The campsite was perfectly good: nice and spacious over looking the river. It is well off the main hiking trail and quite private. The view of the river is heavily obstructed and there really is no easy and safe way down the cliff to the river. Still it is nice to hear the river. You need to bring on drinking water, otherwise you need to go about 1/8 of a mile to a small creek to get filterable water.

The hike in is easy, but once you are off the main trail (the first mile) the trail is grass—be prepared for lots of ticks.

Choose your tent only walk in site carefully. Most (esp those next to river) have no shade. This means it’s hot in the sun and exposed in thunderstorms. Most sites are on top of each other with nothing to block sounds or sites.

Bathrooms are a distance off from walk in sites. You must use (as of late July 2023) the bath near the amphitheater. The facilities next to walk-in camp are just a pad at the moment with no signs of construction happening anytime soon.

Trail to sites is narrow and uneven and prone to flooding with rain.

Someone noted this earlier that it is close to the road and if you are in a walk in site you can hear I-94 and the main park road. Yes, you can hear the main park road easily and when the breeze dies down you can here the interstate. Bring earplugs and your fine.

No campfire pits.

Smaller campground. Tent only section is small, but sites have reasonable amount of space between sites. Plenty of water and restroom is not too far off (but needs a deep clean and update). First couple of sites have no shade. Camp hosts were great (there’s almost no signal in park so they came through to warn us on tents that a huge thunderstorm was heading our way so we could prepare—thank goddess they did: it was a long and intense storm).

Love this park. I have another review of a different site. BP13 is one of my faves—2.5-ish mile hike. The last 1/8 mile (trail that leads to sites 13-16 had a landslide earlier this year. The side of the hill was totally wiped out, as was the trail. You can get through but it is difficult and very muddy. Use caution, esp after heavy rains, until vegetation is established.

1. Literally right on trail. In fact, the only place to out your tent is immediately next to the trail
2. No place to hang a hammock
3. No water (even though youre 100 yards from lake, there is no way to access to get water to filter. Hike in all your water
4. Its quiet
5. Lots of ticks (its prairie after all)

Walkin #38. Walk in sites are nice and decently spaced and wooded—for walk in sites. My major issue was they are too close to the pull in sites and garbage cans. It could be very loud. Water was a bit of a hike and bathrooms were not convenient. Walk in sites are located in a lower, more wet part of the camp—standing water, cat tails, mosquitos abound. Lots of mosquitos. I think because it’s on Madeline island it also attracts a weird melange of people: they were obviously the families there, and then there were the hippy hikers there, but then there was also party people. Overall, I would go back to Madeline Island for a day trip. I would not however take all the time and effort and money and hassle to camp —let alone stay—on the island again. It’s just really isn’t worth it.

Stayed 4 nights at Canyon Campground tent only loop B. We used it as a base to explore the park. Most other tent campers only stay 1 or 2 nights. While this is definitely the cheapest way to stay inside the park there are some MAJOR cons.

1. All the sites are right on top of each other and there is no privacy at all.
2. Loop B (where they seem to stick single small-medium tents) is literally off the registration/laundry/shower/Recycling/garbage/dump station. (Read more below about specific sights in loop B)
3. Because it’s Yellowstone all types come here—including people who have absolutely no clue about camp etiquette. (We were woken up two of the four nights because two different people in the loop behind us decided to use their car lights to set up or (no clue what the others were doing) their sites—we’re talking 1 am car lights shining directly into the tents or ignoring rules about locking all food related items (containers and grills) away when not in use.
4. Related—Guests can check in whenever—like at 1 am
5. You’re right off the exit of North Rim Drive. (Some of the sights in loop b back up to the road). It is heavily traveled. Also there are rivets in the road to warn people to stop near by—at about 6 am you wake up to construction crews, workers, and guests driving over them.

The positives: restrooms were clean, but by the first week of September half of them were closed despite the loop being full.

LOOP B SITES to avoid: 31, 32, 33, 34. These literally overlook the RV parking lot for the registration/garbage facilities. (Pics below)

Backpack site 4 was easy inclined hike in. There is a shelter, a bear locker, and a pit toilet. The tent pad is good for only one 4-person tent. We had two two-person tents and there wasn’t enough room. The pad has a slight incline as well. The site is well shaded and off the main hiking paths so it is rather quiet.

This site is only about a 15 min walk to the river.

You’ll have to carry in your water—there is no water at group parking. Even though you’re about .75 mile from hwy 61 you can still hear traffic clearly all day and night.

I’ve stayed here before.
I really like it but you have to work for it. Everything has to be carried in—and 1.5 miles may not sound that bad but the paths can be steep, muddy, rocky, exposed roots—there are plenty of chances for sprains.

Don’t bring your young kids—the trails are honestly too rough. Go to Tettegouche down the road where the trails are more navigable. Too, once you’re at your camp you’re there for most of the day—the trails are just too rough for full day of hiking and exploring. This means you need to bro g something to entertain the young ones (I saw one family twice this weekend with two kids under 7 and each time the kids looked miserable as did the parents).

The reward for the hard work is solitude and quiet.

Also, be courteous—if you u see some one is occupying a campsite don’t wander in just to see (this happen twice to me in one day)

Stayed at backpack site 10. It’s about 250 ft from main trail and about a 40 min hike in/30 min hike out from parking lot. The main trail is wide and well maintained with ambling hills, but overall pretty flat. It is about 1/3 mile away from nearest campsite.

The site is lakeside. You can easily access the water and there are some great views (at least in early spring before the leaves come in). There is a pit toilet on the other side of the trail and is clearly signed and clearly visible from the trail (best hope no one hiking by walks in on ya).

There is only level ground enough for one tent—maybe two two-person tents if you cram them next to each other.

You can forage for firewood on the forest floor, do bring a saw. I was lucky and there were plenty of downed branches nearby. But I suspect later in the season it’ll be harder.

Also, getting water to filter from the lake was difficult without getting wet—the reeds inhibit easy access.

I read in another review that you are always aware of people around. While I think that is more true of the non-dispersed sites, I could clearly see hikers from this site. More annoying—at about 8 am there was a very loud mechanical noise that radiated over the landscape for about an hour before stopping. No idea what it was.

Unfortunately the people who had this site before me didn’t clean up after themselves—beer cans everywhere (that I ended up packing out) and a dirty diaper thrown in the woods near the tent pad. I did let the park know.

Was hear earlier in summer—not in October as review date states.

Easy 1.5-2 mile hike in. Bring bug spray as mosquitos can be bad

There is a bear locker, pit toilet, and a shelter on site. This site is very private.

There is no real way to get down to the pond at the bottom of the camp site.

The trails here are nice for hiking but they aren’t extensive and won’t keep you entertained long. The real reason to come here is for water sports on the main lake. Unfortunately during Covid the rentals weren’t available.

Bring a saw to get firewood—you don’t want to lug the wood on with ya.

Walk-in site 6 is close to parking (and to the RVs/pop ups/ etc though there are plenty of woods (even in autumn) to feel private . sites 7&8 are further back in the woods, and I would def reserve one on the future.

When I got there were warnings on the walk-in site parking signs, as well as on the campsite picnic tables, warning the black bears had been seen in the campsites. So use the lockers or put all food, cooking utensils, and hygiene products in your car.

There is a pit toilet at the end of the trail, and is clean-ish.

Trailheads are only minutes walk away.

I don’t know if this is specifically Covid related, but the campsite was supposed to be full, but over half the sites were empty. There is no one working at the welcome center during Covid, so you must reserve on the DNR website. Also, bring cash for firewood.

I do know that because of covid a lot more people are visiting the parks. The main trails along the river were packed! I’m talking multiple larger groups (some as big as 10 people); the trailhead parking lot by Baptism River campsite was full by 8 am, and by noon people were parked a 1/4 mile down the road. When I left at 2 pm, every parking lot was full and people were parked along side Hwy 61. I also noticed more garbage/litter along the river than ever. So—my suggestion is to camp here and stay away from the river.

I find writing a review for this state park and campground to be quite difficult. The park itself is great. It’s very beautiful, very serene, and not crowded. There’s a little more action around the rock climbing area, and the play area can get quite rowdy with local children as well as campers.

My problem totally lies with the campsite. First and foremost all of the campsites are extremely cramped and extremely open. Even the ones that look like they are hidden in trees and bush, are actually mere feet away from the next campsite. And therefore there really is no privacy or feeling like you’re out in the country.

This campsite, as a whole, from what I could tell on my visit, is used by people whose primary objective is to sit outside with their friends and drink. This is not a campsite to serve people who are coming primarily to enjoy the park. This means that there are a lot of screaming children, rowdy late night conversations, and more than a few misbehaved pooches (the dog in the site next to me —to my right by 20 ft—was territorial and growled at everyone who walked past).

I would come here again to enjoy the park, but I definitely would not camp here again. It felt more like a Boy Scout jamboree, but with adults and alcohol.

My friends and I have mixed feelings about this place. We thought it was beautiful. Loved our quick hikes (don’t need more than 2.5 hours here to hike a lot of the trails).

We camped one night here at the cart in campsites. Sites were nice with fire pits , nearby vault toilets (2 of them and super clean with TP and hand sanitizer), and an easy path to get to and from car. Site 4 recently had all the trees cut down.

However, two thirds of us slept no more than 4 hours total. Highway noise from the highway running along the river and from I-90 (while not really noticeable during the day) is ridiculously loud at night. [I live on the main street through Uptown Minneapolis—I can sleep through a lot of traffic noise—but this was loud!] Added to this were the half dozen trains that ran through the night (horns going off too) AND the light aircraft flying into Lacrosse airport (which is only 10-15 mins away).

I would never camp here again. Which is a shame because the campsites are great.