The best EQUESTRIAN camping near
Pease , MINNESOTA

I've been camping here since I was a little kid. My family used to host large family camping trips here. Lots of close camp sites for larger groups near the entrance. The further back you go on the road, the more spread out sites get. There are a few walk-in sites that I absolutely love. Show up early on weekends if you want one of the better spots. Pluses: The trails are a lot of fun.. lots to see. The outhouses are kept up well and pump water road side. Minuses: People leave their camps a mess a lot of the time. I usually spend the first hour cleaning up. TONS of poison ivy. Sand fleas.

I still get up once a year, early summer.

I’ll say, one of the best parts of this park is all the interpretative kiosks. Love learning about the forestry and history of state parks!  Also many options for trails which is great. A lot of wildlife here, I heard a ton of coyotes and geese, a woodpecker, and a beaver under the bridge in the evening chomping away at peeling logs… totally scared me at first but he was just doing his job and I tried not to bother him! 

I stayed at the backpacking site: SPRING. It’s just a short hike (bout 400 meters)  from the river access where there is a vaulted toilet snd water year-round. The site had a bench overlooking the river and a rugged stair for water access. Also had a little personal rustic toilet just a trail behind the site. Nice and wooded campsite, soft dirt, and fairly spacious! In wet months, I bet it's pretty muddy. The only drawback is that the trail it’s situated on is the hiking club trail and heavily trafficked. I stayed in winter, where you could see through the trees and all that tho. Maybe in summer, it’s more secluded? But still, something to keep in mind.

Took a peek at the campground- some of the most spaced out and wooded sites I’ve seen yet. I like that they made it in separated loops, to avoid through traffic distracting your stay. Love the visitors center, great overlook, and interesting information. By the trail center, which is also very cozy and rents, skis and snowshoes and has a great inside fireplace, there is an interpretative walk about white pines- great for kids to imagine those huge trees! They do a great job aiding the imagination as you walk along the short trail.

Camper cabins here are up on a bluff- didn’t stay there but totes want to! Nicely situated.

Everything that I checked out here was very well managed and they clearly put a lot of time and care into making this park functional, interesting, and accessible. I loved my little backpack site but can’t wait to come back to camp in the summer or rent a cabin! The river is gorgeous, even as it was frozen in winter!

Nice campground with amenities, pool and water play area for kids. Nice on-site store for any needs. I have a small travel trailer that is self contained so I could reserve spots down by the river. Ability to go tubing down the river. You can even get pizza delivered by the local Chanticlear Pizza!

I give it a 4 star only because twice I ran into the same group of people that thought it was ok to open up their vehicle doors and blast music well into the night. Owner warned them the first time but quiet time isn’t until 11 pm. 2nd trip, I just packed up and left.

We arrived at 2pm on a mid-October Friday afternoon and were shocked to find just two open spots. Our spot was along the side road that cuts through the campground so not on the main loop which I think led to there being fewer cars. Overall, there weren't too many spots that I thought looked amazing, but none of them looked bad either. It felt a little rundown, even by state forest standards, but for us that was fine. The road into the park and within the campground is awful, so especially if you're in an RV or towing a trailer, be prepared to move very slowly. But we had a nice two days, went to the lake/beach area which was maybe a 15-30 minute hike away, and also hiked on the other trails a bit. We have a 3 and 1 year old, so didn't make it far :) I don't know that I feel a need to return to this place, but I was happy with our experience.

Okay so this state park is beautiful. The trails are wonderful. The campsites and campground are great. Except… I camped here in a 2006 Toyota Tacoma and mice essentially had their way with every part of my vehicle in one night!!! I have a topper and a built-out bed in the back. It was chilly and I had the truck shut—the cab as well as the tailgate and all windows. Still, when I woke the next morning (and for days and days afterward) I found mouse poop EVERYWHERE. They got into plastic bins, duffel bags, backpacks, stuff sacks, etc. Their nasty little feces were found in food, on towels, in the cab, in the bed, in ONE OF MY HIKING BOOTS!!!! Disgusting. Now, my friend who has a 2019 Tacoma said he heard them scampering around in the wheel wells of his truck and crawling all over trying to find a way in, but they did not succeed. I guess because my truck is older and has more tiny spaces they can crawl through, it got the treatment. Anyway, just beware because they knew I was coming and their diseases-infested poops I am still finding weeks later!!!!

This has an amazing beach. Great Trails. Sweet single track for mountain biking. The best kids park at any campground I’ve been to.

This campground is great for everyone! It’s has a heated pool, splash pad area, BIG playground area, indoor game room, HUGE sites! You can either relax in the pool or even take a ride down the rum river in a rented canoe,tube, or kayak. We would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking to having a great time camping. This place does have 30amp and 50amp hook ups and has pull through spots and sewer sites so that needs to change on this app. Max trailer length that I’ve seen here is 70’. Anyone can fit in here!

This was my first time camping EVER, and I wanted a balance of car camping ease with quiet wilderness. I stayed in the E loop. No electric sites, which cut down the number of big rig RVs, but there were plenty of small campers and trailers. To me, this means louder guests than tent campers. That said, people tended to quiet down by 9-10p. There was occasional noise during the day from crop dusters and motorized boat traffic on the St. Croix.

Site 87 had nice privacy — less between sites 87 and 89 and much more between 87 and 85 (see photos). Site 89 is a double site, so be prepared for a little more activity if someone books there. If I went again, I'd try to snag site 85. Large trees and vegetation between sites, especially on the outside loop. Plenty of space for hammocks. The site itself was level and very spacious. We had a five person tent and could have put up a bug house easily. The fire pit was clean and had a grate on top. Pit toilets were clean and had plenty of toilet paper, especially for the end of a holiday weekend. Bugs were minimal, but could have been because the weather was on the cooler side (50s-60s).

A couple random notes:

• Firewood is $6/bundle. Self-pay available if the ranger station is closed. Bring exact change since you'll be paying by envelope.

• The ranger station was open for window service, and they sold fire starters, soda, t-shirts, etc. Not sure when hours are exactly. They were open when I went around 3-4p Sunday and Monday to buy wood.

• Cell reception for T-Mobile was minimal to non-existent.

A nice regional park, clean bathrooms and quiet private lots. Good hiking.

We stayed in campsite 29 in the drive in campsite over Labor Day weekend. The park was great - lots of hiking options, very clean (including the bathrooms), available water, right along the river. #29 definitely wouldn't be my first pick, but we booked late and it was one of the two left. No pad, which was fine (some of the sites do have pads, though). You could easily fit two tents in the site - it was a nice big area and looked kind of empty with just our one tent! The site isn't particularly private, since it was in the center of the loop, and if anyone ends up in the campsite behind you (#33), you're really pretty close - we lucked out and no one showed up until we were leaving. On the other hand, if people wanted to double camp, those two sites would be great together! It was a busy weekend, but people seemed to be pretty quiet after 10 pm. #30 looked like an awesome site and probably had the most privacy of the B lane. The restrooms were between A and B lanes (walkway between #24 & #26, #26 was pretty exposed to people walking back and forth) and was pretty busy - and not many people following the mask rule for the park. The campsites in general were pretty busy (Labor Day weekend probably contributed to that), there are a lot of sites, and it's close-ish to the cities, so if you're really looking to get away from people this probably isn't the ideal park. Lots of dogs, too. But, the sites were right next to the hiking paths and the park has a ton to see. We had a good time! We hiked past the Spring Creek campsite area and it looked really great, if you want to carry your stuff in.