Turtle River State Park Campground

We had fun there was something for everyone in the family tip do. Hiking, fishing and sight seeing.

Someting for everyone in the family to do!

looking to get away from the flat land of North Dakota? This park is where to be. Lots of great trails with some awesome views.

Turtle River

Great state campground.  friendly staff and super programs for the family by the naturalist.  our family loves the place!

Great place

This campground is gorgeous, and they have plenty of hiking trails all around the park. It is reasonably priced to camp here, and it is never crowded!

An Oasis in a Wasteland

Such a well maintained park! There are so many trails to explore. Great shelters all over the park as well as rental cabins.  

Hikers Paradise! 

My girls and I had a great day and night at TRSP. Tons of trails for biking and hiking. Some of the biking was too hilly for my 7 year old though. Our campsite was #88 which was a great spot. Nice and secluded along the river. I didn’t bring a cart though so we had to wall back and forth from the parking lot since it isn’t a full drive in site. There weren’t any carts available to bring your stuff to your site. I will know better next time. Very quiet overall but you could hear traffic at night on Hwy 2. There is also perfect trees for hanging your hammock. Will love to come back this winter for snowshoeing for sure and again for camping! 

Primitive Site 88

This would be an interesting park for birders, and as some other reviewers have said it is like an oasis in the prairie, a forested enclave. The interpretive staff at the visitors center are enthusiastic, the river is good for fishing, and there are a lot of trails.  It is a good get-away for folks who live in the Grand Forks area. Unfortunately, we were there on an event weekend—“Halloween in July” which meant the campsites were jam packed for the weekend with people eager to be costumed ghouls and do various tricks and treats. RVs were jam packed in, as were the tent sites, and even the hike-in campsites seemed crowded.  It was also very buggy which is probably to be expected in a lowland with wetlands. One great appeal was a really great dog park! One if the nicest I’ve seen, and surprising that there would be one in a state park. For fans of winter recreation, this is apparently a hotspot for skiing and snowshoeing, and I can see coming back for that. But probably not for camping in the summer, possibly in the fall when less buggy and less crowded

Event weekends can be crowded

Stayed here on our family vacation to various state parks in ND. Although, this was a nice place, it was the bottom in our list of places we visited. No swim beach - we ended up going over to Larimore Dam rec area, which was awesome!! Had some geocaches, but TONS of poison ivy!!!! Even had sprouts if it in our mowed campsite! We were careful &amp; nobody got it. Had a scavenger hunt while we were there, which was a nice way to explore a bit. Nice trails.

Nice campground 

I needed to scout what Turtle River looked like before I pull my travel trailer there in Spring. Here is what I found.

Nice flat pull through campgrounds.
Easy electrical outlets with breakers.
Water outlets are off for winter.
Plenty of bathrooms
Septic is drive through may be tricky to get in with large trailer.
Gas stations are about 5 miles east of park. With Subway and Dairy Queen.
Lots of big trees, cleared enough for campers, but watch for widow makers.
Nice and playful dog park.
Cabins are basic and look warn. Park Manager going to fix up next year.
As all state parks, under staffed.
2020 was record high for campers in park.
Beautiful however the lake in entrance will not be seen in campgrounds.
Nice flat spaces for tent camping.
Very clean.
Well groomed.
Fire pits
BBQs everywhere.
Plenty of places to explore.
Lots of trails.
Friendly staff.
Dogs aloud in park as long as on lease except in the dog park of course.
Lots of wildlife during certain times of year.
No dangerous wildlife or reptiles.
Fishing aloud certain time of year.
No hunting = good
Firewood at main entrance.
No snack machines seen?

Very nice place all in all to visit for a week or weekend.









October 2020

This campground has it all. Lots of trails (relatively easy), pristine bathrooms, deer wandering through the sites, a murder mystery game, electric and water hookups, easy access. 

One of my favorites 

Nice lil campground in a pretty, wooded forest but holy cow there's poison ivy everywhere! We have it popping up in the mowed area of our camp site even. Not a great area for little kids because of that, though they do have a nice little playground area and plenty of short walking trails. It'd be a good overnight rest stop on the way to or from Grand Forks, but not a destination in itself. A great note is that the camp hosts and rangers are plentiful, friendly, and helpful! 

Poison Ivy Galore 

Campground was set up a little funny but not hard to locate site once driving around about 3 minutes. Pretty wooded area in hell hole North Dakota. Will never be back here but did enjoy my stay at the hidden gem in a very very boring state. 

Unique spot

First time camping for the wife and I. We were very impressed with how clean the bathrooms were. Just wish there was more to do during the visit. 

Nice camping area 

We spent 3 nights here and it was very cold and snowy but the bathroom was open and warm and clean and the campground has a ton of short but very nice hikes. Lots of deer and squirrels and I'm guessing really busy in the summer but was delightful to share all the trails with just wildlife.