Castle Mound Campground — Black River State Forest

A smaller quiet campground in a state forest. You need a Wisconsin State Forest pass to camp here - an extra fee if you don’t have one already. The sites are varied. Some are closer together with less vegetation between them. Others are more spread out. The view from our site was the backs of other campers so we had privacy. Electric and non-electric sites are interspersed. There are vault toilets in camp and a shower house just outside of the campsite area. A playground and nature trails give the family something to explore. There is a shelter house available too. A mountain bike trail heads right out from camp. Lots of ATV trails in the area too. A little road noise can be heard but it’s easily forgotten. Town is just a few minutes away if you forgot something. 

A quiet, forest campground

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!

Wooded Area

Castle Mound was a great state forest campground. All sites are drive-in, and well spaced with ample woods in the summer. Some sites are kind of small, and finding root and stone-free areas for more than one tent might be a challenge. Bathrooms are clean and seem to be recently renovated. The campground is not too far from freeway, which didn’t pose a huge problem, but those sensitive may be bothered by noise. 
Woods are gorgeous with nice trails. Black River Falls is a very short drive from the campground as well. 

Beautiful woods, close to freeway

Nice large sites among giant pine trees. Very quiet campground with electric and non-electric sites. Very nice shower facilities for campers.  Hiking trail with scenic overlook accessible from campground. 

Beautiful quiet campground not far from Wisconsin Dells

In the end we were happy to have made the hike up to the top of Castle Mound but camping isn’t required to hike. Overall we won’t be camping there again. The people were nice, the facilities were clean and the campground was pretty. This forest seems to really cater to ATV people and we are not those people. Also my husband got stung three times because there was a ground hornet nest next to the tent pad. We stayed one night, had two booked but ended up only using a small portion of our site because of the hornets. The very nice people in charge were going to take care of it when we left, it just wasn’t the place for us. Maybe it’s all the bad energy that hangs over Black River Falls? 

Not my favorite place…

Stayed here for a dive trip to Lake Wazee (15 min). Very nice sites. Quiet. Close to Black River Falls. Great hike around Castle Mound. 

Nice Campsite near Lake Wazee

Camp sites were good. Plenty of room for multiple tents &amp; some hammocks. Came with picnic table and fire pit. Fire wood was only $5 on site for a decent sized bundle. Campground was quiet and well kept. Vault toilets in most of the campground (smelly and not the cleanest but this is expected with vault toilets) there was a main shower/restroom area at the entrance to the campground which was very clean. Drinking water available by the showers. Added bonus - the hiking trail was within the campground and was very scenic. Cool rock formations and a decently easy hike. 

Solid campground 

We hadn't picked a place to camp in advance, because we wanted to see how far we could get on the drive. We were able to reserve a spot online at 8:30pm same-day on a Wednesday in July. Nice hot showers available for free.