Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Kensal, ND

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.

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.

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.

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.

This 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.

This was a really nice campground. It was right off the highway, but the noise wasn't too bad. It is down a dirt road about a mile long, but that wasn't a problem. Our site was easy to get into and there was a bit of space in between the sites. The sites are positioned such that your door opens to your neighbor's door, but this is better than having your picnic table next to your neighbor's sewer hose. They had a big grass field for walking dogs, which was great. Wifi was really fast. Owners were super nice. I'd definitely stay here again if in the area.