Best Glamping near Holmen, WI

A beautiful location in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin. Near hiking, biking, fishing attractions.  The campground is well groomed with lots of camping spots available. First come First serve with all sites being group sites.  A membership is required and covers all the amenities, well worth the cost. The club raises trout and does conservation work locally helping the environment.  Onsite showers and flush toilets. For rent on site is a cabin, 2 Native lodges and a clubhouse for large groups, events, and meetings.  Reservable from the website.  A very laid back and enjoyable campground with friendly people.

Many years ago I went to Wildcat Mountain State Park with my future son's dad. It was the first time I farted in front of him. We were on our way from northern Wisconsin to Gurnee, Illinois and Great America theme park, circa 1977. Years later, circa July 6th, 1984, we again spent the night there with our then 1 year old son, setting up the tent in the glow of the headlights from our 1977 Honda Civic. At that time we were on our way to The House on The Rock, where we weren't allowed to use our stroller, so had to carry that just barely walking 1 year old baby boy. Good times, and fond memories both times.

This is a small state park in terms of overall number of campsites, but its network of hiking and horseback riding trails is extensive. What makes this state park particularly interesting from a camping perspective are the walk-in(or cart in) sites. There are 12 sites you can't drive to, and the park provides very nice carts for each site(unlike other state parks where there is one or two carts for all of the sites or none at all(Blue Mounds and Gov. Dodge State Parks respectively). 

Walk-In Sites

If you are looking for privacy, cart-in site 119 is quite a ways off the trail and far from the parking lot, but it's a bit small. It has some nice midday sun but is otherwise obscured by a lot of foliage which gives it a nice amount of privacy. Number 103 is in a heavily-wooded area and doesn't get a lot of sun but is nicely situated off the main path providing it quite a bit of privacy, but not too far from the parking area. On the other hand, number 104 directly across the gravel path from 103 is situated with a east-facing view of a very nice prairie, providing ample morning sunshine. However, a grove of trees on its western side provides very nice afternoon shade. 

Now for the "car camping" sites. All of the electric sites are in a wide open in a large grassy area, and do not provide any privacy between sites or from the road. On the other hand, the non-electric sites afford a bit more privacy on their loop. The sites on the right hand side of the one-way street have far more privacy than the ones on the other side of the road. I would not like sites 1 through 5 because they are located between the main road and the campsite loop road, which would mean lots of car traffic and headlights in your tent all night long. On the left hand side of the road site 6, 9 and 11 are decent. 

I would like to add a special note about sites 13 through 16. Three of these are on the outside of a small cul-de-sac loop, and are nicely situated in the woods, though they are close to the main road and would experience a fair amount of traffic noise. However, if you have a choice I would highly recommend avoiding site 16, it's in the middle of the loop has no privacy and isn't very pleasant except that it is completely shaded. 

About the Park Itself

This state park has an extensive system of horseback riding and hiking trails. The nice thing is that the horseback trails are shared by hikers. This state park also has one of the most beautiful and well-maintained overlooks, peering down into and across the Kickapoo River Valley. 

I highly recommend visiting this overlook in the morning, at sunset, and even in pure darkness. We saw a wide array of stars and the Milky Way thanks to low light pollution. I'm not saying there is no light pollution, but it's pretty darn dark. I fell in love with this state park. It has fewer than 50 campsites, well maintained shower and vault toilet blocks, and a beautiful selection of walking trails. It also has a very accurate map of the walking trails, so you can hike confidently. 

The park office sells firewood for$5 a bundle, which is about the same kind and quantity as they sell for$7.50 at the gas station 7 miles down the road in Ontario, Wisconsin. If you need a groceries or gasoline, the Cenex gas station has a small but sufficient grocery supply if you you need something. We forgot to bring eggs and pancake mix and they had both.

Kayaking the Kickapoo

This is a great place to start your Kickapoo River kayaking adventure. We booked two kayaks with one of the Ontario-based outfitters and spend a glorious September day paddling and floating the absolutely beautiful river. I HIGHLY recommend taking a day to explore the beautiful scenery from the silence of a river kayak.