Matt C.

Minneapolis, MN

Joined August 2017

Unique park on an island

The campground is very cramped, but offers great sites right along the water. Perfect for kayaking. Lots of wildlife sightings as well. I'd recommend staying in the North Campground, as pretty much every single site is on the water - although it's more rustic than the south campground. A town with some restaurants/breweries/shops is within hiking distance, as well.

Beautiful park - cramped campground

The park has two separate areas, that offer two unique experiences. The riverway campground/area is the more popular part along the St. Croix river. We booked a last-minute site at the Savanna Campground, which is more inland, although hikable to the river. This campground is pretty crowded and we dealt with some rowdy neighbors. The Park Rangers monitored the park frequently, so this is definitely not a peaceful, off-the-grid campground. But it's less than an hour from Minneapolis, and offers lots of great (and well-groomed) hiking trails.

Beautiful waterfalls and Great Backpacking

We stayed in one of the 3 backpacking sites. Our site was closest to the little manitou falls and had a few little access points to take in the view. The site was tucked away and private, but could pick up the occasional sound of cars/hikers on the other side of the falls/river

A perfect group camp

The little island group camp is a hidden gem- a whole island to yourself! The weekend was very cold - middle of May. But there was a lot of hiking to do. I'd recommend trying to snag this spot later in the summer when the lake is more inviting. But we did see lots of migratory birds over the weekend.

A unique park with lots to do

We found a great walk-in site that was off the beaten path, with plenty of space to spread out. The swinging bridge is a great attraction, although very crowded. The hiking thins out as you venture further away from the bridge. Overall a great park with many updated amenities

Great park - with a strange controlled burn setting

We frequent this park, and experienced something different this time. The park had done a controlled burn through a lot of the grounds right before we arrived. It gave an apocalyptic feel, but didn’t detract too much from the great weekend. The hiking here is awesome! 6 is the best cart-in spot, as well.

First to Review
A low-key, easy weekend

We went on the hottest weekend of the year, so the swimming beach came in handy. The walk-in sites are nice and off-the-beaten path. Hiking is a bit underwhelming, but overall a nice easy trip from the twin cities

Great place to visit in the fall

We stayed at cart in site 4, which was the best of the 4 options. It’s at the end of a lookout trail that has amazing sunrise/sunset views. The hiking in this park is really great, with some amazing lookouts. Only downside is that the hum of I-90 can be heard at night.

A hidden Gem

A very small, but great state park right by the more-touristy-Whitewater state park. We lucked out with booking a group site for Labor Day weekend at the last minute. There are two group sites that share one vault toilet. Site #2 is further down a path with 4 picnic tables and room for 4-5 tents. The site is right at the park border, with farm land/prairie just on the other Side of the trees.

Hiking was great with plenty of hills along the whitewater river, as well as a few places to jump in the VERY cold river. Highly recommend this park - and only 1.5 hours from Mpls! Only downside is there is no firewood within the park, so plan ahead there.

Great Campground, Great hiking, Aggressive animals

We had a great cart-in site (Gooseberry glen site 4). There weren’t a lot of signs to get us there, but we were able to figure out where to go with the state park map. The cart-in distance is long; probably about a half mile with lots of tree roots to try and drive your cart over.

Site 4 is right on a rushing creek, which was perfect, and provided a great noise to fall asleep to, and to cancel out the close neighbors (site 3 is pretty much right next to it).

Heads up that we had a lot of raccoon and mice visitors, who didn’t seem afraid of people. The food/wood locker had plenty of access points for mice, so make sure to secure your food at dusk.

Other than animal issues (and a not ideal restroom situation), this was a great spot with awesome hikes (chimney rock, inspiration point) and great access to water.

I’d recommend site 2 or 4 if you want river access.

The best campsite in Minnesota

A perfect campsite: private, stellar views, close to modern restrooms, a short cart-in from the car. It was truly perfect (although unseasonably warm and incredibly stormy)

Nothing special - but a great quick escape from Minneapolis

Our site was a perfect tent-in site(site 15), as it was far enough away from the highway and other sites, so noise was minimal. The bugs were actually tolerable, which was an added bonus. Downsides were that the drinking water had consumption warnings, the modern restrooms were closed, and the lake isn’t swimmable. Otherwise there was some great hiking, and the park ranger was friendly and very prepared for COVID.

A small city

The campground is massive with hundred of people, but it’s possible to get a more private site in the furthest loop- poplar. Ours wasn’t too private and we were surrounded by families with small kids. But the staff park has plenty to do and is well-worth a visit!

Stunning views and awesome campsites

We stayed at campsite H, which has its own cement platform, as well as a great lookout to Lake Superior. We also hiked the bean and bear lake trail- well worth the views! Only downside is the length of the hike to the cart-in site from the parking lot.

Easy weekend camping getaway from Minneapolis

One modern campsite with about 60 sites. I’d highly recommend site 58 or 59. They are still part of the campground, but very distant from other sites. The park has some great history and some cool short hikes! Only downside was being covered in ticks…

Nerstrand walk in

The walk in site was great - close to parking with plenty of tree shade