Best Tent Camping near Park Rapids, MN

This is both a campsite review and a Dyrt Ranger product review.

Campsite Review: This a canoe-in campsite on the Mississippi River Headwaters Water Trail. It is located 31 miles from Itasca State Park which is the source of the mighty Mississippi and where the canoeable Water Trail begins. Fox Trap would be a couple days paddle downstream from Itasca. You can access this campsite only by paddling, either 15 miles from the campsite at Coffee Pot Landing, or after driving into Bear Den Landing which is a mile away, then paddling a mile downstream from there. You could in theory hike in as well, but this would involve traversing unmarked logging trails in the nearby state forest and then bushwhacking a bit! Could be done, but more fun to paddle in. This campsite has a nice three-sided log Adirondack shelter you can use, along with a steel fire grill and a picnic table. The canoe landing access is easy to use, and then you will need to portage your gear up a small bluff. There is no potable water here, so bring your own or use a good filter—though the water is basically pristine here, there are a lot if beavers and risk of giardia. There is no privy either, so prepare to rough it and Leave No Trace. The view is great as you are up high on a bluff, and on a point, and the marshy waterway below has a lot of bird and wildlife action as this is part of the wild and scenic section of the river. Great for a quick weekend getaway, or as a stopover when through-paddling the water trail!

Product Review:

As a Dyrt Ranger, I sometimes test and review new camping products for The Dyrt. This review is for the Rom Outdoors camouflaged convertible backpack, that serves as a sturdy waterproof tarp, a warm fleece lined poncho, and also folds up neatly to become a large and roomy portage pack. See video below to see how I used it, and what I liked about it. In sum,

Pros:

1. The pack is made from really sturdy waterproof canvas. It will last a long time and take a lot of abuse. My dog tested it trying to get into her dog food packed inside, and there is no way--too tough for claws!

2. It is a convertible pack, which can be uses as a portage pack for gear, or as a poncho, or as a warm sturdy camping tarp. All the parts used for altering the use, such as velcro, zippers, straps and buckles, are all top quality and heavy duty

3. I don't know how waterproof it is as it didnt rain while I tested it, but I used the poncho form as a camouflaged birdblind for birdwatching and photography. It is awesome for that! Very roomy, very warm, you could easily use it in 4 seasons.

4. It unfolds to a standard size tarp, you could use it under a tent to keep it dry, or inside a tent or Adirondack shelter to provide an insulating layer between you and the ground

5. As a portage pack, it straps into your canoe realy well, and while portaging it is easy to carry, as a 5'5" tall woman I found the straps to adjust perfectly at shoulders, chest and waist. The three sets of straps distribute the weight well. I portaged with gear and my 12 pound dog and it was comfortable! I know it wasnt meant to carry a dog, but it worked for a small one like ours, she fit right in. When fold up s a pack, it has two deep pockets in the main body of the bag, plus additional large pounches on the outside.

6)The pack comes with a full size removable pack liner that is also a lightweight back pack on its own, and there are two large external gear pouches that go on and off with buckles and heavy velcro.

Cons:

1. The shoulder straps and buckles are a tad bulkly if you unfold the pack to use as a tarp. You wont notice if you use a sleeping bag pad on top, but you might feel it a bit without a pad.

2. The poncho feature would be particularly good in cool to cold weather, maybe in warmish weather too, but not in real warm or hot weather because the canvas itself is so thick, plus there is a layer of insulating polarfleece. I cant imagine wearing it as a poncho for very long on hot days.

Great views here! Stayed right next to the lake! Had easy access for kayaking and had a fun girls weekend! Site 7 was a short hike in from the parking lot and the site was large enough for multiple tents. We had a 3p and 2p backpacking tent. Picnic table and fire ring provided at the site. There is a self pay station and the rates were pretty cheap! we enjoyed a rainy weekend and were even able to rig up an awning with some dead branches in our site and extra rope we brought to help us keep dry. Great location for water access. we had an inflatable kayak, traditional kayak, and inflatable paddleboard between the three of us!

This is a State Forest Campground, and for the price of only $14 a night, you can't go wrong. Although you may get some noise from RVs with generators, we visited in late september, and there were enough sites to choose from that we could be away from that noise. Almost every site had a fair amount of space, and some privacy from neighboring sites with brush and foliage. There seemed to be pathways back to little vault toilet houses, and when we visited, they were very clean! They must have been recently cleaned, and there was no smell at all. Perhaps the cooler weather had something to do with that as well.

We had a fire ring that was tall, and deep. With a grate so you could grill. A picnic table, and again, plenty of space for our teardrop trailer. The property had a few small, short trails through the woods, and also boat access.

It's far enough off the main road that you won't hear road noise. You will, however, see and hear deer, and possibly black bear.

There's no electricity, because it's a State Forest campground, but if the price of $14, it's exactly what we wanted for this time of year.

One more bonus is that motorized two-wheel vehicles and off-road vehicles are not allowed past the entrance. That doesn't mean they can't be carried on the back of a truck, but you will not find them riding around this campground. Made things a little bit quieter!

This is a specialized public campground for trailriders and their horses. It is maintained as a recreational opportunity by the Natural Resources program of Beltrami County, within the Headwaters State Forest. Several area horse clubs assist in the maintanence of this campground, which is available on a first come first served basis to individuals and groups. Camping here is free, but donations are gladly accepted. The campground is uniquely set up to accommodate people, tents, vans, and horse trailers, every site having ample parking, picnic tables and fire rings, tent sites, and horse tie-up posts with grazing area. There are vault toilets and water available by pump. The campsites are well maintained and set by the picturesque Grant Creek, next to a trailhead for a maze of nearly fifty miles of trails for riding. This is a very nice camping experience for horseback riders, 4-H groups, families or riding clubs!

We planned a huge family camping trip this year and the lovely Chippewa Loop campground in the Chippewa National Forest was the camp ground that we had the honor of staying at! We had three sites, 79, 80, and 81 with 17 people total. 9 Adults and 8 kids ranging from ages 7 to 1. The campground is right outside Cass Lake Minnesota that had a nice grocery store, a pretty weird liquor store, a family dollar, and a fishing pier if you didn’t have a boat. It was about a half an hour outside of Bemidji, Mn that has a lot of history from Minnesota and a great fireworks display over the lake on the Fourth of July. The City of Bemidji has a lot a little boutique shops if you are into shopping while on camping trips. It also had a cute little ice cream store that we took all the kids to across from the Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox statue and a nice park for the kids to play at right off of Lake Bemidji. If you’re into craft breweries Bemidji also has a brewery called Bemidji Brewing right in town. There’s also a Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and a dollar tree amongst other stores if you have that “I forgot list”.

Site number 80 was the best to put up a travel trailer, but it was also extremely close to site number 82 and practically joined site number 82. We ended up putting our Jayco Eagle 30 foot travel trailer in site number 81 because with everyone else tent camping and we were the only one with a travel trailer, we felt this site was the best to park our travel trailer in because it was the least level site and only had one small pad for a tent. Site number 79 and 81 were joined together by a path that made it easy for us to all eat in one site. We all pretty much congregated in site number 81. We put most of our tents, three to be exact, in site number 80 because it was the most level and open for tents. The site was capable of having two large cabin tents and a small 4 person tent comfortably. Site had a lot of good pine trees for hanging Hammocks but, like I said before, it was almost right on top of site number 82 so we decided to only put up the 3 tents and congregate across the road in site number 81 as to not disturb the other site occupants. It was pretty frustrating that that was the most level site because it was also the best one to park a travel trailer in and have an awning out and a picnic table but we couldn’t do it because we didnt want to disturb the other site with 17 people.

Site number 79 had a good drive pad but the tent pad was extremely un-level. we put up a single pole tipi in that site because the people in that site had cots and didn’t mind sleeping on an incline. When I say incline, I mean incline, the tent pad was not level at all which is kind of frustrating. Site number 79 was the least friendly for hammocks so we hung all her hammocks in site number 81.

Site number 81 is where we decided to put up the trailer but the trailer pad was super un- level. We ended up making a Walmart run to get two more packs of leveling blocks and we use three packs of leveling blocks to make it level with room to have our awning and out. Right behind the travel trailer was a sloped hill that went down to the fire pit and a tent pad that was also on a slight incline which we were up by eight person tent there but that person had a raised air mattress and didn’t mind sleeping on an incline. Attached to site number 81 was also the path to the showers that was right down the hill. It worked out great because the showers and the bathrooms were so close to our site but we felt like the trees were blocking everything from our site.

We took a lot of bike rides and got to see a lot of the other sites and they had a lot of good tent sites in some of the other loops and it seems like all of the electric sites were not as great as the tent sites. All of the electric sites seem to be un-level and not a great place to pitch a tent as well as having the camper.

The park itself was very beautiful had a lot of nature things like milk weed and monarch butterfly’s everywhere and a beautiful swimming beach that was about waist high (4 feet deep) for about 300 to 400 yards out from shore. The beach was great for swimming and kayaking and you could dock a boat on the sandy beach and eat lunch if you wanted to. We ended up catching 40 crawfish and doing a crawfish boil, which the kids absolutely loved. The picnic shelter was pretty awesome too, very shaded and on a rougher part of the beach. There was a really long bike path that went through all of the loops and the main road was super bike friendly as well.

In the visitor center there was a really cool area for the kids to go to play if it was too hot or rainy, or if you just wanted to be indoors for a little bit. They had a bike decorating event and we brought all the kids bikes and decorated them. There was a little gift shop and they also gave out free stickers which we ended putting on our camper as we do at every park we get a sticker from.

Each camp ground loop also had a campground host that sold firewood, three bundles for $10. The firewood was pretty bad and some of it was wet and it burned really really fast. But like every park in Minnesota you can’t bring your own firewood unless it’s kiln dried lumber or something like that within a certain number of miles of the place you are camping.

A few downsides to this park where there’s no official places to fill water up for your camper and no official place to dump your black and grey water tanks from your camper. You end up having to go to another park and pay to dump your camper. This could be a problem if you are staying for an extended time and use a lot of water. There also wasn’t a whole lot to do aside from biking and hiking and swimming like there was a leech lake recreation area we were at a few days prior to this trip. The restrooms and showers were pretty unkempt and dirty. Everyone but me and my sister had cold showers every time they went to take a shower.

All in all the park is very beautiful and I had some very good attributes like friendly staff, clean campsites and secluded campsites where you didn’t feel like you are right on top of the other site aside from site 80 and 82. It seemed like there were three or 4 sites together in groups and then a little ways away there were a few more clumped together.

I don’t know if we would actually come back to this park because the sites weren’t as big as they seemed in the pictures online and we felt cramped most of the time. There wasn’t a good space in the sites to put up games like corn hole or ladder ball which made it a bit boring at times to just stay at camp. We spent a lot of time at the beach.

The Remote campsites at DeSoto Lake provide a Boundary Waters type experience without being far from the towns of Bemidji snd Park Rapids. These campsites have the double distinction of being both on the National North Country Scenic Trail, as well as being in the backcountry region of Itasca State Park. Local NCT members help maintain the trail and campsites, but as the campsites are with the State Park Boundaries, the sites must be reserved through the MN State Park reservations website, with request for Itasca Backpacking sites # 3 or 4. These sites are accessible to NCT through hikers, but access within the park is either through backpacking in in the Nicollet Trail or DeSoto Lake Trail (each a several hour hike in from the Parks Wilderness Drive), or from the Gartner Farm trailhead of the NCT to the west, or the Itasca South entrance parking lot. For those who prefer paddling, the Desoto Portage is about a 15 minute portage from the 113 parking lot to the south shore of DeSoto Lake, then a paddle acroos the lake to the campsite landings.

Both campsites are on a bluff on the northeast side of the lake, with a landing and set of stairs up to the sites. The west site has log benches, fire ring, and room for several tents, and the east site also has a picnic table. Both have access to a pit toilet of the modern type with three walls and a roof, but no door as it is off in the woods facing away from the camping sites and overlooking another nearby lake. From these camp sites you can portage into several nearby lakes that are even more remote and pristine, or you can hike miles in any direction either on the NCT, or in several state park trails that intersect nearby. DeSoto lake itself is full of many islands and small bays where there is abundant wildlife including wild swans nesting. A calm, serene, and beautiful retreat if you dont mind backpacking in at least three miles or portaging a canoe or kayak about a mile. You need to bring your own water, or a water filter as there is no potable water.

Info about remote MN state park camping and link to reservations: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/remote_camping.html

Info on Itasca State Park: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/park.html?id=spk00181#homepage

Info on the North Country Scenic Trail, part if the National Park Service’s national trail system: https://www.nps.gov/noco/index.htm

Info on the Laurentian Lakes chapter of the NCT, which maintains the trail to the DeSoto campsites https://northcountrytrail.org/trail/minnesota/llc/

Campground Review: The Stumphges Rapids Canoe Landing is a stop on the Mississippi Headwaters Water Trail. It has a primitive dispersed campsite that lies with the river buffer zone that is part of the Mississippi Headwaters State Forest, but the DNR is no longer maintaining it as a full scale Water Trail canoe campsite, eg there is no water pump, latrine or Adirondack shelters such as at Coffee Pot Landing or Wanagon upstream or Pine Point downstream. Although on a bluff overlooking one of the more pristine sections of the Headwaters, the campsite itself has seen better days. There is a clearing for tents and parking, a fire ring with stump seats, and a beautiful bench overlooking the sandy but steep trail to the canoe landing. Be prepared to bring your own water, and to Leave No Trace when you visit the woods for an al fresco potty stop. For those who appreciate a very rustic campsite in a secluded state forest location, you might choose this spot to either drive in or paddle in, but it is not as nice as Coffee Pot or Fox Trap, which are your next closest full canoe campsites on the Water Trail. Whether driving or paddling, the site is not really accessible during the winter season although you probably could ski or snowmobile in for winter camping. I give the river location itself a full five points, but the campsite itself just a 3 at best

Brochure and map for the Mississippi Headwaters State Forest: http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/state_forests/sft00034.pdf

Map of the first hundred miles of the Headwaters Water Trail: https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/canoe_routes/mississippi1.pdf

Directions to the Stumpghes Rapids Landing and adjacent dispersed campsite are at this link: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/water_access/site.html?id=WAS00636

Product Review of Eclipse Sunwear protective clothing:

As a Ranger for the Dyrt, I sometimes have the chance to try new products and review them for the Dyrt camping community. The Eclipse Sunwear shirts are a relatively new brand of sun protective clothing, and I tried both the hooded shirt in mint green and the electric yellow shirt. You can see an example of them here: https://eclipseglove.com/collections/cover-ups/products/equinox-hoodie-beach-cover-up PROS:For health reasons, I have been advised to be cautious about sun exposure, which is a challenge as I do a lot of outdoor recreation and I also work outdoors. The Eclipse Sunwear is pretty awesome at protecting from sunburn and minimizing sun exposure without use of sunscreen lotion, as the fabric screens out UV light. The shirts are made of a lightweight stretchy fabric that is really cool and comfortable to wear doing anything from kayaking to carrying gear for field work. You can wear them swimming and they dry quickly. The hooded shirts are sleek and comfy and have extra pockets, one dedicated to holding your cell phone and keys which is real handy. There are a variety of nice colors, you can choose to “blend in” with natural outdoor colors, or for safety you can choose their fluorescent colors to be seen when biking or hiking or working alongside roads. CONS: The only con is that the sleeves have open vents on the undersides. These may be meant to keep you cool with airflow in a spot that isn’t exposed to the sun, which may be great at the beach or on the water, but it gives access to mosquitos when you are in the woods. I am thinking about sewing up the vents in mine for that reason.