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The Valley City National Fish Hatchery is one of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s oldest hatcheries providing fish to waters in the Midwest since 1940. The hatchery was established along a major railroad hub, which facilitated in the distribution of fish by rail cars in the early days. Today the hatchery is active in the restoration of lake sturgeon in the Red River of the North. The hatchery also plays a vital role in maintaining recreational fishing opportunities in North Dakota waters. A fishing pond and fishing access to the Sheyenne River is available to visitors. High quality game fish stocked by the hatchery provide quality sport fishing to thousands. In addition, Valley City welcomes visitors to the hatchery for a closeup view of the fish production process. Hiking, canoeing, fishing, birdwatching, picnicking, and photography continues to be a must of summer activities. The goose pond is a kids fishing pond and is an exclusive area attraction. The staff gives tours to various civic groups and has a traveling aquarium and video show that is taken to the larger fairs and shows within the state.
Legend
This is a year round multi-use state park along the forest-lined Sheyenne River and near the Sheyenne National Grasslands. There are miles of trails through all kinds of habititats from forest to prairie to riparian shores and the water trail. In winter there is great cross country skiing and snowshoeing and summer of course has camping, canoeing, hiking, and nature watching. This seems to be a big park for horse campers and they are well set up for that with corrals and designated horse campgrounds. There is a standard campground for car camping, campers and RVs with the usual amenities, then there is the so-called "primitive" campground which is for tents only, either in drive in tent campsites, or at walk-in tent sites that are very spacious and right on the river! Very nice. The "primitive" tent area has quiet rules including no use of generators, so we like that. The tent area did not have its own water source though, so you do have to walk across the river bridge to the main campground to get water. Also, while there were no problems about flooding on our trip, the sites are in a lowland area adjacent to the river floodplain so could be a concern at times of heavy rain. Other options, should you want to go for historic lodging or "glamping", there is the option to reserve a covered wagon or pioneer cabin to stay in, or a fully equipped really amazingly cool yurt with a loft that could host a large family or group. If you like hiking or canoeing or horseback riding or nature exploring, there are alot of good options here for the summer camper. Things are quieter right now as there as fewer campers due to covid, they are also a little short staffed and the grounds look a tad bit rough around the edges and in need of a bit of maintanence. Also, the park was established on the grounds on an old fort which seems to have had some historic controversy, and the main park entrance sign was burned in a recent protest event so be aware of that when you are trying to find the park. And, while staying at the park, visit the exhibits in the visitor's center to learn more about the history of the area and the old fort so you can put all this into respectful context.
Scout
Nice place, well kept & only $15 for a tent site. Hot showers too.
Traveler
We have a rooftop tent so the tent sites didn’t work for us. The rv site was all gravel and easy to navigate. The bathroom and showers were very nice and clean. There was a cute little playground and horseshoe pits. It’s also pet friendly!
Scout
Good campsite, located in a huge field set pretty far off the river. It says there's room for 10 tents but really you could host a festival there. There's a couple picnic tables and fire pits and one trash can. There is no bathroom next to the tent sites. There is a pit toilet close by. When you reach the "Camp Rules" sign turn right for the camping and left for the pit toilet.
TravelerStayed at a site in the open field near to the road. (last site available) only down side was that you got to feel the ND winds (10-30mph+) all the time..... Next time will stay on the other side of the river at their "primitive" campsites. those sites are all in the trees and secluded. Also has walk-in tent sites. Plenty of local hiking trails right from the campsite.
Legend
Have to give this a low review from the experience we had while staying the night of July 6th. It was a full campground and might of been nice with the exception of several groups staying at the campground. Teens staying up till 3pm being loud and racing around on a golf cart. Intoxicated adults taking lap after lap around the campground in the back of a pickup yelling and swearing at campers that didn't wave back to them. Another group in the campground setting off fireworks until midnight. Zero attempts by camp host to quiet these individuals. Our group of Scouts were besides themselves and have no desire to ever camp in North Dakota again. Other wise this might have been a nice place to stay.
Scout
We stayed at one of the tent campsites and stayed in the recommended spot by the staff. There was a fire ring for us, but we couldn’t use our own wood to prevent the spread of bugs or mold. They gave us free firewood and even brought it right up to our camp site for us. Amenities included clean bathrooms/showers, walking trails, playground. Staff/owners super friendly and helpful. Only downfall is the location is right next to the highway and a little noisy, but nothing we couldn’t sleep through. We would stay here again.
GuideNice campground just off the highway. Although the tent sites looked nice, unless you have earplugs the highway noise will keep you awake. It's also pretty windy. Clean bathrooms and showers, really nice staff. We booked one of two rustic cabins for a steal at $35. Other than a very thin foam mattress, we had a great stay. There was a mini fridge in the cabin and the wonderful lady that checked us in loaned us a fan since it was a bit warm. Jamestown speedway dirt track has races every Saturday evening during the summer and we were able to catch the season opener in May. The world's largest buffalo is also nearby
Guide
Stopped here on our way through North Dakota, perfect site with flushable bathrooms, good water and a beautiful sunrise.
Legend
This is a well maintained well cared for well laid out county campground. A number of sites kind of exposed to the sun but hookups and bathrooms available. Tiny Lake for fishing and a beach for swimming. And good for North Dakota there's a large tree claim th at helps keep the wind off of you. I barely have Verizon service so if I was going to try to work I would probably have to use my satellite system but other than that it's adorable I wish it had more hiking.
Legend
I'm not exactly sure I'm in the right place nor am I sure that this is actually a campground of some kind. It's definitely a fishing access it's a big open spot next to Island Lake which is a legit lake in North Dakota. It's very flat but there's equipment parked here and a sign that says this is fishing access so I think if you tried to camp here you'd end up with somebody knocking on your door. Last the GPS spot is not correct that takes you to a corner of a road and this spot does not match the directions so I'm going to go one more mile up and see if the directions actually take me to a campground and I'll post that as well.
Ranger
This park is maintained and managed by the Barnes County Wildlife Club and North Dakota Game and Fish Department. Camping is free and allowed for a maximum of 10 consecutive days. There is plenty of open lawn within this park area which can definitely fit multiple tents and the parking lot/gravel driveway can accommodate travel trailers/RVs/Vans.
It is a well-maintained, simple, camping area offering a picnic table, fire ring/pit, built-in charcoal grill, waste receptacles and a vault toilet. (As of early October the county was able to erect a picnic shelter) There is also some informative signage covering the local history, and that of the the river and land. (Not as far back in time as it should though.)
The Sheyenne River runs along one side of this camp area - There is a kayak/canoe in/out access area here and access points for fishing along with a bridge. If you are filtering H20 yourself, you have access to flowing river water for drinking!
Quite isolated and quiet here, people may periodically stop by to fish, drop in a kayak, run their dogs or stretch their legs. Overall it’s a secluded and peaceful area. There are train tracks that run along the river in close proximity; they usually don't "toot" more than a time or two as they pass the crossing. I can't say how many in a night.
There are plenty of areas to enjoy the sun, but also large, mature trees for plenty of shade as well. Pretty decent area to have access to camp at for FREE that feels like you're "beyond getting what you paid for!"
- Faust Park is also about 4 miles SW from the Mel Rieman Rec Area/Campgrounds (COE) which has a swimming area, playground, showers & bathroom facilities, drinking water, garbages, grills, and a bar/small grill/ice cream shop & water sports rentals on site. This is all very seasonal of course.
-Faust Park is located along a maintained gravel road, less than a ½ mile off of the River Road and about 6 miles outside of Valley City. There is a farmstead on the other side of the river/wooded area, otherwise no other nearby neighbors. It is also 6 or so miles up off of I-94 if folks approach it from that direction.
Legend
The website instructions say to take exit 292 off I 94 but our RV GPS and Google Maps showed exit 294, which is probably a new exit. Coming from the east, exit 294 was the better option, but either exit would work as they both will lead to the turn to take you down to Eggerts Landing plus other COE areas as identified on the signs. The campground(CG) area was easy to find and we got potable water at the dump station conveniently located as we entered the CG area. The RV sites here are all 30 AMP electric and we proceeded to back-in spot 20, which was easy to back into off the turn. Site 20 is plenty long and we really liked the privacy between sites due to the vegetation and trees. This CG has a lot of mature trees so satellite would not be an option for most sites. We got 2 bars on Verizon and 2 on T-Mobile. The sites in the front of the CG are more open where you could get a satellite signal. The sites at the far end of the CG are more private with little trails weaving around. There are no sites that are truly on the lake, but several have paths to the water. There are trash cans smartly placed around the CG plus water spigots and vault toilets. Towards the front of the back loop, there’s a shower house. There is also a fishing pier near the CG area entrance. There’s a camp host, but they were only working weekends when we were there in September. However, park rangers patrolled the CG. This COE is about 15 minutes north of Valley City where amenities can be found. Check out Babb's Coffee House in Jamestown. Great place to have lunch after visiting the tourist spots in Jamestown and the coffee is very good too. If you are looking for gifts made in North Dakota, check out the Dakota Store, also in Jamestown, which is a great place to shop. We enjoyed our 3-night stay during the midweek.
Legend
This camp ground is not so much a campground as it is a city park which has a section where tenting is allowed. There are bathrooms available, and a lovely sheltered grassy spot to set up tents, and a place to grill and get water at the picnic shelter, but in terms of other camping amenities there really arent any, so in similar conditions I might give a 3-star rating. However, I am giving this camping spot a 4-star rating simply because it is located within a really sweet little town park that is beautifully kept, lovely grounds, nice playground and ballfields nearby, picnic shelter, pretty gardens and a very unique educational community orchard that features a whole variety of different grapes, berries, apples, and more. (see link here: http://www.arthurnd.us/orchard/
This would be a nice place for a scout troup or youth group to have an overnight, or for a family reunion to set up. There are no RV sites or anything like hookups or anything like that, just tenting. You need to call the city office on a weekday to make reservations.
It is also located by the trailhead of the North Cass Pass Bike Trail which goes north to Hunter, ND see link here: https://www.traillink.com/trail/northern-cass-pass/ so this might be a good place to camp if you want to do a weekend bike trip.
GuideA good spot on the river sort of way out in farm country, a good amount of campers on Fri labor day weekend. Im sure any other day it would be empty. Quiet at night, light on bugs, great grass for tents. No water and didnt see a toilet. Prob not good for bigger RVs. Grab a sweet fresh yummy apple from the tree. Only gave it two stars because some of the hillbillies may be a bit creepy.
Traveler
We had paid for the campsite before we got there, and when we got there, there was no camp host and absolutely no one at the campground. We were confused because across the lake we could see at least 10 tents set up. I also thought $26 was a little steep to stay the night.
The camp ground had many trees though, which i love. And it was very close to the boat ramp, we liked the camp ground, but i imagine if the campground were full that it would be very crowded. Also it had recently rained and the campsites down hill (closest to the lake) had puddles of water.
Legend
This is a small village campground that will host 4 RVs with hookups, and probably several tents. Reservations are not taken; if you show up and a space is available you can take it, then drop payment at the town board office. You can stop there on a nightly bassis, or rent by the month. The odd thing is, it is actually several blocks away from the actual village park where you would have to go for facilities like bathroom, which you would have to do if you were tenting or have a camper without a bathroom. Although the city park is beautiful once you get there--ballpark, nice picnic areas, great group shelter, good playground, big shady trees, and more-- walking over there for bathrooms is a bit much to have to do. Also, unfortuantely, the location of the campsites (which is at the corner of 1st St and Railroad St) is, yes you guessed it, not your quiet restful location. So, the campsites are at 1st St and Railroad Ave, and the main park is at the corner of 1st St and Dakota Ave, which is inconvenient, but the walk into town for shops and cafes is very easy. No one was camping there when I visited so it is hard to say who might frequent it, but perhaps snowbirds who are from this area might find this a decent arrangement for temporary summer seasonal camping, but probably not a destination campground for a family vacation
Traveler
Nice spot by a lake, with three stone fire rings and a couple picnic tables. We got the spot surrounded by trees on three sides which was nice, the rest are open. Tons of birds which make some noise but aren’t a bother. Someone’s farm dogs were sniffing around our tent and howling in the night. They hung around in the morning and were friendly but a little bit of a nuisance as we were cooking and packing up. The directions we followed took us on some pretty rocky roads, we took a different way out and it was a bit smoother. If you’re in a big car you should be fine but we were in a Corolla :) Way out we took: From 94- West: Left on 106th Ave to left on 40th street to left on 109th Ave
RangerVery green park with alot of history, including a preserved farm about early white settlers. We met some people who were staying here with their horses - how fun! Wide open green spaces, lovely. We didn’t explore much of the park unfortunately. We really wished we had rented a canoe or kayak (from the park) but it was a holiday weekend so they were all gone by the time we sauntered out of the tent near noon.
Yay: basic cafe, easy canoeing, nature center, educational, easy hikes.
Nay: campsites are not private or shady, only a few are next to the water.
Surprise: the camp staff were especially great with lots of stories to entertain the preschooler and grandma!
RangerThis rec area/campground is honestly a hidden gem (not trying to be cliché!) The area is very scenic and well kept, with a stream running throughout that feeds into a multi-use lake, unique and expansive campsites, groomed trails, multiple amenities and the laidback solitude and peace of the Midwest prairie/plains. If you choose to, it's easy to have enjoyable personal time and also not feel uneasy or isolated in your experience if you choose to adventure solo.
This campground is family friendly and also still very suitable for those solo stays. The campsites exist within many settings: wooded areas, more community-type settings, open prairies, and secluded nooks far away from the center of everything. Some of these sites are massive and some are quaint and tucked into the trees, down a wooded path. There have usually been multiple sites available when I've camped there towards the end of the week.
Clausen Springs Campground is managed by the NDGF Department and Barnes County Park Board/Wildlife Federation; it is within the Clausen Springs Rec Area/Wildlife Management Area (545 acres.) This campground is about 20 miles out of Valley City, 17 miles off of I-94 and just a few miles off of ND HWY 1. (Very easy to locate, not a ton of gravel and not too far from a rural gas station/convenience store.)
The hiking trails are my favorite; they are well-maintained and interconnect with the North Country National Scenic Trail (NCT.) The lake provides swimming, fishing, and boat access for electric motored boats or kayaks/canoes. There is also a playground for the kids.
The RVs or TTs have access to electric hookups and dumpsites. We all have have access to rural drinking water, shower houses/bathrooms (very well-kept IMO,) picnic tables, and fire rings. Also present are a ball diamond and horseshoe pit. (There is also a historic aspect to this area and there are some pieces of interpretative information available.)
You are allowed an RV or Camper plus a tent ( or solely two tents) per site (max 8 people) $20/night for electric sites, $15/night for primitive. Also important to note that sites 1-12, and 55 are reserve-able, all the rest are first come, first serve. There are 21 electrical sites and 57 primitive.
(I also realize I posted mainly photos of many of the sizeable, more open/exposed campsites; there are so many that are completely shaded and tucked into the trees as well! I will try to get photos in the future)
Ranger
The first thing I think of when I think of Parkhurst Campground/Pipestem Lake rec area are the trails. This area encompasses about 140 acres and contains the 5.5 mile North Ridge Trail, 8 mile Pipestem Creek Trail, and equine trails. The first two are geared towards mountain biking, and hiking. Very pretty prairie hiking as well as lush, wooded tracts. There's easy access to these trails from the campgrounds and they are also very well maintained by the county. There are families who have ATVs with also, as there is some separate land they can have access too.
Parkhurst's campgrounds are tidy and well-kept. There are also typically plenty of regulars camping there who are pretty happy to help if you have questions. This is an Army Corps of Engineers/ County ran campground within a rec area; it's located alongside the Pipestem Creek/Lake. There is a $10/night fee on an honor system, where upon arrival you select your campsite and then fill out a slip and submit your payment at the campground entrance. There are no reservations and it is first some first serve. (Every time we have stayed here there have been plenty of sites available, but I cannot speak for traditionally busy, holiday weekends)
This is a primitive campground that has access to picnic tables, fire rings, vault toilets, waste receptacles, non-potable water, a dump station, shelters, boat docks and ramps, lake/reservoir beaches for swimming, as well as mountain biking, hiking and equine trails. If you needed water on the spot, there is is non-potable water access as well as river/lake water if you filter it yourself. A neighboring farm which you'll drive by sells firewood, as well as several places within Jamestown. Since there is an equine trail there is of course an equine area with corrals, tether lines, and space for trailers.
The sites here aren't labeled specifically, so you have to gauge your equipment, vehicles, and how much space you'd typically be taking up. It allows for some flexibility and I haven't seen groups overflowing. Parkhurst is quite expansive in that the northern most end starts at a bit higher elevation, and the southern-most end is a bit lower, and along the lakeside. This is a pretty open campground, across a large large area with dividing roads and trees throughout. Even though spots aren’t secluded typically, and there isn’t site division by trees, we still haven’t been forced to come into contact or interact with neighbors and the rest of the campground.(I mention this knowing that it is something some folks really take into consideration.) Though not a wooded campground, there is still a lot of shade, and the breezes really help with some bug control.
Parkhurst is off of HWY 281 and about 5 miles from the outskirts of Jamestown, a quick and easy drive. When you are navigating to Parkhurst/Pipestem Reservoir area there is south end rec area entrance and then also the campground entrance on the north end, where you would come across the registration area as you head south. Pipestem creek/lake connects from the south to the James River/Jamestown Reservoir which is on the outside of Jamestown. (Plenty of options for groceries, gas, dining, hardware stores etc.)
We really like staying here, whether in a tent or camper. The trails are addicting, personally! If you are camping with a couple groups, it's pretty easy to find neighboring/close campsites as well.
ScoutI grew up camping along Lake Ashtabula. This is a great campground for the family; nice park, friendly campers, nice swimming area and an excellent place to watch fireworks on the 4th of July.
GuideThis is a remote site along the North Country Trail. It's well maintained, has personalized benches around a custom fire pit. There's a pit toilet hiding in the woods next to it.
Guide
Very nice riverside campground, relatively small but easy to get campers into spots. Our camper is 36' long and had no issues. Very nice play area for the kids, next to a large covered picnic area for the adults. everyone was very friendly and the view over the river was beautiful.
ScoutThis Army Corp campground is out favorite, there are three other Army Corp campgrounds around Lake Ashtabula but this one is the best. Spots are secluded and shaded. Beautiful beach for swimming and a nice playground to keep the kids entertained. Spots are gravel so there is no mud to deal with. They also have a great fishing pier. Only negative thing I can say is the rules are not enforced when it comes to pets on leashes, while I walking my pup, (on a leash) we had dogs run at us from two different camp sites. One was right in front of the host and nothing was said to the dog owner. It was frustrating because the rest of our stay I didn't dare walk my pup, she needed to stay at camp on her lead. This is a common problem at campgrounds I have found.
GuideGreat campsites through out the park. Cell service is very limited, makes it a very quiet weekend. Nice trail and a cool bench 🤫
ScoutEggerts, sometimes called Bayshore, is my favorite place to camp on Lake Ashtabula! The campground is fairly secluded, several campsites with trees blocking the view of neighbors, and lots of shade. The swimming area is great for young kids as the water is quite shallow, excellent park too! Stop by Bayshore Resort on the otherside of the bay for breakfast!
Tent camping near Ashtabula Lake in North Dakota offers a unique blend of natural beauty and outdoor adventure, perfect for those looking to escape into the wilderness.
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