Best Glamping near North Branch, MN

Afton is a gorgeous park. There's beautiful trails that take you through dense woods and prairie, and then you take a pretty decline to get to the St Croix River. It was foggy when we were there but still gorgeous. We also managed to get a yurt and it was so much fun. Comfy beds, room for 7 and it was clean and well built. This is a great park!

This is Minnesota’s largest state park and has over 200 camp sites. But where we were, we were secluded from most people. Not from the mosquitos. You had to defend against them. But clean park. Would go back for sure.

The mosquitos were terrible due to all the rain and there was a threat of bears in campsites to eat food while they humans cooking it. Yes this is all part of nature and so are snakes, but do not go here if you fear snakes. This part is a research area for snakes in Minnesota.. which I wasn't aware of and am terrified of snakes. Probably will try camping and visiting in the winter when 2/3 of these will be minimized greatly. That aside, it was a great quiet park on the river.

My partner and I scheduled a 3 day / 2 night stay in a new Vintage Cruiser RV for $39.99, in exchange for attending a presentation on private membership.

We checked in Wednesday evening, and the nicest staff I've ever met helped us acclimate to RV living. We are new to this game. They patiently described how to utilize the grey and black water tanks, as well as encouraged us to check-out the canoes, row boats, bikes, horseshoes, ladder golf and many other entertainment items - for FREE!

The map provided was accurate which made locating the cruiser a breeze. There were further instructions inside as well. The RV was immaculate. Provided for our use were all linens (a public very clean bath and shower was just across the road), dish soap, dish towels, paper towels, flat wear, plates, bowls, mugs and pans.

The campground has a couple of ponds, as well as access to Ham Lake where the watercraft is launched. There is a petting arena with goats, ponies, and a llama who gave my partner the stink eye, but fell in love with me rubbing the fence and giving me all googly eyes!

The clubhouse sells bundled wood, ice, snacks, cold drinks, ice cream and provides 24-hour fresh coffee. There is also a small resupply area, and gift shop.

There are pull-through sites, back ups, 50 and 30 amp hook ups, and tent sites, covered pavilions, picnic tables and fire pits.

The campground itself seems remote, secluded and peaceful, however, you are conveniently located to two well-stocked convenience stores, as well as Wal-Mart about 15 minutes away. It's also only about 45 minutes from the Minnesota Twin Cities.

One note: We visited in August and needed gallons of bug spray.

We very much enjoyed our get away!

This park has a ton of camping available, particularly if you don't need electricity and have a smaller rig because then you can get into more of the campground loops. (There is electricity here, but there are many more sites without.) 

The sites in the Old Logging Campground were close together but many had vegetation between them offering some privacy. Site 207 was especially tucked in but it's a tight spot, so probably best for a van or tent. 

The park itself has a lot to offer being right on the St. Croix River, plus there are hiking trails, a paved bike path, a fire tower you can climb, an old CCC camp area you can tour, and more. Also, canoe and kayak rentals are available. And this is all within the state park boundary since, at 34,000 acres, the park is the largest in the Minnesota state park system. 

Some of the loops have old bathhouses that desperately need to be replaced, but they are in the process of doing so, which means some loops have great new bathrooms and showers. (If you stay in the upper 200s, sites, you'll have one of these new bathrooms right away, but more are being built.) Cell service was incredibly spotty on Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Depending on where you're at, you'll get a low signal, but often it was only enough for texting-- don't think about using the web or social media or getting any work done while you're here. 

Overall, we enjoyed our weekend at this park and would come back for another getaway if we had the chance and it wasn't a workday.

Family friendly getaway for a quick camping fix.  Nice pool and a lake.  Room between campsites and some tree coverage.  All in all a nice place to camp.

Lots of different camping spots. All with trees surrounding your area for a little bit of privacy but the spots are relatively close to each other. We really liked the far end of the campsite but would've preferred campsite 89 or 91 or any on those sides because they seemed to have the most room and privacy.

Toilets were great and they had some bathrooms not too far away that have running water as well.

Trails that ran along the river were great!

We enjoyed our stay. Large, wooded campsite with electrical service and T-mobile service (1 bar). Good trails and plenty of wildlife (deer, etc).

We stayed at a backpack site where we were greeted with well maintained paths, great hiking options, and good views. The only con I have with the park is the lack of water accessibility for backpack sites located in Highland Loop. We have to either carry in all water for our trip or do the steep, winding hike to the Visitor Center to refill. There wasn’t any area to filter water. Otherwise, everything was great!

Great campground with plenty of privacy and space between sites.  Excellent hiking trails along the river.  Restroom/shower building and vault toilets well maintained.

I have been coming to Wild River since I was a kid. Nice park, scenic trails, horses on the way in.

Stayed for two nights at a drive-in double site here and found it ideal for autumn camping. We didn’t think we would get colors, but they came out a little early, adding a few splashes to the hiking and river view.

Site was private enough, the woods surrounding dense enough to obscure others while still feeling open. Also open enough to spot three white-tail deer.

Hike to the Nevers Dam lookout was easy enough for a five year old to walk (most of it) — featuring some very cool fallen trees and a wonderful winding staircase — and the adjacent sandy beach was a pleasant and peaceful surprise.

One complaint is that the nearby vault toilet reeked of amonia and was unusable so we had to walk to the adjacent loop for bathroom. Silver lining is that we discovered the free little library near that bathroom and grabbed a copy of ‘Ramona the Brave’ for the kiddo. We went back and left a copy of ‘Amira’s Picture Day.’

Great campground. Clean bathrooms, and friendly at office. Beautiful this time of year! Hiking was awesome

I have stayed here twice once in one of the rental cabins, and second tent camping. The campground is very quiet and never seems to be to busy. The tent sites are a little to exposed for me (I prefer to be in the woods) but they were all clean along with the facilities too. The beach is wonderful along with the section of river and hiking areas. Definitely worth a trip

Great hiking trails!

We stayed here in mid April, I believe we stayed at CC #6. The site was beautiful, the cabin well kept. My only complaint about the site is how close the cabins are together, but the fact that the decks face into the woods and ravine is very peaceful and makes up for it. The cabins are nearby a trail that you can wander through the woods down to the river which is nice. We definitely used the heat at night to stay warm but had the windows open at night, it was perfect weather, this is a great place for spring and fall camping. (Never been during the summer months.)

Have stayed here many times in all seasons. Not an over crowded park with lots of room to roam. Horses are welcome here with their own special campground area and miles of trails to ride. Hiking trails cover open grasslands, hardwood forest and valley waterways. Lots of wildlife and a great place for birders. Paved bike trails trailer and tent camping as well as camper cabins. Especially beautiful in autumn with the colorful leaves.

We stayed 4 days over a busy holiday weekend. Our site was very large with a 20'x15' tent box, more secluded than the others, and all shade with little/no grass. The bugs were out in full force, but we still had a blast. The hiking compared to many other parks we've been to was just ok. There are many horseback riding trails that can be used for hiking, but they are sand so it was hard for our 4 & 7 year old kids to walk through. We made a day trip down to Interstate Park (MN side) which is 15 minutes away, for a little extra hiking along the river to make up for it.

The campground was very nice. The sites are private, couldn't see any neighbors as there are a lot of trees. The park rangers were very helpful and informative. The facilities were nice and we'll kept. We drove about fifteen minutes to get to a hiking spot along the St Croix river, worth the drive. There weren't many people on the trail and it was very pretty.

Right on the main loop of the campground, but without having the neighbors right on top of you!

Was a little bit rambunctious during the day, but utterly silent at night.

Beautiful spot on the St Croix River.