Best Tent Camping near Onalaska, WI

Very wooded campsites, which allowed for some privacy, but you will still see your neighbors. The campground was pretty and very well kept by all standards. It is one of the 3 campgrounds of the Black River State Forest, but this one appealed to us because of its location to the town and to the highway. Its a very nicely spread out campground that had a lot to offer. When you first pull in you are directed to the pay kiosk/office park. Note that you can't pay right now due to the virus, so you will need to have a sticker on your car ahead of it. 

As for the sites. They can be large or small depending on where you choose. The majority are for tent camping and not larger RVs so if you have a bigger RV make sure you are looking ahead at the size of the pad. We saw a variety of people in different rigs from medium winnebagos and airstreams to small tear drops. Some sites are electric and that is where the campground was full. The tent sites were nice and we could get our scamp into one of those fairly easily. The nice thing is the trees...they provide great shade and also allow you to hang your hammock up if you choose. We did see warnings of ticks so just be cautious. 

The showers were very nice and looked to be housed in a new shower house. They were working on the water heater when we stopped so the cold water was all they had, but that was fine as it was a hot day. The toilets around the campground are pit, but they are more than just an outhouse so you are safe. 

One random thing was the firewood was the cheapest I have ever seen it at any state park. Nice to see them offering up a good deal on what nature provides!

I camped here last summer and wasn't impressed at how close the camp sites were. We camped in a tent and there were several RV's nearby. Additionally when we went to hike around the area we couldn't seem to escape the sounds of the nearby highway. Aside from that the bluffs were beautiful and really fun to climb!

Has very clean showers and toilets. Owl center at office. Tent sites only and not many. Must make reservations but typically not many people here camping.

Stayed here in a tent while on a bicycle camping trip and it was adequate. It is located in a city park within a couple minutes walk of the downtown area. The bike trail crosses the south end of downtown so close to that too. This would not be a good place to camp if you'd like to be out in nature

Biggest gripe is the slope of the tent sites. The majority of the tent sites are on an incline around a pond. There are also a lot of ducks that aren't very afraid of humans. None got into my gear though. There are fire rings at the tent sites. No picnic tables at the individual sites but there are some nearby in the park and there's also a covered picnic shelter. Hammocks would be difficult to impossible as the tent area is a strip of grass between pond and bluff, which has mostly brush or too whimpy of trees to hang from at the base. There are a couple huge oaks but none in pairs.

Quarter showers and clean restrooms are available. $20/night/tent which seemed a bit steep to me considering how slanted the sites were and quarter showers. It is cheaper than the other places within immediate biking distance which were $25/night.

Beautiful place, tent camping is available. Great breakfast and romantic setting for our anniversary. They sell wine and food in the store. Host is amazing and friendly. Disc golf is busy here, in winter they have sledding hills. The llamas are fun to feed.

A lot of electric sites. Tent sites further back in the campground through multiple water crossings (ok for cars). Campsites beautiful wooded sites in the bluffs. Definitely a campground to see!

Stayed in 2 primitive tent sites: table, fire ring, shaded. Great sites for hat are all within walking to stocked trout streams! CG is in valley, cooled air, shaded, cold water streams to cool off. Pit toilets, trash bins, self registration with some sites reservable.

Sites are basic with water, pit toilets, tables and fire rings. I originally planned to stay here but came across the non-resident charges (my state does not do this). I made reservations at the Village of Norwalk and the town of Hillsboro instead. Both have City parks with free tent camping. Norwalk even has showers and RV spots. I've added both to The Dyrt library.

We are new to tent camping and are fortunate to live a short drive away from Whitewater State Park. We have heard from our friends who go camping that this is a highly sought after destination and I can see why. Beautiful lookouts on trails, quiet camp sites (non electric sites are much more peaceful), and very nice amenities. The main shower/restroom area looks brand new and is very nice.

Most sites are for car camping or RV's. Tent site was nice and clean and a good size. Could have set up 2 tents with no problem. Not a ton of privacy from other campers. Showers/bathrooms available. Lots of hiking trails. Camp store was never open when I checked. Swimming beach was available, but there were geese (and their poop) everywhere. This state park is nice because there are NO mosquitoes. But beware, there are bears.

Small rustic campground with no hookups or electrical sites which is perfect if you are tent camping! Sites are smaller but nice, the outer sites have better privacy with most inner sites backing up to the restrooms. The hiking here is amazing with numerous lookout points to see the river from the bluffs. There are short and long hikes to get to the views, so it’s good for all levels of hiking. Overall this campground has a lot to offer and we will definitely go back!

This is a convenient small campground next to a city park. The touristy shops and biking trails are within a few blocks of the campground. The RV campsites have water and electricity. We found the sites to be rather close together. The sites are first come first served (no reservations). There are also numerous tent sites, as this seems to be popular with the bicycling crowd. This really is a beautiful area of southeast MN.

I was disappointed with camping here. We stayed in a tent site, W##. We felt lucky with this because the W sites were more secluded and you didn't feel like you were on top of your camping neighbors. The bathrooms and showers here were very gross though. The hiking here had great views but trails were not labeled well. The Big Spring was also a great natural water feature to relax in after a hot hike!

Its nice to have a place this nice only 35 minutes from Rochester. Beautiful campground with great amenities available. The hike to the site is steep but worth it once you get up there. I stayed at the Talia bell tent site so I didn't have to bring much so it made the hike a lot easier. Short drive to White Water State Park. A lot of great trout fishing spots along the river. Very peaceful campground, great view of the stars on clear nights! Will definitely be back.

This camp South of Lacrosse Wisconsin is a great family or road tripping camp. Goose Island has very friendly staff and a nice little camp supply store at the entrance where you can also purchase firewood in two sizes of tubes. You’ll need a way to haul the wood to your site. We tent camp so we choose nonpowered sites away from the RV’s. The website refers to the camp as being on the backwater of the Misssippi. What ever it is, it is beautiful and right on the water. Bring the bug spray for the evening becasue the mosquitoes do come out in force. The camp facilities are clean and convenient. There is a small children’s playground and a small swimming area also. The camp was relatively busy in the powered RV area but clean and quite thoughout. It looked like there were some long term RV campers by the looks of their set up. You won’t regret staying at Goose Island.

We stopped here to sleep on our way home from a long road trip. The electric sites are like a typical RV park, not much space or privace. We had site 40west and it was larger, but too close to the smelly pit toilets. Showers nice, hot and clean. The tent sites looked spacious, but not very private. The campground is in a beautiful setting and not far off The Great River Road. We enjoyed watching a muskrat family playing in the stream by our site. We would definitely use this campground as a layover again.

There is a lot of hiking (the view from the bluffs are amazing) you can rent kayaks canoes etc. and they have a boat landing. No shore fishing or swimming which is disappointing.

The nonelectric sites were a bit small (compared to many state parks I have been too) -especially considering the gravel spot they leave for pop ups - not great to tent camp on and takes up most of the space that is safely far enough from the fire pit.

The bathrooms were decent but quite a hike (which stinks late at night) the showers were clean but I never used them.

However, the bugs and mosquitos were almost unbearable. We fogged the site daily, had thermacells, and coated ourselves in bug spray - still came home completely bit up and trying to play cards at night the constant hum of bugs was a bit much.