water they have bath houses by the campsites with flushing toilets and hot showers the Rangers are extremely friendly and always willing to deliver wood to your site further down the campground they have a community stage with local bands playing all throughout the summer some events free some a minor charge most of the time you can sit right at your site and listen to the band if you forgot some food take a nice hike through the woods to the grocery store along with easy access for the lake which is beautiful! For swimming watersports and fishing with an amazing Sandy Beach and an ice cream shop just across the highway in walking distance there's no better place to bring the family also pet friendly

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”!

Although we didn't actually stay at this campground, we drove through and I thought I'd give it a review based on my impressions. Had we known it was here, we might have actually booked a night.

It's not a giant campground, but there was enough space this time of year to accommodate any passerby. each campsite appeared to have a fire ring with a great for grilling, a picnic table, and space for a camper or a tent. There was no electric, but it looked like you could park a small RV or pop-up camper without a problem. There are no showers, but they do have vault toilets. And very close by, there's some beautiful hiking trails! One of them you cross has a very old bridge that is just gorgeous! It's a wooden bridge with a very unique suspension that crosses over the water that creates Amnicon Falls. This time of year, after all the rain, it was flowing like mad and beautiful!

Since I didn't stay, I can't speak for the noise level in the campground. But since we were traveling in October, there wasn't a campground we stayed in that seem to be full of people. Most everything was quiet this time of year.

side note, you do need a park pass in order to stay at the campground. So in addition to the camping fee, you need a park sticker that's available at a self-serve machine when you come in. Out of state residents paid $11 for the park sticker, and $20 for a campsite. In-state residents paid $15 for the campground and I'm not certain how much for a sticker. it did not, however, seem that camping fees went up much past $25, even in the peak of the summer. They are open all year round, but it's still $15 to $20 in the winter time.

I enjoyed my urban camping experience at this "campground". You get a double-width parking spot, which is room enough for a trailer and tow vehicle. Each site has a picnic table. There are two groups of sites, the front row and the back row. The front row has better views, and have electric and water hookups. The back row has full hookups.

The bathroom and shower is part of a hotel which is on the property, and were extremely clean. There are laundry facilities, which worked great and only cost $3 each. 

The owners are friendly and will enforce quiet hours if asked.

I had excellent 5G Verizon and T-mobile signals here.

The main selling point of this campground is the close proximity to the Canal Park area, which has restaurants and shops, as well as the Lakewalk which is a wide, well kept trail that runs along the lake. It's about a 15 minute walk to the Canal Park area. You'll need to cross the lift bridge to get there, which is fun in itself but sometimes you'll need to wait for the bridge to return to operation after letting a ship pass underneath.

There is a great marine museum in the Canal Park area, and the Great Lakes Aquarium is about 15 minutes further past Canal Park. Downtown is also accessible, probably a 20 minute walk from Canal Park. There are many ramps & stairs linking the Lakewalk to Downtown.

The urban trails around this area are really great. Plenty of room for walkers and bicyclists.