Merrick State Park Campground

Beautiful old trees. On the Mississippi, just a short walk to the river. Boat launches, some electric sites. Very clean. Sites on the north loop are a little close together, but very manageable. I would think the mosquitoes are bad in summer. Eagles! and this is a migratory route for thousands of birds.

Second stay, first review of Merrick.  We have always reserved an Island site, since they offer the best privacy from neighbors in southern camp along the Mississippi backwaters on Fountain City Bay.  We always bring the kayaks, so the water access offered is why we stay.  

3 Campgrounds:

 - Island sites offer the best-in-park privacy for a campsite, but they are walk in (carts provided for hauling in).  Worth the short walk in from the lot for what you get. We think site 50 has the best view and launch, with not as much riprap as the other island sites, but you can make any of them work.

 - South Campground sites are closer together with fewer trees, but still offer a front row seat to the Friday evening boat show. Many sites have pretty good direct water access here too

 - North campground has electric and showers/flush toilets, access to water, but no water views

Notes to self:

 - Bring your bugspray or thermocell, we definitely needed protection.  

 - I grew up in a train town, so I loved hearing the trains in the distance, but if you were up at North camp, it would indeed be really loud.  

 - Porto-pots were passible but not great.  Watch for spidies.

There was a really nice view of the lake, and a nice clearing up towards the skies, but still adequate trees. Some mosquitos / flies. Overall very nice campsite. One downside was neighbor chopping wood at 6 am Sunday.

This is our first Wisconsin state park camping experience. This place is lovely! Nice and secluded. Our site is spacious. Nice deep fire ring with a grill grate. Really close to the river, as well. Yes… the trains do go by quite a bit, but it really hasn’t bothered us. Beautiful tall trees, clean pit toilets. This park is a gem! We’ll be back. (Oh, if you’re at the North Campground, make sure you take to short water access walk near site 20. Incredible views.)

Site 9 would be a great site for your inner train enthusiast being close to the tracks with trains running regularly to frequently. And on Friday nights, the local drag strip isn’t too far out of ear shot to keep you from missing any of the action. Otherwise it’s a nice clean standard campground with lots of sites and some scenery on the river. Lots of mosquito. Eh...it serves its purpose.

This was an interesting state park, I’m glad we came here for a day trip instead of booking anything for the nicer months. There is basically one trail that goes along the river between the two campgrounds, and that appears to be it.

Most people were there for ice fishing at this time of year, and everyone else was kind of just walking along the road through the campground since there wasn’t much else to do.

I didn’t take any campsite photos since there was still enough snow cover that I couldn’t really tell that the sites were like. Tree cover seemed to be decent for most sites, and some were even along the river. This is cool, but it also means that there is a chance that your site will get flooded out. Besides the lack of trails the biggest deterrent for me camping here is the fact that there is a train track right there. Close enough that I don’t think ear plugs would cut it for me.

We managed to snag the one picnic table by the boat launch, which was very pretty. It was a fine location for a pandemic meetup with my in-laws, but I don’t think we will be returning.

If you are coming this way from the north take time to stop at Nelson creamery and get a baguette and cheese curds. There is also a winery on the way called villa bellezza that has nice wine and flatbreads.

We stayed in one of the lower walk in sites. It had a wonderful view and easy water access. The shore consists of large rocks to prevent erosion so a canoe would have been difficult to put in but it was easy to carry my kayak into the water and and paddle across the channel to the kayak/canoe trail that we could see from the campsite. The boat traffic on the channel does get heavy at times and they do go rather fast so beware. We like to hear the trains did they didn't bother us but they were quite frequent at times. The site was very nice and spacious but the mosquitos were definitely a factor. Bring bug spray. Will definitely be returning here for a longer stay.

Very nice walk-in site right on the river. LOTS of bugs to the point it was uncomfortable so make sure to bring bug spray. Tent pad, fire ring and picnic table available. Trees available that are good for those who hammock.

The park has showers for campers, and electric sites as well.  There are 2 boat launches which can get busy on the weekends but are free to use if you have a current Wisconsin state Park sticker.  The park has a ton of wildlife, nature area, & multiple points to access the water. Great access to awesome fishing!

This site can get noisy from the nearby trains and traffic.

Being so close to the river, the bugs were awful. I did love that it was quiet even peak season and there were plenty of spots open so it felt like a nice getaway. The facilities were clean and well kept up. Didn’t see any rangers around the park besides when I was checking in. Really enjoyed the views from our site. Turtle crossing signs were everywhere and they were right! I loved seeing all the turtles!

Stayed in electric loop during the fall duck season for a cast and blast weekend. Liked having electricity in the fall to run a heater, fryer and fillet knife. Can keep you boat at the bottom of the stairs but you can't see the boats so you do have to bring gear up which is a burden. Showers also close in October I believe so couldn't utilize those.

We loved that this campground was right on the river; our dog loved thIs. The campsites were very open and train tracks were nearby. There were many mosquitoes during our trip, our campsite was located near a swampy area.