Established Camping
Buckhorn State Park Campground
About
State Park
Water Enthusiasts, hunters, hikers, and anyone who enjoys the outdoors will find solace in Buckhorn State Park. Situated within the heart of Southern Wisconsin, this park and an adjacent wildlife reserve showcases over 9,000 acres of unspoiled midwestern wilderness. At the end of the Wisconsin and Yellow Rivers, this park is famous for the large man-made reservoir it occupies. The intensity of nature here is staggering. The park prominently exhibits dense, green wetland forests, exposed prairies, and sand-swept dunes. The sandy landscape found in certain areas are the result of glacial erosion and sand deposits left after the last global Ice Age.
Westward expansion caused massive amounts of damage to the surrounding region. Before European settlers came, the region housed over 4.1 million acres of barren pine and oak forests. Today, less than 10,000 acres remain standing; a stark contrast to the once thriving wonderland. Thankfully much of this acreage is now protected, and serves as a hugely popular area for tourists and visitors to recreate year-round.
The park is most famously known for its large wetland flowage, owing to the poor soil conditions of the region. Subsequently, kayakers and small-craft boaters visit to spot flora and fauna not found anywhere else in the state. The flowage fills just enough every year to accommodate and protect a number of endangered species, including the Karner Blue Butterfly, and the state-threatened Osprey.
Aside from bird watching and unparalleled views of wetland nature, the park also offers up a 300 foot sand beach complete with volleyball nets, picnic shelters, horseshoe pits, and recreation areas perfect to recreate under the sun. Outside of the beach, fishing is one of the most popular attractions, as the slough houses delicious Bluegill, Salmon, and Wisconsin Trout.
Camping in Buckhorn State park is similar to many other state parks. There’s a handful of rustic sites facing west that line the length of the wetland overflow. This is perfect for catching multicolored sunsets that pain nearby water surfaces hues of pink, orange, red, and purple. On the opposite eastern end of the park lies campsites perfect for catching the sunrise, if you’d prefer. There is also a cabin available for reserve, and various bird-blinds for use placed strategically throughout the park. You’ll need a vehicle admission sticker to end, and all Wisconsin Camping and Fishing fees apply.
Access
- Drive-InPark next to your site
- Walk-InPark in a lot, walk to your site.
- Hike-InBackcountry sites.
- Boat-InSites accessible by watercraft.
Stay Connected
- WiFiUnknown
- VerizonUnknown
- AT&TUnknown
- T-MobileUnknown
Site Types
- Tent Sites
- RV Sites
- Standard (Tent/RV)
- Group
- Cabins
Features
For Campers
- ADA Access
- Trash
- Picnic Table
- Firewood Available
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- WiFi
- Showers
- Drinking Water
- Electric Hookups
- Toilets
- Alcohol
- Pets
- Fires
For Vehicles
- Sanitary Dump
- Water Hookups
- Pull-Through Sites
- Big Rig Friendly
Beautiful site, heavy mosquito activity
We camped on site 22. It was an easy walk from the parking lot to the site with the help of the provided carts. It was peaceful and lovely! It seemed like a good spot for kayaks and canoes given the lake access; it appeared shallow and sandy at this site. The porta-potty was clean and located in the parking lot. There was a basic fire ring with grill grate and a picnic table. Fish were jumping frequently. We were able to set up our screen house and tent with plenty of room to spare. The only reason I gave this 4/5 stars is because the mosquitoes!!! I know, it's nature in all it's glory but we couldn't leave our tents until sun went down so it was a bummer. We will revisit earlier in the spring in hopes of avoiding the bugs.
- (4) View All
Pretty good one for the weekend
Snagged a spot (#102) right before the Memorial Day weekend. Spacious site, somewhat private because of the surrounding trees. If you want to be surrounded by hammock-able trees, i suggest sites 94-99. Our site was both close to vaulted toilets/water and shower building, which was a plus. Shower head pressure was lovely and hot water was great! One downside was that people were loud and playing music till midnight but oh wells.
Was worried about bugs but I think it was okay. Maybe we were there before it began. i did find some ticks on my camping chair though so beware.
Though we didnt explore much of the Buckhorn SP, we chose this site because it was under an hour drive from Mirror Lake SP and Devils Lake SP. Making a day trip to those parks and Wisconsin Dells was a breeze.
Little Bit Better Than Average
This park has a lot to offer.
Pros:
- Most of the sites were relatively large. We had 3 tents and 2 cars on our site and it wasn't a problem.
- The lake/beach access is a nice bonus.
- Newer shower house and bathrooms, as well as vault toilets
- Decent trails.
- No apparent highway noise.
Cons:
- Despite the large campsites, it felt very "car campery" to me. The sites I observed didn't have much in the way of tree canopy, so it feels very open.
- Lots of campground noise and not secluded.
So, despite Buckhorn being well-appointed, it just wasn't really the campground for me. I prefer a more rustic and woodsy atmosphere and this was not it. I think it is likely better suited for campers/trailers than tents.
Location
Buckhorn State Park Campground is located in Wisconsin
Coordinates
43.94600092 N
90.0080004 W