Best Dispersed Camping in Minnesota

If you like primitive wilderness camping but want to be only a short backpack hike away from your car, this campsite is for you! There are actually two campsites at this location, offset from each other on the lakeshore but close enough for a group to spread out into. This is a backcountry camping exprience on Blackstone Lake, of the Fernburg Trail east of Ely in the Superior National Forest. The trail access is near the Moose Lake entrance to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness. You park your car, then have about a half mile hike in to the campsite. Once you are set up, you have an amzing pristine lake to gaze at or swim in, or paddle on if you portage in a canoe or kayak! Then, you have a maze of hiking trails to hike from the campsite, over rugged roky terrain and to some of the most breathtaking vistas in the area! If you are a rock climber, the cliffs at Ennis Lake are sought after by rock climbers all over the region who are up for the challenging hike in before even tackling the cliffs. Wildlife abounds, pristine wilderness beauty, an amazing opportunity! We came in the third week of June, and experienced no ticks, no bugs, which was blissful!

This is a paddle-in only campsite within the Chippewa National Forest, and is an official campsite on the Mississippi River State Water Trail in Minnesota. It is located downstream from the Lake Winnie Dam, and is a good place to stay after portaging the dam if you dont want to stay at the Winnie Dam Campground. It is located near upper River mile 1225, on the left side of the river. The access point appears very overgrown from the river, but look for the brown watercraft campsite sign with the yellow canoe, and if you land at that point you will see a mall trail that leads to wooden timbered steps up to the campsite. There is a nice view over the river here, and a bit of a breeze, which is especially good in early summer when bugs are bad. This is a typical water access only campsite for paddlers on the water trail, and includes the basic such as picnic table, fire ring, and pit toilet. There is no potable water water avaialble here, so be prepared. There is room for several tents, so a small group could camp here. 

The next watercraft campsite is downs stream quite a few miles, so if you are passing mid in the afternoon it might be good to stop here. The next recommended campsite is at Gambler's Point, the previous campsites on Lake Winnie include Lake Winnie Dam and Tamarack Point.

If you are a through paddler on an extended trip you may already have maps and water trail info, but if not, check out these links: 

Info for camping at watercraft campsites: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/watertrails/watercraft-campsites.html info and maps for all of Minnesota state water trails: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/watertrails/index.html map for Mississippi River State Water Trail: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/watertrails/mississippiriver/index.html section map on which Crazy James landing is located, just upstream from River Mile 1225: https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/canoe\_routes/mississippi2.pdf

This is a US Forest Service Boating area on Lake Winnie in the Chippewa National Forest. It is primarily set up as a boat and canoe landing, with large beautiful group picnic area as well. However, it is also a stop at the Mississippi Headwaters Water Trail, and is a canoe stopover spot. At times, the winds and storms on Lake Winnie are very dangerous, and paddlers are not able to get further up the point to the Tamarack Point campsites, or around the point to the Winnie Dam camground. Under those conitions, it would be dangerous to go further, and paddlers may stay here for the night. Bathrooms, plenty of tent space, easy landing and launching for canoes and kayaks as well as boats, new picnnic shelters, great place for paddlers to shelter.

It was a spur of the moment decision to stay at Woodtick Trail Dispersed Camp 1 on the North Country Trail for my first solo hiking experience! I wanted someplace not too far from home (in case I needed my husband to rescue me from the night sounds of an owl), but also easily accessible. I didn't want terribly rough terrain since the weather was going to be a little steamy, but somewhere that would challenge me a bit. I had a new pack that I needed to test out, and I wanted to see how my new OOFOS Women's OOriginal Sandals felt on my feet after hiking. I loved wearing them around the house, so I hoped to test them out in a different setting. What better place than nature!

Campground Review:

Campgrounds along the North Country Trail are all awesome, because they are free! But no matter what I have to pay for them, they are still hit or miss. A site can still be a pretty stinky experience, even if it's free (note: you always pay for sites in State Parks, even if they are along the trail). In the past, I've stayed at others along the trail, and been pleasantly surprised by how lovely they were, and this was no exception! I loved the fact that, for my first solo hike and camp, I didn't have to hike too far into nature to find a place to hang my hammock and eat my dinner (or in otherwords, my car was pretty close if a skunk looking for a midnight snack passed under my hammock and scared me during the night). It was insanely easy to find, just a hop, skip and a jump off of the trail. And this one had a very obvious sign at the bottom of the hill where the trail led to the tentpad. It was only about 50 feet up that small hill to the campsite. Beautifully located on a small ridge between 3 little ponds (or, perhaps, they were 3 of the 10,000 lakes that Minnesota boasts on their license plates). It had a small tent pad and a nice little metal fire ring with a cooking grate that folded up and over if you didn't want to use it to cook on. The latrine (and yes, it was in good shape except for a few resident spiders) was just down an opposing hill.

I brought my hammock this time, and I have to note, a hammock isn't an ideal way to use this site. The good trees have quite a bit of underbrush between them. The two trees that were ideal...next to the firepit...were too close together to create a good hang. I used them anyhow, but I think my 1 person tent would have been the better choice here. I must also mention that because the site is so close to a main road, I did hear quite a bit of road "chatter" from the cars all through the night. It wasn't bad if you are used to city sounds, but if you live deep in the heart of nature, it could be a bit of a bother.

I suppose I could say there is a place to bathe, but you'd be sharing the lake with the locals if you did (meaning: beavers). I must also note that if you enjoy watching the sunrise, there is a superb little spot about 20 yards down the main trail, just off the campsite, that has a cute little boardwalk that would be ideal to sit on with a cup of coffee and watch the colors of the sky change as the sun comes up.

Product Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get to test products. At Woodtick Trail Dispersed Camp 1, I was able to review the OOFOS Women's OOriginal Sandals that I won from a contest. Although the camp received 4 stars from me, the shoes would receive 10 stars, if they would let me rate them that high! Here is a link to their site (specifically, the shoe I am reviewing) https://www.oofos.com/collections/womens-ooriginal-sandal

What I loved about the OOFOS sandals:

1. First, they are insanely lightweight! When the box arrived, I wasn't certain they had remembered to put the shoes inside. It's a super lightweight type of "foam" that is molded into this perfect shape of a shoe.
2. The color...I love the color! I know that's a small thing, but have your ever ordered something online, because you liked the color, and received it only to be saddened by the fact that it was truly ugly in person? Ya, not these. Bright and pretty!
3. The comfort of these flipflop sandals is something that you can only truly appreciate once you put them on your feet. They call them "recovery" shoes. Used by many athletes and those that beat their feet up daily. The arch support is high and cushy. It's perfect to "cradle" the parts of your foot that pound the pavement while you work hard or play hard. I'm a pastry chef and wear high end clogs on hard tile floors all day long. The clogs are awesome, but when I come home, I truly love stepping out of them and stepping into my OOFOS. It's like walking on a little cloud! Really...they are cushy, yet supportive. They hug your feet and don't want to fall off. Almost like a little foot massage when you walk.
4. I know they don't advertise this as an attribute of the shoe, but I found that if you have to get into the lake with them (I have dogs, they need to play in the lake to be happy), they almost get "sticky" and "grippy". While I absolutely would not consider them classic water shoes, they do not want to slip off your feet like generic flipflops do. You won't lose them if you have to go retrieve a frisbee or ball from the shallows.
5. They are very easy to clean off. The footbed (so far) doesn't really hold dirt. It seems very easy to rinse and clean.

I'm ecstatic that I was the winner of a contest on The Dyrt, and so excited that the "shoe I'd never heard of before" is now a permanent part of my summer wardrobe! I'll definitely purchase others in the future.

This camp site is a few miles away from the rest of the campgrounds and the picnic area as well as a forrest trail. It is extremely buggy and there’s a large wasp nest/ tunnel system on the ground near the fire pit. The fire pit is a classic rock ring. There is also a vault toilet and a picnic table. There’s only room for one group to camp here so if you get there early it’s pretty secluded except for a few drivers who come by to see if the spot is open. The entrance to the lake may be nice for a kayak or canoe but definitely not something you would walk into or swim in. I have verizon and there is no cell service at this sight. There were some bars closer to where you drive in but still nothing great. It was okay for the night but not the best dispersed campsite i’ve been too!

This is an established dispersed site - there is a massive fire ring, but it's 100% primitive.  There is a vault toilet about 300 yards away at the BWCA Lake Isabella entry point, so easy to drive to. 

This site is fairly large and would easily accommodate any number of people  We were in a group of 4 with 3 dogs, and there was more than enough room.  There were a few trees for hammocks, decent shaded areas under pines for a few folks, but if you had more than a few tents/trailers, you'd be dropping camp in the sun.  There is no potable water, so make sure to bring plenty. It's a long way back to a town to get more if you need it.  We brought a 5 gallon jug with us and that worked for 2 days. 

The site is set about 100 or more yards off the road, so it's pretty well secluded from traffic and it feels very private. Except for the grouse and birds and squirrels.

This site has a massive fire ring that has been built from rocks, but it's really far too big to be usable for a reasonable sized fire.  Seems like someone might have built it for a ginormous bonfire when lots of people were here.  We built a smaller fire to one side, but it was a bit of an odd situation to get 4 people around a warm fire when you could only really use part of it. 

Lake Isabella entry point for the BWCA is by the vault bathroom, so you could easily boat in, get out and get to this camp with a fairly easy portage. About a 1/4 mile from the lake to the parking area and 300-ish yards to the campsite. 

Lots of hunters this time of year (fall - October) so wear blaze orange is my recommendation. We heard shots fired for bird hunting, so just be aware it's allowed in this area (with a license) this time of year.