Cliffwood Campground — Mirror Lake State Park

Mirror lake feels like taking a little step back into time.  Ishnala supper club is basically in the state park, and having an Old Fashioned cocktail there is quite possibly one of my top Wisconsin experiences. 

This park is kind of the hidden gem of the Wisconsin Dells area. If you are looking for loud levels of activity, you hit up a water park or magic show. If you want some nature, you do the Dells or Devil’s Lake state park (which I’m informed is a party campground). With all of this going on it is quite easy to overlook Mirror Lake, even though it is only a hop skip and a jump away from the retro Denny’s. 

We stayed at this park so that we could have a pandemic-style meetup with my in-laws. I chose site 204 because it looked enormous (it is) and it has a good sized parking lot. If you are camping with another family this is a good site to get, since 203 is connected by a trail. The sites don’t have a lot of visual privacy between them, but you are far enough away that the people staying there weren’t even really on my radar. 

There are A LOT of campsites at this park (I believe 110 total) .There were very few that I would designate as a“bad” campsite, there is just a lot of variety. A fair amount of them were directly off of the main park road and looked nice, you just have to be willing to deal with more car traffic. We stayed in the Sandstone Ridge loop, and some of the sites had more elevation gain than others. The bathrooms are open during the pandemic, they look on the older side. Firewood was $6 a bundle at the time of our stay. 

Important thing to note: you are so so close to the freeway. I wasn't aware of the freeway noise during the day, but once I went to bed it was all I could hear- so bring better earplugs than I did!

We took site 138 as recommended by another reviewer.

Pros: 

Nice, quiet loop,

Little traffic, 

Close to a bathroom with showers and the paved trail

Private path in the back of the site leading to an area overlooking the lake,

Nice fire ring,

Garbage/food hook,

Not bad mosquito-wise,

Nice trails, 

Picturesque park, 

Decent cell phone reception, even data, with Mint Mobile that runs on TMobile towers.

Cons:

The loop has no trees, so you can definitely see your neighbors across, we parked our car across the driveway for privacy,

Freeway noise is very prominent, especially at night,

Site itself is small, surrounding sites are also small, especially 139, there was a full-size RV backing into it as we were leaving, and it looked like it would not fit (we stayed at a single site at Governor Dodge a week prior, and it was almost twice as big),

Path behind the site ends on a bluff overlooking the lake somewhat, but if you have kids, I’d not let them go alone, it gets steep towards the edge.

Overall, we enjoyed the park a lot. Nice trails, walking distance from the campground, unlike in some other parks, where you have to drive to hike, great terrain to explore, boat launch area is very nice and wide, we had a rubber boat with a trolling motor, and the lake was very enjoyable.

We have a big private site #138 it’s in the Cliffwood loop at the end where the circle is. We had electric, picnic table, (you have to fill your camper with water after you enter there’s many hoses) we had a fire pit and a private trail behind the campsite that leads to a view of the lake. It has been so quiet in this loop it’s hard to believe it’s opening week due to COVID.

The lake is nice and cold lots of kayaking and canoeing. You can launch at the boat ramp.

There is a swim beach, nice pet area and trails in the park to hike.

There are 3 loops for camping we like the one we’re in. Cliffwood loop Big sites near us ours 138, 137 big but soggy when it rains hard, 136 is nice it has a view of the lake. 139 is ok the back drops down a hill where you park for day use.

Sandstone ridge loop some nice big sites are 74, 75, 77.

Bluewater bay loop has no electric smaller sites we saw all tents in this loop.

Some sites are not level so come prepared.

We ate at Ishnala supper club it’s very pricy yet excellent food. The building is cool with some original parts from the old log cabin it once was. The service is great beautiful view of the lake from a window seat. Several bars and a little gift shop.

Good food in Baraboo at the little village cafe. The chocolate torte is so good. The owners are so nice.

We would stay here again.