Best Equestrian Camping near Spooner, WI

Well, it snowed … in late March. I stayed in the campground in late March, 2025. This is a big park with a diversity of hiking, equestrian, and canoeing options. Since the park runs along the St. Croix, there are beautiful river-side walks to be had. There are also Oak Savanna trails. Several trails are for horses, but that isn’t my scene. I stayed in the campground for two nights. It was cold, rainy, and that turned into 5” of snow. Like many MN State Park campgrounds, you are close to your neighbors with no real private offerings. I stayed in site 66e. It was a typical site with nothing bad nor special about it. The hike to the former Dam site is the neatest thing about the park. I recommend reading the historical information at the site of the dam. Having been here once, I see no reason to come back.

Stayed for two nights at a drive-in double site here and found it ideal for autumn camping. We didn’t think we would get colors, but they came out a little early, adding a few splashes to the hiking and river view.

Site was private enough, the woods surrounding dense enough to obscure others while still feeling open. Also open enough to spot three white-tail deer.

Hike to the Nevers Dam lookout was easy enough for a five year old to walk (most of it) — featuring some very cool fallen trees and a wonderful winding staircase — and the adjacent sandy beach was a pleasant and peaceful surprise.

One complaint is that the nearby vault toilet reeked of amonia and was unusable so we had to walk to the adjacent loop for bathroom. Silver lining is that we discovered the free little library near that bathroom and grabbed a copy of ‘Ramona the Brave’ for the kiddo. We went back and left a copy of ‘Amira’s Picture Day.’

This campground is massive! Our campsite was on the farthest loop and was very private! We saw sooooo many deer some even walking right through campsites! You can hear coyotes, raccoons and very loud owls😂

We spent an entire day hiking and it was decent hiking along the river, some of the trails where a little confusing and trying to figure out where we at, but we made it just hiked a little further than we wanted to😂! This seems to be the hot spot for horses and if we go back I definitely want to do the horseback riding right outside the park! DRIVE to the visitors center from the campsites it’s a bit away!

Postives: Very private and remote, Lots of wildlife, friendly staff, okay hiking. The canoe rental place wasn’t open so we can’t comment of water activities!

Negatives: Only one shower house and we had to drive there, the primitive toilet smelled so bad it burned!! It needed to be emptied and wasn’t the entire time we were there. This isn’t a comment on this state park but because we where no where near a real bathroom and we have a toddler who wears a diaper/potty training there are no trash cans in the primitive toilet it could create a problem if you had a little one or if your a women😉

overall it was good camping trip, but if we did come back we would definitely camp closer to the shower house.

We stayed in campsite 29 in the drive in campsite over Labor Day weekend. The park was great - lots of hiking options, very clean (including the bathrooms), available water, right along the river. #29 definitely wouldn't be my first pick, but we booked late and it was one of the two left. No pad, which was fine (some of the sites do have pads, though). You could easily fit two tents in the site - it was a nice big area and looked kind of empty with just our one tent! The site isn't particularly private, since it was in the center of the loop, and if anyone ends up in the campsite behind you (#33), you're really pretty close - we lucked out and no one showed up until we were leaving. On the other hand, if people wanted to double camp, those two sites would be great together! It was a busy weekend, but people seemed to be pretty quiet after 10 pm. #30 looked like an awesome site and probably had the most privacy of the B lane. The restrooms were between A and B lanes (walkway between #24 & #26, #26 was pretty exposed to people walking back and forth) and was pretty busy - and not many people following the mask rule for the park. The campsites in general were pretty busy (Labor Day weekend probably contributed to that), there are a lot of sites, and it's close-ish to the cities, so if you're really looking to get away from people this probably isn't the ideal park. Lots of dogs, too. But, the sites were right next to the hiking paths and the park has a ton to see. We had a good time! We hiked past the Spring Creek campsite area and it looked really great, if you want to carry your stuff in.

I’ll say, one of the best parts of this park is all the interpretative kiosks. Love learning about the forestry and history of state parks!  Also many options for trails which is great. A lot of wildlife here, I heard a ton of coyotes and geese, a woodpecker, and a beaver under the bridge in the evening chomping away at peeling logs... totally scared me at first but he was just doing his job and I tried not to bother him! 

I stayed at the backpacking site: SPRING. It’s just a short hike (bout 400 meters)  from the river access where there is a vaulted toilet snd water year-round. The site had a bench overlooking the river and a rugged stair for water access. Also had a little personal rustic toilet just a trail behind the site. Nice and wooded campsite, soft dirt, and fairly spacious! In wet months, I bet it's pretty muddy. The only drawback is that the trail it’s situated on is the hiking club trail and heavily trafficked. I stayed in winter, where you could see through the trees and all that tho. Maybe in summer, it’s more secluded? But still, something to keep in mind.

Took a peek at the campground- some of the most spaced out and wooded sites I’ve seen yet. I like that they made it in separated loops, to avoid through traffic distracting your stay. Love the visitors center, great overlook, and interesting information. By the trail center, which is also very cozy and rents, skis and snowshoes and has a great inside fireplace, there is an interpretative walk about white pines- great for kids to imagine those huge trees! They do a great job aiding the imagination as you walk along the short trail.

Camper cabins here are up on a bluff- didn’t stay there but totes want to! Nicely situated.

Everything that I checked out here was very well managed and they clearly put a lot of time and care into making this park functional, interesting, and accessible. I loved my little backpack site but can’t wait to come back to camp in the summer or rent a cabin! The river is gorgeous, even as it was frozen in winter!