Best Cabin Camping near Lakefield, MN

We stayed in a Camper Cabin in this park in the wintertime.  It was a great experience for our kids and a fun winter camping experience for mom and dad.  The camper cabin was nice and warm and we even cooked our dinner over a fire at night.

Our party consisted of two adults, and three children under 12. The cabin consisted of bunk beds with double beds on bottom and twin bed on top. With our gear for four days we found the cabin had just enough room for our party. Any longer or more kids and the cabin would be too small.

The cabins are close to the lake. In early October the leaves are mostly fallen and you have an unobstructed view of the lake and surrounding hills. During the day take in the great vistas across the lake, at night look up and see stars that can only be seen in the wilderness.

The area has several good hikes of 3 - 7 miles in length. If you are looking for heavy wooded off trail hikes you can forge your own way otherwise we found the trails great for family hikes, and a morning run.

Bathrooms, and showers are clean and better than I have experienced at other state parks.

We spent three nights at the Oak Woods campground at Lake Shetek State Park in May 2022. The six non-electric campsites are along one edge of the campground, across the road from the park’s four camper cabins. All of the campsites are large and open and grassy. They lack privacy but have good spacing, tall trees, and lake views. One of the two bathroom-and-shower buildings is nearby. We were there in early May and were the only tent campers in the park at that time.

The park is lovely. We saw and heard many birds including songbirds, woodpeckers, geese, turkeys, pelicans, turkey vultures, and a nesting swan. We saw deer, squirrels, chipmunks, and a mink. We heard coyotes the first night. There are some nice hiking trails. We especially enjoyed the Loon Island loop, which is accessed by a causeway across the lake. There is an observation deck with a viewing telescope at Eastlick Marsh, which is where we saw the nesting swan and a beaver dam. In season there are recreational rentals (canoes, kayaks, etc.), but we were a little too early for them to be available.

This review is for Oak Woods Campground at Lake Shetek State Park. Drive-in Site 12.

This campground is pretty large and there are neighboring campgrounds that make the camping options plentiful in this state park!

Sites are well marked and they are all in close proximity to one another. There are little to no natural features that divide each site from the next. When this campground is full you have zero privacy, and can probably hear the conversation by the fire at the neighboring site!

Site 12 in directly across from one of the camper cabins - these little cabins are super cute! You are also probably ~1000ft from the lake shore and can clearly see the lake from the site. It’s possible that sight line becomes somewhat obstructed when other sites are occupied. Restrooms and water source are very nearby.

6/12/20-6/14/20 cart in 3

Lake Shetek State Park is located in the SW corner is Minnesota and on Lake Shetek. They have 4 campgrounds. We always up for the more private sites and stayed in the cart-in campground. There are carts available to haul your gear if you choose. The cart in sits sit up on a ridge and had some views of Lake Shetek. Our campsite (3) was spacious with a tent pad large enough to hold 2 tents and had a spot for a hammock. It had a fire ring and picnic table. The vault toilet was right across from our campsite, so we had a lot of foot traffic. It was not the most private site of the bunch, we liked 5 and 7 better.

Lake Shetek allows motor boats and there was a lot of boat traffic. There are other resorts on this lake so it’s very active. We brought our kayaks and enjoyed kayaking the lake, though there was always a pretty big wake and we stayed near the shoreline. We kayaked (a short Portage) to 2 smaller lakes that had no one on them. We were able to tie our boats to a tree below our campsite and scaled up the embankment, there was a path already there. There are a few hiking trails in the state park (roughly 4 miles of hiking tidal) but I wouldn’t say it’s known for its hiking. We enjoyed the causeway that led to the 1-mile Loon Island Trail. We saw turtles, deer, waterfowl and eagles during our stay. There is a “beach” locates near the Oak Wood campground however it was underwater, people still enjoyed swimming as it was shallow and warm in June. We did find another beach within the state park that was a longer walk to reach, but MANY boats were docked and “partying” here. There is a nice fishing pier and a dock within the park.

Due to all the boat traffic, I would say this is a much less private and serene state park.

Enjoyable Stay

We go in early in the afternoon after traveling from Madison WI.  

The KOA seemed alright but I was very disappointed in the long term/ Full time RVs parked there.  Some were alright but a couple of pretty dumping ones.  

They were not full and I can understand the reason.  

The facilities seemed to be well maintained.  The pool and playground were very nice and the sites we stayed around were fine.  It was just those few trailers that gave it that run downed feeling. If they took care of those even made them clean the area around them and wash them it  would go up a star or 2.

The internet was iffy again and I guess we will just have to live with that though I did expect more from a KOA.

That night they did have live entertainment but we did not know about it until they started to play.  It was locals I think that lived there and was like a jam session.

the park is beautiful and the lake is really nice, however the campground was essentially an open field with sites numbered along the edge. No privacy which made it tough to travel with dogs and kids were running around everywhere. Well kept but wouldn’t stay at this site again.

Spacious sites and great full hook up sites!! Tons of walking trails and pet friendly!! You’ll see lots of birds and deer... Second time here and love it!!

We where on the Oakwood Campground for few days . Its a very quiet Campground with view of the lake. AMAZING WE COME BACK 🤩🤩🤩🤩

Spent the long Labor day weekend at Shetek in cart in site 7. About a two block walk into the woods. Site 7 is lakeside, but the steep embankment makes it feel a little farther away. There is a pit toilet and water near the cart in sites, both in good working order. The flush toilets and showers are about a quarter mile farther. In very nice condition. Lots to do at the camp, nice lake for boating and plenty of ponds for kayaks and canoes and for fishing.

I camped at Lake Shetek State Park, MN many years with my two daughters. We were there for a week. Took in the park and swimming on the beach along with going to the Laura Ingels Wilder Pageant! My youngest daughter at the time was a huge fan! We even ate at Nellie's Diner!

I was up in the Oak Woods Campground. This was pretty much an open field with people crammed together. One of my neighbors sat and watched a certain cable news channel on a giant outdoor TV hooked up to their bus from 8am until 10p. I can tell you that a TV host named Tucker was very angry that night. Another "camper" had set up a giant playground, penned in areas for their multiple dogs, and had a bouncy castle set up for their daughter...that was running off of a very loud generator all day. The whole thing was lit up with string lights like it was an airport runway and gave the entire campground a carnival feel. WTF?  Unfortunately for your enjoyment, I deleted the video I took of the scene. Lucky for you, I still have a photograph of it. 

I had reserved 2 nights. I left at 6am after one pathetic night and went and stayed at a Harvest Host instead. 

Leave no trace (and set up no carnivals).

Fairly busy and not very private. Nice lake and cool trail out to the island

This is the best campground I have been to! We have about a 30 foot Ice Castle so we stayed in the Sunrise campground with full hookups. We also did a week day camp so it wasn’t too crowded. When we arrived there was a ranger walking around and helped us back into our site. There are a lot of “extra” poles to maneuver around. Crews were out emptying fire pits, mowing and spraying for mosquitoes on Monday. I don’t think any of us got bit by a mosquito our whole trip, however we did see them. There were biting black flies that got us near the lake. All of the trails were EXTREMELY well taken care of. The actual swimming beach gets flooded out easily, however there are secret beaches all over! The lake is only about 10 feet deep at its deepest point so lots of kayaking and canoeing. On the north end of the lake there is more boating and water sport activity so kayaking on that side can get a bit choppy. Shower house is very nice with good water pressure. Good cell phone coverage (Verizon) Lots of deer, raccoons and turtles roam through campground often.

Loved the open feel of the sunrise campground. Hardly any bugs, bathroom facilities were very nice, swimming was great and fishing was fun on the rocks! We made friends with other campers after our daughter crashed her bike. One was a nurse and was so kind and helpful. Ignore the red circle on the photo or campground.

Sunrise campground was very nice and well kept. We stayed over the memorial day weekend and with all the people around, it felt very spacious and comfortable. We will definitely return.