Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Ellsworth, WI

This is a state park on the Wisconsin side of the St Croix River, which is mirrored by a comparable but smaller state park in Minnesota on the wrst side of the river, both being part of the wild and scenic St Croix National Waterway. Although the campsites themselves are pretty run of the mill, the setting is spectacular in terms of breathtaking scenery, and myriad outdoor activities from rock climbing in the river gorge, paddling the river, hiking miles of trails, and learning geology at the Ice Age geology visitors center. If you are tenting camping, the south loop is great, and if you pick campsite 65 or 67 you will have direct access to the river which is peaceful and good for paddle opportunities. There are picnic areas with swimming along the river which is nice for group gatherings, and one is designated for folks with pets. Some of the rugged hiking trails along the bluffs and cliffs go right along the edge with minimal guard rails or walls, so keep a close eye on kids and pets because going over the edge is a possibility so utmost caution is advised.

We are here for a show at the casino and thought it would be fun to bring the camper down and glamp for the weekend. It is just a parking lot but the sites are all pull through and there is plenty of room between sites and ours was perfectly level.

We have dogs so the fact that it’s all asphalt and rock is a bit of a bummer but we are close to the exercise area and they do love little walks. It also seems to be controlling some of the normal bad pet parent behavior we see at even parks. Like letting the dogs run with out leashes or tethering them all day to bark at everything.

The sites do not have fire rings but there are some community ones and it appears the other campers brought their own smokeless fire pits to use.

There is a shuttle to the casino and at 7pm folks seemed to clear out to head over. It was honestly one of the quietest campgrounds we’ve been to on a Friday night.

The bath house is newer and super clean- not a single creepy spider web in any corners.

On Verizon I have full bars so we haven’t tried the park WiFi but we’ve been able to use our chrome cast and two iPads off my cell phone with zero issues. Because it’s in a river valley the air tv single is terrible so we are glad to have the chrome cast with us- since the forecast called for a raining day.

Washington County, which manages campgrounds at both the Lake Elmo Park Reserve and St Croix Bluffs Regional Park, does a great job of maintaining campgrounds, trails, and bathroom facilities at both parks. St Croix Bluffs is right along the St. Croix river - in the summer you can hang out at the sandy beach on the river and in the fall there are many trails to enjoy fall color. 

There are multiple areas in the modern campground - one section is for larger rigs that has 50 amp service and water at each site, most sites in the other loops have 20 or 30 amp electric service, and there are a few non-electric tent-only sites as well. The park prohibits both pets and alcohol! There is both a volleyball court and nice play structure in the modern campground.

We camped over MEA break (mid October) at site #4 this year and liked how close it was to the bathroom building. There is a lot of open space behind the parking/tent pad on this site, which made it a perfect spot for the kids to run and play without running close to other camper's sites. Sites 1, 2, 4, and 6 have similar amounts of open space behind the campsites. 

In the past we've stayed here as part of a group in the group campsite. The group campsites at this park are some of the best I've stayed in - they include sand volleyball courts, a covered picnic shelter with electricity, a primitive toilet, and access to a large play structure nearby.

This place has two group sites the one we stayed at Birch Hollow, hosts up to 20 campers and the other one up to 50. We absolutely loved this place, it was clean and separated from the other campers. Our site has a large picnic shelter with 6 picnic tables two grills and it’s own volleyball place. We also had a portable toilet included which was amazingly clean! The fire pit had two charming log benches and a ton of room for extra chairs. Most important we had electric hook ups and drinking water right on the site. I liked this spot because there is so much space to spread out, we had 5 tents set up and room to spare. A few down sides are that the nearest bathroom were about 1/4 mile down the road and they were closed:( so we kept having to drive even further into the park where the other campers stayed to use those bathrooms and showers...which were very clean but still it would be nice to have more than one portable toilet or at least have the closest bathhouse open... for the group sites. Another downside is YOU CANT BRING ALCOHOL OR PETS! I love my pooch but sadly she had to stay home with a dog sitter, and I love my piña colada’s but I could not enjoy them either... The beach was very nice to swim in, but was a bit crowded no surprise In mid July. And the trails were nice also... however, apparently there had been some bear sightings when we went, be ware of the bears I guess. We didn’t spot any on the trail but we did get visited by raccoons both nights so be sure to clean and put away food AND garbage before calling it a night. Will be coming back soon!

Easy pull-through and back-in sites. We easily backed in to our site. There was a large open grassy area behind us that our two dogs enjoyed. Brand new fire rings/pits. Beautiful view of the bluffs. Walking distance to several restaurants. Don't miss the Nelson Creamery. Housed in an old historic building, I was expecting just an average ice cream/Wisconsin cheese store, but it was really lovely inside and it reminded me of something in France. There is a formal dining room area, wine cellar, and casual outdoor seating on a patio under vine covered canopy. Soups, sandwiches, pizzas, beer and wine available.

We only stayed for 2 nights, but the best part was the bathroom/shower house! There were 3-4 private shower/toilet/sink rooms with full locking doors. Everything is brand new and pristinely clean: white subway tile, white walls, white fixtures. Great water pressure and temperature. It reminded me of a fancy athletic club like Lifetime Fitness! 

There is also a laundry facility in the building (again, everything new and clean).