South Dutch Charlie Creek

October in the heart of Minnesota, I arrived at this county park to find that while I had the place to myself, it was still beautifully well-maintained and perfect for a cozy night's camping. 

South Dutch Charlie is an open park with discrete campsites that are not secluded from each other, with picnic tables and at least one fire ring (of varying sizes) at each location. 

The building with the two pit toilets was clean, and there are water pumps at several of the sites. The abundant trees are spaced close enough for hammocking, and there's a small playground for kids. 

There's a large picnic shelter for groups, and a wooden bridge leads to a back area (with no apparent campsites) with a path that leads along the small creek that runs along the site. 

The nearest grocery and liquor stores are about a fifteen minute drive away, so plan ahead. There's a paybox at the entrance, however when I arrived, there were no envelopes, but a call to the number listed resulted in a quick callback from a very polite woman who apologized and informed me that I could use an envelope (which I had) to make a check out to Cottonwood County.