Best Glamping near Minneota, MN

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.

There are two campgrounds in this park - the upper one is on the prairie while the lower one is situated among trees along the river. We stayed in the lower campground in site 30. The lower campground is close to the playground and swimming pond but it rained the whole time we camped so we didn't use either.

Sites in the lower campground are fairly close together and we didn't have cell service (Verizon), which wasn't a big deal.

I brought my fat bike and bike the Bluebird and Dakota Valley trails. Both are mowed paths that go through prairie and wooded areas. The actual mountain bike trail was disappointing, it was overgrown, narrow, and hugged a high ridge.

Our site, 30, sloped away from the parking pad. You wouldn't be able to set up.chairs under your awning at this site and the picnic table sat in a low spot that got muddy after 2 straight days of rain. There is a river that runs behind the sites in this loop. Our boys played on the rocks and had a great time.

There are nearby train tracks and trains ran by several times a day, though luckily they don't blow the horn so we didn't notice them much.

I had a love/hate with this campground. They have a great website with pics & details of each . It was super easy to use & reservations were a breeze. The site looked absolutely nothing like the pics ! They also mention water but this site had none. We found that out AFTER booking. But whatever, we had electricity & a full water tank. No sewer either. Price was reasonable. Well cared for site. Roomy. Clean picnic table. Fire ring, no grill grate. Garbage in the pit though, people suck. Not much for privacy between sites. We had site 28, it wasn’t bad . Much better than most ! We were kind of up on a hill above a very overpopulated part of the campground. We scoped our site 30 & would probably dig that if we were to return. We lucked out & had quiet neighbors next to us. Everyone else was out of control noisy. I won’t judge too harshly based of Labor Day weekend, but the crowd here lacked any common courtesy this time around. It was a bummer. Nice paved paths to Redwood Falls. Not much to see once you get there. Too many people. The river was nice but had murky grey water that had a very odd smell. The dogs couldn’t enjoy it. There was a bridge you cross to get to the paths but nowhere designated for pedestrians so you contend with cars. Cute swing bridge along the way though. There was a “zoo” - enclosures containing birds, bison, prairie dogs, goats etc. Maybe it would’ve been ok had parents not stood idly by whilst their children threw apples, over hand, at the poor animals & laughed. It all seemed far too stressful for these poor creatures. There was no one to be found in regards to any keeper. It was all pretty disturbing. People at the campground set off fireworks all day & night causing the peacocks to scream out. Yes you can hear it at the sites. I get this was a municipal park. And actually it was quite nice when everyone left and we were literally the only ones for 2 days. Camping in southwest MN was a new experience. I’d venture to say it would be nice to camp during a weekday. Be warned- there is NOTHING to do & the flies ( non biting houseflies) were abundant!! We had to buy fly strips!! All in all, we’d go back if we were just looking for a quick, closer getaway.

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).

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.