Best Cabin Camping near Trego, WI

As we arrived on a Saturday around 1:45 PM, there was quite the line of RVs checking in as most people come in for a week on Saturdays. As we have been here multiple times, we knew not to line up down the narrow road shoot that’s adjacent to the lodge where you check in but stay on the main road. They had plenty of staff on duty, so check-in was fairly quick, and we headed to site 457, which was an easy back-in with FHUs. We were pleasantly surprised we didn’t get site 456 right on the road. When we make a reservation for this campground(CG), you can only pick an area, not a specific site, for most of the sites. This was the first time we’d stayed in this area of mixed short-term and seasonal sites. The FHU facilities were placed in the middle of the gravel-grass site with a picnic table and fire pit. We were able to put out our back patio and have plenty of space to park our F450. There are a lot of mature trees in this park, so satellite is going to be iffy depending on the site. We were able to get an okay shot to the north for Starlink but no chance for the southern sky. You can opt to pay for the park Wi-Fi. The water pressure is good, and we had two bars on Verizon. The staff at the lodge/office is top-notch. We found out that this year’s“watch out” was kids riding electric bikes full out versus underage golf cart drivers of last year, so“watch out” in either case. The CG has been trying to police the lack of parental oversight, but this first-rate CG attacks a lot of families. Though there’s no formal dog park, there are plenty of areas to walk your dog, including the trail up and around the newer primitive camping area. Lake Chip is one of our favs, and we will continue to return.

Our RV GPS wanted to take us through Hayward city central to the campground (CG), which was fine. However, as this was our fourth time staying at Lake Chippewa Campground, we stayed on Hwy 77 past the Walmart to hook up on Hwy 63 at the casino to avoid traffic and stoplights in Hayward. We arrived with no issues and during check-in we were delighted to find out we had other site options than the pull throughs for our 12 night stay. We had changed our reservations to an earlier date, and the only open sites at the time were pull throughs, which are not bad. However, there are much better sites in this CG. We were provided a map of available sites and a golf cart to check out sites. As we know this CG well, it was a no brainer for us to chose back-in site 460 with FHUs. The regulars who normally stay in this site had gotten an opening in one of the CG's permanent site areas. We happily proceeded to our site and had no problems backing in. The hook ups are in the middle of this long pad. Water pressure was good at about 50 psi. We did not opt for their Wifi, which you have pay for and later found out it doesn't work in this area anyway. We got 1 bar on Verizon and the signal was basically useless. There are a lot of mature trees in this CG and in this site in particular. We put our Starlink on the roof and we were able to get a usable signal. We would rather have a nice site with privacy than wifi or a phone signal. This site sits well off the road and has a large back yard area. Lake Chip is a large private CG but has a state park feel. They have lots of amenities such site side trash pickup, laundry, boat/kayak rentals, golf cart rentals, propane, and the list goes on. Eat at Powell’s on Round Lake about 15 minutes away on Co Hwy C towards Hayward. Good food and service.

This park has a ton of camping available, particularly if you don't need electricity and have a smaller rig because then you can get into more of the campground loops. (There is electricity here, but there are many more sites without.) 

The sites in the Old Logging Campground were close together but many had vegetation between them offering some privacy. Site 207 was especially tucked in but it's a tight spot, so probably best for a van or tent. 

The park itself has a lot to offer being right on the St. Croix River, plus there are hiking trails, a paved bike path, a fire tower you can climb, an old CCC camp area you can tour, and more. Also, canoe and kayak rentals are available. And this is all within the state park boundary since, at 34,000 acres, the park is the largest in the Minnesota state park system. 

Some of the loops have old bathhouses that desperately need to be replaced, but they are in the process of doing so, which means some loops have great new bathrooms and showers. (If you stay in the upper 200s, sites, you'll have one of these new bathrooms right away, but more are being built.) Cell service was incredibly spotty on Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Depending on where you're at, you'll get a low signal, but often it was only enough for texting-- don't think about using the web or social media or getting any work done while you're here. 

Overall, we enjoyed our weekend at this park and would come back for another getaway if we had the chance and it wasn't a workday.