Frank G.

The Dyrt Pro

Saint Paul, MN

Joined November 2021

A hidden gem with everything I needed.

Toward the last minute in July of 2024, I needed RV spaces near water (that I could kayak) for two travel trailers. I found this campground and booked two of the last three spaces available. Three hours from my house, as the crow flies, I found myself visiting Minnesota's iron range. This campground is next to a reservoir with many islands and no current (unless the mining company is pushing or pulling water from the lake. The sites are of varying sizes and some are pull through. Leveling took me a bit, but I found just the right angle to jack up the front of my RV for leveling. My site was smaller, but still large enough for my 20 trailer, a screen house, the picnic table and fire pit, my Grand Cherokee, and plenty of extra room onto which I could probably have put at least three more screen tents, with room to walk. Electricity is provided on each site. There are no water hookups per site, but there are a few water spigots around the grounds to fill fresh water tanks. Because the grounds are small (45 camping sites) a short walk gets you anywhere on the site; like to the showers, beach, and other recreational facilities. Frisbee golf is on site. There is no tank dump available. The campground is surrounded by forest, so wild animals can and do appear. The lake is large enough for some long and interesting kayaking, and there are multiple kinds of fish (from bullheads to northern pike). The woman in charge works very hard to keep these grounds as perfect as possible. The place is clean and mostly dead quiet after hours. Two free showers per gender, but they have minimal privacy. The free showers have sufficient pressure to do the job, although you cannot control the temperature; which I found to be fine, even if it was not the burning hot showers I like to have. The sites have pretty good privacy, although during the day I had to listen to the typical chatting from my neighboring campers. I very much love this campground and will be back as my time permits.There is no wifi. We had strong service on T-mobile and Verizon, so we used our hotspots for media connectivity.

Easy quick sleep.

We got in after 11 pm, chasing the 2024 eclipse. There was no one for us to check with. Two cars parked at back of the lot. Light enough to see everything, and dark enough to not be bothered by lights. We were next to the road, but traffic was very light and not bothersome . We had no rousting or any other problems. Left lot at about 9 am. T mobile service was great.

Beautiful River site for parking or dispersed

We stopped here chasing the 2024 eclipse. Easy to find. No cost. About 20 parking spaces, a vault toilet, and a boat launch. Open for solar panels, but tree cover around the lot. Only about 5 parking spaces are not on a slant. Places in the trees for tents. Absolutely beautiful views up and down the river. A single fire pit on the river’s edge. No road noise to speak of because it is way in the distance and rare at night. Fireflies and owls into the night. Mist on the water in the morning: just beautiful. T mobile service has 3 of 4 bars. There is no apparent Verizon service.

Beautiful placement, tight spaces.

I stayed in July of 2022. This park is easy to find and to get to; placed on a valley road between mountains and near the 1880's train line. Great electrical, water, and sewer, for RVs. The smaller (tent and pop-up) spaces are awesome. My 20' RV and Jeep Grand Cherokee (about 37 feet total) just fit into the pull through site assigned me as 38 feet, but there was obviously more length to the site than that. The park is central to the surrounding area, and about 1.25 miles from downtown Keystone. Reasonable price for the area. Great hiking from right at the park. T-mobile outside of my RV was poor but sometimes connected. They do pack you in like sardines (the slide out on the RV next door to me was nearly over my picnic table), but there is enough space to get your business done and to enjoy yourself. Four stars because I am saving five for the one-percenters.