Best Campgrounds near North Branch, MN

I stayed two nights in the campground and hiked many of the trails in this Minnesota State Park along the St. Croix River. The draw here is the potholes, but we will get to that.

My site was #24. It was tiny and my neighbors were right on top of me. Even in April the campground was mostly full. Do not pick a site inside the loop (the electrical hookup sites) if you want privacy. A few of the sites along the river have a real nice view and are slightly more secluded. The best site it #25. If there is a next time, I will shoot for that one.

The park is laid out kinda funky, but that is a product of it being on the river. Campground and Park Office are on the south end and the attraction is a 2.7 mile walk towards Taylor’s Falls along the highway to get to some very cool, unique scenery. You can drive it if so inclined. We did.

The draw here is the world’s largest glacial potholes. When the river ran 200’ higher than it does today, tornados of water eroded smooth round, massive holes in the rock. Some are so big that they still to this day have no idea how deep they go. Very cool to take the quick hike through the maze of small trails that show off these crazy formations.

So, the campground is cramped, it has lots of noise from the highway, sites are the smallest I have seen anywhere, but on balance the coolness of the rock formations and great views of the river still make this a park to consider.

Oh, and the Park Ranger Theresa is the best ranger I have ever met. She is part of a multigenerational heritage of MN Sate Park Rangers, and her family has a year-round residence in the park. She is so friendly, thoughtful, inviting and experienced. Extra star on this review just for Theresa!

Well, it snowed … in late March. I stayed in the campground in late March, 2025. This is a big park with a diversity of hiking, equestrian, and canoeing options. Since the park runs along the St. Croix, there are beautiful river-side walks to be had. There are also Oak Savanna trails. Several trails are for horses, but that isn’t my scene. I stayed in the campground for two nights. It was cold, rainy, and that turned into 5” of snow. Like many MN State Park campgrounds, you are close to your neighbors with no real private offerings. I stayed in site 66e. It was a typical site with nothing bad nor special about it. The hike to the former Dam site is the neatest thing about the park. I recommend reading the historical information at the site of the dam. Having been here once, I see no reason to come back.

The camp site was pretty awesome. Like others said, nice and secluded. If you're new to hiking, I suggest doing some research if you're going to attempt stuff like this.

I camped here back in 2020 of November. Overpacked, along with not packing the right gear and didn't have a cart. Buddy and I parked at the southeast parking lot so the hike was about a mile and also hilly. 

BP7 didn't have much dead wood around so we had to reserve the firewood we purchased. Carrying firewood, food, water, gear, on a hilly trail through the woods can become real tough real fast for anyone that isn't physically active. I easily was carrying 100lbs and had to take a couple breaks on the way. I knew nothing about this place so that was my mistake.

Despite all my problems, it was a great experience. Just being out in the woods in November usually meant there wasn't any people around so we were able to enjoy the outdoors.

Don't forget wet wipes!

Only about a mile from the parking lot. This site was nearly surrounded by a lake which lended to a lot of bugs, but was absolutely gorgeous! We could see one other camper in a different site, but it still felt like you were in the wilderness.

Backpack sites only. Love this park as it offers many backpacking sites with some being very short hikes in and some being longer hikes. Some are lake front and some are more woodsy sites. I really enjoy sites 1, 2, and 3 as they are a little more secluded from other sites, however 1 is fairly close to the county road so you will hear some vehicle noise overnight. Site comes with a fire ring, picnic table, and bear locker. Site 1 is my favorite despite the road noise due to the location of the tent pad and being on almost a peninsula offering lots of lake views.

The people were really nice!! Great lakefront sites. The campground is out of town so fairly quiet but a little bit of road noise. Close to Mora in case you need anything or are looking for something to do.

My site unfortunately did not have a view of the river, but it was still nice and private!! This is one of my favorite state parks for last minute camping trips due to its proximity to home. I have stayed in each of the campgrounds here multiple times at different sites and don't really have a standout favorite site. Each campground is pretty similar (it's really more like separate loops of the same campground as opposed to actually separate campgrounds... so I wouldn’t worry too much about which one to pick! Multiple restrooms and showers throughout the campgrounds. Each site has a fire ring and picnic table, and wood can be purchased at the office. Cell service is fairly spotty here so come with podcasts or shows downloaded ahead of time! But if you don't, you can always run into Hinckley for some WIFI or cell service to download some things.

Felt nice to spend a weekend without cell service about an hour away from home. Forgot to take my usual photos and video of the site all set up but had a few random to share. Nice campground. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. There are flush toilets and showers and the office has a store for any last minute needs.

Plenty of spots. Fairly small spots. This road is pretty busy for a dirt forest road and people FLY down it. Almost got hit a few times walking. Even through a Wednesday night cars are flying down the road.

I was traveling Eastward through the upper Midwest and had a really hard time in this area finding a place to camp. I finally came across this place. There was some suggestion that there was some drive in sites that were not reservable, that is. They were first come first serve. But I was unaware or unable to find those. I ended up paying a fair amount of money for a full hookup site. The bathrooms were extremely modern and clean.

There were some really nice wide trails around the lake. I think those were basically designed for cross-country skiing in the winter. But they made a perfect opportunity for me to let the dog run off. Leash. Probably was not within the rules, but it was very quiet there and the dog didn't bother anybody with her running.

The park is VERY LARGE, 33,000 acres! The prairie was beautiful this fall with all the native grasses and plants.

There is a flat, brand new 5 mile paved bicycle path that goes from the campground to the beach. Many hiking trails! The trails along the river are beautiful in October.

The campgrounds, trails, and bathrooms are all well maintained. The men’s bathroom/showers were designed and built well and is very clean. Bath building has a large “family/handicap” bathroom shower room.

MANY BLACK Squirrels in the park!

This is a solid state park offering. The sites are decently spaced with good tree cover. Noise seemed to travel between sites, I had some loud neighbors during the day but they settled down before quiet hours. The grass was easy to get tent stakes into. Bathrooms were your basic state park situation. Clean with warm showers so no complaints from me. The star gazing area was great! Intermittently had 1-2 bars of T-Mobile with LTE Internet. Wi-Fi is available at the park entrance.

Nice river nearby canoeing swimming pool fireplaces and little store for treats.

This campground is closed permanently

Lovely trails, the beach is a large area with a nice park and picnic area. The water itself is ok, lots of geese and algae. The falls are wonderful though. The bathrooms are fine. I could not find a garbage bin to save my life, not near the bathrooms or anywhere in campground 200 or by the park ranger post. If there were garbage cans dispersed throughout the campground, I would have given 5 stars. Especially along the trail to the waterfalls because there was garbage all along the trail unfortunately. Not the camps fault, but maybe people would be more responsible if garbage bins were placed along the route.

The east part of the park was all closed for construction. Everything on the east side of the highway was closed so we could not hike a lot of the trails or use the beach which was a challenge with kids. Constructing is scheduled to the end of 2025.

We stayed in a group site but there was no way 35 people could have camped in W3. Vaulted toilets need help and a good cleaning.

The shower house needed a cleaning as well. There is no adjusting the shower temperature. Push the button and you get what you get.

Wood was $8 bundle. This was steep in my opinion. They do not all any gathering of firewood.

If your vehicle permit is not properly displayed, you will receive a notice on your windshield and have to talk with the office.

The dumpster was overflowing the whole time we were there.

Raccoons will visit your site at night. We had everything secured but they still tried and plenty of racket until we chased them away.

Lastly we had a battle with mosquitoes. We went through a lot of bug spray and coils. Deer flies were thick around the water filling station.

Although we did not stay in the main campground the sites are very close in there and were small.

I love that it's so close to home. I was able to walk in and find an incredible spot to camp and lay in my hammock.

There are many different sites (most just pull offs) in this area! I did see one that was pull through further down game refuge road. The cell service with Verizon is good enough to stream videos and work on your laptop with ease. There aren't too many people in the area, even on a Sunday in July. The bugs are not great but that's just what you're going to get in an area like this one. Overall I would definitely stay here again.

The campground is nice and clean. Good size spaces. The tubing is a plus. Had one issue with power dropping so we had to pull the surge protector off the. It was fine. Also very hot and humid so everyone was running AC to the max. Pool was small but nice. Splash pad was even nice for adults I recommend this campground. Key thing is the river is very clean and sandy bottom.

This campsite is about an hour away from where I live. The listing here on The Dyrt seemed promising, and I hoped that by getting out there early I would find a nice spot. I first went to the National Park Service Scenic Riverway Visitor Center in St. Croix Falls to obtain a permit and learned that I don't need one for Sandrock Cliffs, I was already there so I got one anyway. About 40 minutes later I arrived at Sandrock Cliffs. The campsites all have a fire ring and are decently spaced apart, but most of the sites were full of trash and broken tent poles. There was a large group of kids that arrived by canoe/kayak just after I did. Soon the parking lot was also full of cars of some shady looking people who appeared to be looking for a spot to party. The kids seemed to have deterred these people from staying. I set up my camp and started to read a book. The kids began running through my campsite and upset my dog. After 3 times of them running through my campsite I just packed up and went home. Since this spot is accessible by road I'm assuming that its best not to visit in the summer, it seems to be a place that gets abused by the locals as a party area. I may consider visiting again in the fall when it is hopefully less busy.