Second stay, first review of Merrick. We have always reserved an Island site, since they offer the best privacy from neighbors in southern camp along the Mississippi backwaters on Fountain City Bay. We always bring the kayaks, so the water access offered is why we stay.
3 Campgrounds:
- Island sites offer the best-in-park privacy for a campsite, but they are walk in (carts provided for hauling in). Worth the short walk in from the lot for what you get. We think site 50 has the best view and launch, with not as much riprap as the other island sites, but you can make any of them work.
- South Campground sites are closer together with fewer trees, but still offer a front row seat to the Friday evening boat show. Many sites have pretty good direct water access here too
- North campground has electric and showers/flush toilets, access to water, but no water views
Notes to self:
- Bring your bugspray or thermocell, we definitely needed protection.
- I grew up in a train town, so I loved hearing the trains in the distance, but if you were up at North camp, it would indeed be really loud.
- Porto-pots were passible but not great. Watch for spidies.
We stayed over Labor Day 2021 (at south camp #65). I had read somewhere that sites 65 and 67 had direct access to the river--true! But the path does come off the camp road and it really does serve the entire campground, so anyone can use it. It's about 350' from the camp road to the small beach, which provides a perfect launch point for kayaks onto the St Croix. The creek shown on some maps was too dry in 2021 to be even present, let alone to access Lake O’ the Dalles.
Paddle up the river past Folsom Island and the Princess of St Croix all the way up to the rapids at Taylor's Falls. We had some challenge getting past the island with such low waters, but we persevered. If you launch from the River Bottoms Picnic Area boat launch, you can avoid those challenges. (You can also rent kayaks on the MN side to paddle downriver and get picked up.)
Hiking on the WI side is incredible--there are a ton of trails. The main ones are North of Lake O’ the Dalles, and are all well marked. Definitely spend some time there too! It's fun to see the cliffs both from the water, and also from above up top.
The pit toilets in the South Camp were not the cleanest, but it was a big end-of-summer holiday weekend. Some went up to use the showers at North Camp and they said they were nice (strong water pressure). We want to check out North sites 23/24/25 for our next adventure.
Notes on the sites in South Campground:
- we stayed at #65: smallish but adequate, sloped down on (South) passenger side on backing in--needed leveling blocks for our squaredrop. Tentpad was small but workable. Likely the best access possible in South Camp for carrying kayaks to river. One neighbor even asked to leave his kayak alongside ours overnight for convenience!
- nearby #67: HUGE and distanced from others, at end of loop. Short walk to river path too. RVs not allowed on that site(?). Lowest site in camp / private. Would try for that one if only tenting. Would also be great for big group with many cars.
- observations on other sites in south camp: many very small sites, especially on outside / Eastside of loop. Some with very little offset from camp road.
One of the Greatest MN State Parks - put it on your list! I'll try to keep comments brief here, but pictures/descriptions plentiful. We chose Bear Paw campground to be walkable to the water. Highly recommend Site 2 for nice privacy, walkable proximity to water, close to pit toilet and extra parking. After exploring Pine Ridge Camp by car, we did find other more private camp sites, but we were quite happy in Bear Paw.
To do:
- walk to hidden beach
- short drivable drop in for kayaks
- rent a pontoon at Itasca Sports
- walk the headwaters (and geocache!)
- bike on LOVELY paths, thru UofM research area, to headwaters, etc
- visit Jacob V. Brower Visitor Center for a GREAT interpretive museum (really quite good)
- have an early dinner and explore around at Douglas Lodge
- explore short or long hikes in the park, many short walks accessible from Wilderness Drive include the biggest old red and white pines
- climb the fire tower for incredible views (NOT ME!!!)
- explore many other historic sites from pioneer days in the area
Stayed 2 nights – not back-to-back, yet at the same“site”– each night as bookends to a roadtrip into the Black Hills. This bluff-top road overlooking Bloom Basin in the Buffalo Gap Grasslands is pure magic. I counted 40 spots, by counting just the campers – from tents to full on Class A busses (yet there was still more room). The road is rutted in places, but passable for seemingly most vehicles. Zero services (bring the poop tent), but cell reception is excellent! :) The grocery store in Wall is also excellent for a stock up on foods.
Sites are both “on the edge” and “on the other side of the road,” and include both small pull-offs for tenters, but also really big pull-off areas where several big RVs could group camp together. We chose a bluff-side site that had its own access trail down a spine. Wildlife like bighorn sheep ran across the mid-bluffs (video!), cows graze on the lower plains, and coyote packs call to each other at dusk. Moonrise and the most amazing Milky Way views overnight were icing on the (very hot and windy daytime) cake. We will return again.
Extremely rustic and totally gorgeous small camp along the Rock Creek in Montana. The drive in was beautiful, with a road that passed south from Missoula/Clinton through a small valley with private properties that would be the envy of any aspiring Montana property owner. Deer, Moose, and other wildlife are all present as you cross into the forest land there. The road does become a bit less maintained as you go further South.
The campsite is small, but picnic tables, fire pits, and pit toilets are on site. We did have our bear spray handy, but no bear were spotted. We only stayed only one night on our road trip West, but have I have recalled this location often as one of the best sites we have ever stayed at. The magic of watching fly fishermen work their way up the creek has stayed with me for many years. Total magic in beautiful Montana.
We stayed for one night on a road trip West. Nice paved drive on our site, a big groomed flat spot for a tent, a nice fire pit with cooking grate, and sturdy picnic table. Our site was right on the Payette River, and we enjoyed watching some inflatable boats go by. Pit toilets were highly acceptable, and we could also wade right into the shallows of the river. Would stay again!
We tent camped at this rustic park mid-week in August and had the entire place to ourselves! (Minus the cows). This park and lake are located about 20 miles East and South of Winnett, and state managed. Use is free, first come first served, I think. No cell service, and GPS got us a little lost getting there, but a local helped us out.
There are at least 7 dedicated sites there on the North side of the lake, that each are sort of "pull-though." They would be perhaps too small for anything larger than a teardrop or really short RV, and no power or water hookups. Each had a nice cement picnic table, and some tables had a really nice roof structure over them. I think every site had it's own fire ring. We found some fallen branches to burn, but otherwise no wood on site. There is a nearby primitive boat launch, and one pit toilet shared by all. I can't recall if there was a hand pump for water.
The reservoir was fairly low when we were there, and the site was by no means lush, but for a quick overnight it was perfect! Fish in the lake seemed active in jumping about. We read there are walleye, pike and perch. The rustic roads surrounding the lake were great for a walk and some night mountain biking. We also had some free range cows nervously come through the site, which was really novel to us Minnesotans. Proceed with Care - Cattle at Large!
Stayed one night to ride the nearby OHV trails, some of which turned out to be not intended for off-road motorcycles (only ATVs are allowed on trails in that county).
Quite a maze of a campsite, with a lake near by. Site 147 is right at one of the entrance, so it was a little busy on that site, although there are multiple entrances.
The management was super nice and helpful. For $8 they delivered a gator-load of wood to the site, and even offered to unload and stack it. It was super heavy oak, so didn't burn that well.
No cell service, no towns nearby. But two local bars that were fairly close.
We stayed here one quick night on a trip driving the Trans Wisconsin ATV Trail. This is one of 2 campgrounds in the Flambeau River State Forest. It was fairly rustic and remote, but had clean vault toilets, hand pump for water, and a nicely wooded sites. We walked to the lake at dusk and enjoyed great views. There is a boat launch, and also a path to a small beach with a swim area. Not a destination for us, but a great stop.
Read more, check out the map: https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/stateforests/flambeauriver/camping.html You can check availability and reserve some of the sites online on the Wisconsin DRN site, or just pay at the pay station.
Pro Tip: We found wood close by at the Flambeau Forest Inn, with a pick up and paybox outside. Nice to be able to get wood without needing to go inside.
We took site 87 for two separate tents, 2 vehicles, and an EZ-up over the table, and we really enjoyed it. That site is very private with a nice hook in the clearing in the woods that made us feel isolated from the camp road, yet we were close to the water pump and to the back walkway into the bath house area. We discovered the single family bathroom on the South side of that bldg early on, and that helped us feel more comfortable using facilities during this physical-distancing time.
I wondered if the sites closest to the water have any access, but not sure. The boat dock and beach launch for kayaks is close by car, and we used it twice. You can also access the water via a 0.5m walk or by bikes on the main car road. Lovely waters - if you paddle North towards the park shoreline, there are shady places to tie up under white willow trees, or to land and use secluded tie-up points just South of the beach area. Further North of the beach gets busy with power boats taking off for the big waters of the lake, but worth exploring that shoreline too. If you paddle south, it's a more calm section with private shorelines but terrific sunset views.