Best Tent Camping near Rice Lake, WI

General: Smallish (38 sites plus four walk-in sites) Army Corps of Engineers campground. Some (see below) have electric hookups but no water or sewer hookups, however, there is a dump station. 

Site Quality: All sites are gravel/dirt (except for the ADA-accessible site), and most are very generous in size. Our site (7) sloped down but leveled out with plenty of room for our campervan at the bottom. All sites are wooded with trees providing separation/privacy between sites. Completing the site are a metal picnic table, fire ring, and lantern hook. 

Bath/Shower House: Sites 28-38 only have vault toilets (but you could trek to the other campground loop). Sites 1—27 have flush toilets and showers. They were very clean, and I especially appreciated the fact that they were cleaned daily before 6 am, a shout out to the camp host! The shower was great– warm water and great flow, although our friends (who arrived two days before we did) had cold showers when the campground was full.

Activities: Several short hiking trails. I give this campground 4 stars instead of 5 because Eau Galle Reservoir (Lake George) is about a 10-minute drive from the campground. Most Corps of Engineers campgrounds are located right on the water. There are no amenities (rentals, etc.) offered at the lake but it is small and beautiful, and we enjoyed a peaceful paddle. We saw a couple of people fishing on the lake and there is a small swimming area. At the campground, there was an interpretive center, but it was locked when we were there. There is also a nice, modern playground. 

Aside from the plentiful bugs (in August), we enjoyed our two-night stay at this campground!

This was my first time camping EVER, and I wanted a balance of car camping ease with quiet wilderness. I stayed in the E loop. No electric sites, which cut down the number of big rig RVs, but there were plenty of small campers and trailers. To me, this means louder guests than tent campers. That said, people tended to quiet down by 9-10p. There was occasional noise during the day from crop dusters and motorized boat traffic on the St. Croix.

Site 87 had nice privacy — less between sites 87 and 89 and much more between 87 and 85 (see photos). Site 89 is a double site, so be prepared for a little more activity if someone books there. If I went again, I'd try to snag site 85. Large trees and vegetation between sites, especially on the outside loop. Plenty of space for hammocks. The site itself was level and very spacious. We had a five person tent and could have put up a bug house easily. The fire pit was clean and had a grate on top. Pit toilets were clean and had plenty of toilet paper, especially for the end of a holiday weekend. Bugs were minimal, but could have been because the weather was on the cooler side (50s-60s).

A couple random notes:

• Firewood is $6/bundle. Self-pay available if the ranger station is closed. Bring exact change since you'll be paying by envelope.

• The ranger station was open for window service, and they sold fire starters, soda, t-shirts, etc. Not sure when hours are exactly. They were open when I went around 3-4p Sunday and Monday to buy wood.

• Cell reception for T-Mobile was minimal to non-existent.

Backpack site Buck Hill is right on the river, beautiful view to the east. Circled by flowers (goldenrod in the late summer), brush and trees. End of the path so zero foot traffic / passersby. Fine size for us but if you had two tents maybe tight. Fire ring and picnic table of course. No drinking water (we brought a bladder). It’s a great place to star gaze. There’s a teeny somewhat treacherous path to the river- no beach or anything (water was super low when we went) - Just can get your feet wet.

Down the path a little bit is an unenclosed toilet - not the best. The other direction down the path (only about 20 ft) is a smallish bear box.

You can harvest your own wood (at this time) and that was really great - bring a backpacking saw!

Only downside to the site— you can hear cars on both sides (river and opposite side of forest).

It was a 2.37 mile walk from the parking lot, mostly shaded.

Side note: we checked out Deer Creek site which is much closer to the car. It is a hike in / canoe site. It’s wayyy more spacious, and even has two separate clearings. Also has cool stairs down the to water, and a much more expansive view of the river. We will be staying there next time! We want to take a few days to canoe the whole length of the park, camping along the different sites. Next year! :)

Group campsite one is a lovely open site right on the St Croix River. This is a walk in site but fairly close to the parking area. Plenty of grassy space to play and set up several tents. If the 5 group sites it is probably the farthest from the vault toilets but still not that far away. The sites are all right next to each other so there is no privacy and no guarantees another group won’t disturb your group at night or vice versa. The park is not very large but what it offers is lovely. In the river side you’ll enjoy rocky trails and the famous potholes and in the hill side you’ll enjoy views from way up high.

 This park is on a smaller scale and less crowded than Devil’s Lake. There is a small beach that is in the process of renovation. The sites are large surrounded by trees and very private. The sites on the lake side are not electric and some of them are huge buddy sites, great for extended families. There are two shower houses in the campground located next to sites 29 or 72. If you are on the legs furthest from the lake it is a long walk to them, but all those sites have electric. There are two vault toilet locations and a total of 116 campsites all with a picnic table and fire ring. There is a very large playing field and a playground in the Family Campground and another playground past the beach near the fishing dock. This State Park has a large number of picnic shelters and picnic grounds with picnic tables. There are about 10 hiking trails. There is a boat launch and you can rent kayaks or canoes at the visitor center. Everything was kept clean and in good repair. Cell service for both AT&T and Verizon was strong enough to stream video. If you want to take a trip to town, there are about 5 no longer than a 10 mile distance. There was a large grocery store in Chippewa Falls. Only ice and firewood are available at the park.

This is one of our favorite Wisconsin state parks. It is quiet and shady, next to the Chippewa River. You can kayak on the river and in-between the islands where the water is very calm and full of lily pads and wildlife. There is a paved bike trail, Old Abe, that connects to the park and is 20 miles long to Chippewa Falls. It's an easy bike ride, a few miles, into Cornell for ice cream at one of 2 shops that have it! One camground loop has electric and bathroom with showers and flush toilets. The other loop has no electric and pit toilets and has many sites next to the water. Campsites are roomy and shaded.