Cox Hollow Campground — Governor Dodge State Park

We love to go kayaking here, the lakes are lovely. There are also lots of trails to explore. It can get busy, especially during the summer holidays. The beaches tend to be where the people are most dense. The campgrounds are pretty large but most sites offer good privacy. We stayed at Cox Hollow campground and enjoyed our stay. The stars were glorious. P.S. Bob’s Bitchin BBQ in Dodgeville is banging if you’re looking for a yum treat.

The campsites here are deep with lots of greenery. However we chose this site thinking that it was on the end. The loops curl around so there were campers around us. On the other side was a playground that had children enjoying it all day. While this is great for some, our reactive dog was quite distracted.

Upon arriving at the check in, there is still a couple miles to wind around until the campground, longer to get to twin lakes campground. The road is hilly too. It’s not a problem in our vehicle but it would be tiring on a bicycle. There are showers in the center of our loop. It could be expanded a bit - we had short lines for the restrooms. Water , garbage and recycling are available as well as a dump station.

It was raining when we arrived but we drove around to see the park. We hiked the short distance to Stephen’s Falls and was not impressed. Maybe they need more rain this year but all we saw was a splatter.

We saw folks who kept their kayaks and canoes locked up by the lake. The beach looked nice too. The other end of the park has an equestrian campground. We did see some horses riding the trail around the park.

The vibe here wasn’t for us. Various sites had music playing loud enough for us to hear. Trails from camp would be great. We ended up walking along the narrow road.

This was my first and probably last time camping at Cox Hollow. Let’s start with positive: easy access to the campsite I was able to park my car right by the tent. Bathrooms and showers seemed clean enough, but I would recommend wearing some sort of footwear while you shower. Now the negatives: loud and obnoxious families with screaming bratty kids, people leave food scraps so raccoons are not scared and come right up to you sniffing for food, people have zero courtesy and slam bathroom door non stop, not to mention slamming down dumpster lids literally all day and late into the evening. Oh and did I mention screaming kids? Apparently “quiet hours” are from 11pm-8am, well the noise continued almost into midnight hours and as early as 6:30am. Thumping stereos with loud music, also can’t blame dogs for barking, but we had a howler and it kept going all the time. Forget about sleeping in or enjoying the sounds of nature. I’d like try different campsite at this park, but won’t be returning to Cox Hollow.