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Way to Camp # 1 | Car Camping in Minnesota State Parks
Having visited and explored all of Minnesota's State Parks (circa 2014), I am not interested in contributing another formal guide when I can recommend Anne Arthur's Minnesota State Parks, 5th Edition. My dog-eared copy rode shotgun in a pile of maps and brochures on my own odyssey of the state parks system some 10 years ago.
Our 64 state parks and recreation areas are a well known and well loved institution. They receive plenty of promotion, attention and visitation. Serving more visitors, by far, than any other public land in the state, they are the most recognized and accessible gateway to outdoor recreation. The Department of Natural Resources provides robust information and resources to facilitate visitation.
I do have a few things to add in support of your own grand tour of the parks system.
A 10 Year Retrospective on Touring All Minnesota State Parks and Recreation Areas:
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Organized into a series of regional, thematic road trips.
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With campground descriptions.
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My personal "guide picks"; favorite campgrounds with space, privacy, views or access to rivers and lakeshore.
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A recommendation to participate in the Passport Club and Hiking Club.
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And an urge to inspire you through your State Parks tour and get into exploring more of Minnesota's public lands.
The Joys of Touring the State Park System
In the context of public lands in Minnesota, our state parks are largely a “front country” experience. Some have their remote and wild corners of course, but there are several elements of touring the state park system that offer a distinctly comfortable and manufactured magic.
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The Road Trip
Many parks can be satisfactorily experienced with a long, partial day hike. Several can be visited in a day with choice selections being a campout, naturally generating the joys of a road trip - groceries, restaurants, gas station snacks, playlists and podcasts. Geography and proximity determines the route, and so happens to organize some pretty regionally thematic road tours, so include other waysides, attractions of interest or even relevant reading material while passing the time in the car or at camp.
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The Passport Club
At each entrance gate is a stamp to collect in your booklet. Racking up these stamps earns incentives like stickers, a free night of camping voucher and an engraved wooden plaque upon completion. This isn’t going to pass a cost-benefit analysis, no argument there - but if you’re touring anyways, you really ought to feel the rush of the stamp junkie, it’s great.
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The Hiking Club
While you're at it, each park has a designated trail with a sign post password somewhere along the route. Pick up another set of prizes for completing these. Most often they deliver the finest points of attraction in a park, but often enough there's more exploring to do beyond these,
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Developed Car Campgrounds
Comforts extend to the car campgrounds of the state parks. You'll know exactly where you're going, since reservations are required. Modern facilities are normal expectations in the state park system, though plenty of rustic state park campgrounds exist. These campgrounds are great to explore your comfortability while camping. When all else fails, the car is right there - with extra equipment, as a shelter, a way to pick up groceries or an exit strategy to return home. Once you’ve got the hang of your car camping setup, making and breaking camp at these campgrounds becomes a known entity.
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Reservation required. = a guaranteed campsite.
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Easy to access. Drive right up to tent site.
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Modern campground amenities (often);
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Electricity, running water bathrooms and showers, potable water, trash disposal, picnic tables and fire rings.
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Rustic campground amenities (at least);
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Potable water, outhouse bathroom, trash disposal, picnic tables and fire rings.
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Very close proximity to state park recreation, attractions, programming and staff support.
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The car is adjacent to your tent. As an escape, a way to resupply, a storage of equipment/supplies, or a shelter.
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Fee.
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Reservations can be expected to be very competitive.
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Campsites are packed in very densely. Lack of privacy.
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Can be noisy and disruptive, despite quiet hours.
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Especially where electric sites support generators for RVs and campers - if you don't have solid walls of your own.
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Surroundings are often highly developed and less natural. This is campground camping. High use is greater impact and campgrounds are often situated away from sensitive and scenic areas.
The best state parks, and the worst state parks...
Not all state parks are created equal. They are not meant to be all things, to all people, at each one. The System Plan acknowledges this. Before you write one off as a serious disappointment, consider the variety of roles they play.
Destination Parks; highest use and visitation, enhanced amenities, high investment.
Core Parks; moderate to high use and visitation, basic amenities, moderate investment
/Classic; “typical experience”, close-to-home, basic and high-quality
/Adventure; with emphasis on a particular activity, like climbing or mountain biking
/Gateway; close to select metro areas, emphasis on accessibility for new users
Rustic Parks: lower and more local visitation, basic amenities or self-directed, lower investment.
"What are your favorite parks?"
After touring, my favorite stories had little to do with the expected points of attraction. The waterfalls and vistas impact us all similarly. Much more interesting, is how each of us can explore the same 64 parks and remember them differently.
What spontaneous encounters with plants, animals and seasonal weather will we luck into?
Where do our preferred recreational activites bring us? The water, the snow, the climbing crag? Moving slow and observant, or fast and focused?
What random thoughts, questions and ideas are we generating in those long periods lacking distraction?
What are we learning from all of these interpretive signs? We are learning, right?
I Explored Every Minnesota State Park
(10 Years Ago)
This Is What I Remember...
Southeast Series | The Driftless
This region was never scoured by glaciers. Sandstone bluffs, creek valleys, karst caves and spring-fed trout streams endure.
Looking for the rare, endemic dwarf trout lily -
and considering all the other plants with fishy names;
- "lobster mushroom, pickerelweed, basswood..."
Nerstrand Big Woods | Core/Gateway
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51 drive-in campsites (27 with electricity)
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Sites are densely spaced, but wooded and screened in summer vegetation.
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4 walk-in campsites
Where I learned to identify stands of wild rice.
It would be four years before I made a harvest of my own, though not in this park.
Rice Lake
RICE Lake | Core/Classic
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40 drive-in campsites (18 with electricity)
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Woody, brushy and screened
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5 walk-in campsites
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4 cart-in campsites, on the shoreline
In the woods upon Big Island, I encountered bands of giant puffball mushrooms. After including some in that night's meal, I now distinguish between mushrooms that are edible, and mushrooms that are palatable.
Myre-Big Island | Core/Gateway
Myre-Big Island
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White Fox Campground: 64 drive-in campsites (15 with electricity)
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Shady, open, less private. Close to water, but not accessible.
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Big Island Campground: 30 drive-in campsites (17 with electricity)
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Nicely spaced. Open forest floor under mature canopy is cool. But no comfortable access to the surrounding lake.
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I remember nothing from,
LAke Louise | Rustic
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20 drive-in campsites (11 with electricity)
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Shady and wooded with limited privacy. Dense.
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Happily spent hours here not catching any trout. Took a hike up to Big Spring and recall many riverine watercress gardens. I had the dog with me and couldn't tour the cave.
Whitewater
Forestville - Mystery Cave | Destination
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73 drive-in campsites (23 with electricity)
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Dense but well vegetated and screened for privacy.
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Filmed a trout fishing story here once. I went full trout - with wetsuit and snorkel, floated the current above the most gorgeous submarine world. A tiny world, but immensely full.
Beaver Creek Valley | Rustic
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42 drive-in campsites (16 with electricity)
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Dense, but a unique campground in a linear formation so only a couple of neighbors. Brushy enough to be private. Along a creek and you drive across it on the way in.
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7 walk-in campsites
Beaver Creek Valley
The exposed bluff ridgelines of the "goat prairies" are a welcome break from poking about Driftless creek draws. How the Mississippi River has changed from northern character in this expansive valley.
Great River Bluffs | Core/Classic
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31 drive-in campsites (0 with electricity)
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Wooded, well spaced and more private.
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4 cart-in campsites
An incredible coincidence - the only other person I encountered here was someone I worked with in the Twin Cities, returning home with a roof strapped Wenonah canoe. I appreciate the reminder that these lock and dam pools with their backwater sloughs - this here is canoe country, too.
john a. Latsch | Rustic
Great River Bluffs
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No camping
Perhaps the only night I've spent in the state park system where I could sleep to the sound of running water.
John A. Latsch
Whitewater| Destination
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148 drive-in campsites (87 with electricity)
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Minneiska: Removed from river.
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Upper Cedar Hill: Spacious sites, well spaced, shady but airy.
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Lower Cedar Hill: A handful of sites are close enough to hear the running water.
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6 walk-in campsites
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Running water can be heard from walk-in sites.
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Carley | Rustic
I remember nothing, except how neat the topography was.
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15 drive-in campsites (0 with electricity)
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Wooded and many are secluded or private.
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The best visit I’ve had there were no grand views. The forest had an exotic shroud of warm, wet fog. But it was heavy with personal memory and familiar French & Dakota history.
FRONTENAC | Core/Gateway
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58 drive-in campsites (19 with electricity)
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Dense but fairly well screened in summer. Do not expect any views even though you are on the top of a bluff.
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6 cart-in campsites
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Some open, some wooded but much more dispersed and secluded.
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Frontenac
eastern Series | The St. Croix River
Exploring the shorelines of one of America's first National Scenic Rivers. A billion year old continental rift with a legacy of ice, fire and pine.
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No car camping.
An island morning in summer, where fog buttressed the High Bridge.
An island morning too late in the fall, and our take-out was frozen over. We kept paddling until we found a way off the water.
ST. Croix Islands | State Recreation Area/Rustic
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No car camping.
While river ice was breaking up in spring, I stepped back while a pile was smoothly shoveled to a pile waist high. When it stopped, I gave it a stomp - frozen completely. The power of water...
Afton
William O. Brien | Destination
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Riverway Campground: 60 drive-in campsites (37 with electricity)
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Shaded but open and airy, less private. Great river access.
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Savanna Campground 54 drive-in campsites (34 with electricity)
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Fairly well screened with brush for privacy and not too dense.
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Some sites have a wide open wetland stargazing opportunity adjacent.
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2 walk-in campsites
There was once a time when late-summer jumping and swimming in the river went uninterrupted by park rangers and their mission of public safety. We would finish a climbing route on Shadow or Angle Rock by dropping into depths below. I remember this fondly.
Interstate | Core/Adventure
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37 drive-in campsites (22 with electricity)
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A scenic and spacious campground tucked between the river and rocky bluffs.
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I barely remember a group campout with friends here, which means we must have had fun. That my fondest memory is landing my canoe at Goose Creek and unwrapping a maple venison sausage lunch, before passing it by is a bit rude. Though, there is a remaining stretch of the first ever road built to Duluth in this park. Just passing through.
WILD RIVER | Destination
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94 drive-in campsites (34 with electricity)
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Fairly dense, but not too bad. Wooded enough for decent privacy.
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Poor to none, access to the river.
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Where I learned my dog climbs fire tower stairs.
And one of the only stretches of the St. Croix River where I took to my knees to stabilize the canoe in the prettiest and exciting series of rapids - my favorites on the entire river.
Interstate
ST. Croix | Destination
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Riverview Campground: 54 drive-in campsites (42 with electricity)
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Paintrock Springs: 70 drive-in campsites (9 with electricity)
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Old Logging Trail: 92 drive-in campsites (20 with electricity)
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All campgrounds shady but open, densely occupied and not private.
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No real river views. Trail along river, but very limited access to water.
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4 walk-in campsites
St. Croix
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33 drive-in campsites (11 with electricity)
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Not super private, but shady. Away from the river or anything interesting.
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The Agate Center was not open, and I was happy to leave.
MOOSE LAKE| Core/Classic
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37 drive-in campsites (22 with electricity)
I once locked my keys in the car here on a Sunday evening. After hours, and park office was closed. No cell service and no one else around. I broke the window to get into my own car. Second time, I had done that.
JAY COOKE | Destination
Banning
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79 drive-in campsites (21 with electricity)
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Parts are dense, but many sites are well spaced out.
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Well integrated in the center of the trail system, and close to Duluth activities.
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Over seven visits to this park in my lifetime... before I finally plucked and ate a wild gooseberry here.
Gooseberry Falls | Destination
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69 drive-in campsites (0 with electricity)
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Mostly dense, with a handful of more secluded sites. Lots of surrounding roads and development but shortly accessible to Lake Superior beaches and shoreline.
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Gooseberry
Shipwrecks. This lighthouse is here to prevent shipwrecks.
Our land of prairies and lakes and forests in the center of a continent is coastal.
The dissonance is awesome.
SPLIT ROCK Lighthouse | Destination
115 beats per minute; cliff jumping into the bowl of Illgen Falls, and leaning over the yawning edge of Palisade Head.
56 beats per minute; coffee on the lake cobbles, observing saskatoon blooms and a passing fleet of loons.
Tettegouche | Destination
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Shipwreck Creek Campground: 46 drive-in campsites (all electric)
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One of the newest campgrounds in the system.
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20 cart-in campsites
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Require hauling in camping gear in carts but several have nice lake views and all share an access to Lake Superior shoreline.
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Tettegouche
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28 drive-in campsites (22 with electricity)
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Wooded, well spaced. Near river and waterfalls, but not lake.
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14 cart-in campsites
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Very close to lake. Several have views, and there is one pebble beach access.
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On the eastern approach to this park via the Superior Hiking Trail, I felt forgotten in ancient, unbroken land. Rugged heights dropped into hollow tucked ponds of forested hills to the horizon. Maybe I felt clandestine, sneaking this one footpath through the side door of such an impressive landscape.
GEORGE Crosby Manitou | Rustic
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No car camping.
George Crosby Manitou
The particularly pillowy rock of some volcanic origin makes for the most aesthetic wading and swimming holes of any river in Minnesota. Higher up from the river, I once breakfasted atop Carlton Peak and watched a peregrine falcon hazing a hawk.
TEMPERANCE RIVER | Core/Adventure
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52 drive-in campsites (18 with electricity)
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A little dense, but not all. Great access to shoreline.
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The closest car camping gets to the lake.
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6 cart-in campsites
Behind the cascade curtain. Found my way onto the trails into the river gorge, below the postcard overlook. Lush and gnarled cedar groves hide polished cobble beaches, more secret waterslides and a surprising acreage of sugar maple forest. A night at the mouth of Trout Creek in a cathedral grove of cedar, was the best night I've spent on the Superior Hiking Traill.
Temperance
CASCADE RIVER | Core/Classic
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40 drive-in campsites (20 with electricity)
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A dense campground, but wooded. Don't expect Lake Superior views. But a short hiking trail accesses the shoreline and rest of the park's trail network.
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I rounded a corner hiking here one April day and watched a black and white duck with a bright red bill fly away. I felt like I had seen a tropical parrot. I thought about that duck for two days before I had cell service and looked up its identification. It was a Common Merganser. Whatever.
JUDGE C.R. MAGNEY | Rustic
Cascade
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27 drive-in campsites (0 with electricity)
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Wooded, not too dense. Access to Brule River but not to Lake Superior.
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While enjoying the presence of the tallest waterfall in Minnesota (on the Canadian border...), all I could think about was overhearing the visitor staff at Tettegouche pitch their Baptism River High Falls as the tallest waterfall entirely within Minnesota. Superlatives for everyone!
These thunderous impediments to upstream canoe travel remain untamed, and seeing them here adds awesome context to hiking the Grand Portage National Monument and even paddling in the Boundary Waters.
GRAND PORTAGE | Core/Gateway
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No car camping.
Tettegouche
Temperance
Central Series | The North Mississippi River
The headwaters of North America's longest river and it's connection to Lake Superior. Where Dakota and Ojibwe lifeways converge, the fur trade traveled and the era of white pine logging changed the ecology forever.
Appreciating the significance of the waterway connection between the Mississippi River and Lake Superior watersheds. Imagining all the indigenous travelers, New World explorers and traders who traversed this swampy ground onto more navigable waters.
Savanna portage | Core/Classic
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61 drive-in campsites (18 with electricity)
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Well spaced and wooded, fairly private. Limited views but some access to small lake.
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The river was wild, lazy and friendly here. I had on my kindle Algic Researches , a collection of Ojibwe stories, as researched and retold by namesake author Henry Schoolcraft.
Schoolcraft | Rustic
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38 drive-in campsites (0 with electricity)
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Dense. Wooded. No real great river view or access.
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There it was... Minnesota's state flower, a lady's slipper orchid - growing in the wild.
Lake Bemidji | Core/Gateway
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95 drive-in campsites (43 with electricity)
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Mostly dense, a handful of secluded sites on Aspen Loop.
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Walkable from all sites to lake and beach.
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I was never here, and it's not counted here towards completing your passport book anyways.
La salle lake | State Recreation Area/Core/Classic
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39 drive-in campsites, all with electricity.
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Newer facilities. But dense, and open.
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I glimpsed someone peeing into the Mississippi River just below the headwaters crossing. While I would never, that does kind of resonate with me, so good for him.
Itasca
Crow Wing
Itasca | Destination
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Pine Ridge Campground: 158 drive-in campsites (106 with electricity)
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Pine and Poplar loops are spaced out more.
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Bearpaw Campground: 70 drive-in campsites (54 with electricity)
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Lakeview Loop nicely spaced out, close to water but not on it.
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11 are cart-in campsites
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For whatever reason, the history of the Red River ox cart trails and travelers is a favorite piece of Minnesota lore. They once forded the river here and I imagined wooden wheels laying tracks on the sandy beaches.
Crow Wing | Core/Classic
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59 drive-in campsites (12 with electricity)
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Piney woods, but not very private. A few sites have limited river views.
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Where I realized Minnesota had anything at all to do with Charles Lindbergh.
CHARLES A. LINDBERGH | Rustic
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38 drive-in campsites (15 with electricity)
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Wooded and well spaced out. Creek is close by.
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Lake Maria
Cross country skis lean against a log cabin. A plume of wood smoke rising above promises this winter night will be incredibly cozy.
LAKE MARIA | Core/Gateway
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No car camping.
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But the hike-in camper cabins are very fun experiences for cold weather "camping".
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I always think about the ‘seasonal round’ here; the annual cycle of indigenous food and lifeways on this landscape. The place just feels rich; Mille Lacs lake fish, Rum River rice and waterfowl, sugar maple stands and wild game. I value these rituals today, and this place has them in deep practice and presence.
Mille Lacs Kathio | Destination
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Ogechie Campground: 26 drive-in campsites (0 with electricity)
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More rustic, thus quiet and feels more secluded.
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Petaga Campground: 44 drive-in campsites (22 with electricity)
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3 walk-in campsites
I grew up nearby considering this place a boat launch, which makes sense considering it’s the only state park with access to Mille Lacs Lake. As a child I walked up to an albino deer here, and rolled over countless rocks on the hunt for crayfish along Pope Point.
FATHER HENNEPIN | Core/Classic
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103 drive-in campsites (51 with electricity)
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Maple Grove campground is woodsier and more private.
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Lakeview is more open and densely occupied.
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Popular for access to Mille Lacs Lake.
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Mille Lacs Kathio
North Central Series | The Iron Range
Our entangled heritage of mining and outdoor recreation in Minnesota's north woods.
"I should get a mountain bike." This conversion of reclaimed open-pit mining to mountain biking destination is one of the better, maybe even best, outdoor recreation development in the state.
Cuyuna Country | State Recreation Area/Core/Adventure
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29 drive-in campsites (18 with electricity)
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Open and not private. Limited shade. Very pragmatic.
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A chain link fence with a closed sign - I was outside of operating hours to take the mine tour.
Hill Annex Mine | Rustic
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Closed 2024 and resumed active mining operations.
The long and narrow Chase Point is a special kind of forest bathing. Lake borne cross breezes swirl heavy with pinene and limonene musk.
Scenic | Core/Classic
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Chase Point Campground: 69 drive-in campsites (21 with electricity)
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Mostly dense, with some spaced out sites on north loop.
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Some with limited lake views. None on the water, but all walkable to shoreline.
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Lodge Campground: 25 drive-in campsites (2 with electricity)
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Smaller overall, more space but not very private.
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The sounds of loons and eagles, and old pine forests growing right onto the sandy beaches.
McCarthy Beach | Core/Classic
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Beatrice Lake: 86 drive-in campsites (21 with electricity)
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Well -spaced out and wooded. On a peninsula.
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Side Lake: 59 drive-in campsites (21 with electricity)
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Most are well spaced out. On lakeshore, between two open lakes for breeze.
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Where I did not have the opportunity to take the mine tour, but still imagined I was a ball of taconite ore beginning my journey to the ore docks and freighters of Lake Superior. Maybe the taconite isn't balled up until later in the process, like I said, I missed the tour. Cool to visit the source of the supply chain.
Soudan Underground Mine | Destination
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No camping.
Bear Head Lake
On my first visit, the only promise of this brand new park was the rough and tumble access road that would become the future parkway. So far from the lakeshore, it did not make much impact on me, other than gratitude the system was growing and developing.
Lake Vermilion | Destination
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32 drive-in campsites (all with electricity)
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The most recent developed, most modern campground in the system.
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Well spaced apart. Not close to the lake.
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If the State Park system needs its own little slice of the “Boundary Waters” then this place provides it. There is an alternate historical timeline where the Boundary Waters became a National Park, instead of the designated Wilderness Area we have. In that timeline, there would be so many more parks like this in Northern Minnesota. I think one will do just fine.
bear head lake | Destination
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73 drive-in campsites (45 with electricity)
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Shady and wooded, close to shoreline.
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Rustic loop sites #1-24 much more spaced out.
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Bear Head Lake
west Central Series | The Minnesota River Valley
Traveling up our second most significant river, with particular attention to U.S. and Dakota National historical relations.
Setting aside the incredible interpretation at the historic fort and the new Planck Visitor Center... The best of my adventures within this park's boundary are the forgotten corners. A grungy, grimy, bird-swirled paddle from the far south end to the confluence of rivers. And excursions to tiny and forgotten Quarry Island on Gun Club Lake.
fort Snelling | Destination
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No camping.
I am “lost”, while exploring the oak savannas. Across an open field stands a medieval fantasy castle . I am dumbfounded and confused. It is the Renaissance Fairgrounds, closed in the off season.
There is also a magic to the mud flat called Louisville Swamp. Some spring seasons it gathers enough water to form an ephemeral lake. A shining lake in unbroken oak forest, I jump from the prow of a sandstone island. I know of no other place like this.
Reading What This Awl Means about the historical Wahpeton village here brings the landscape to life.
Fort Snelling
Minnesota Valley | State Recreation Area/Rustic
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No camping.
I first met the waterfall from wading up the creek, where trail signage was not visible to me. While taking a dip at the base of the curtain, I waved back to some strangers above me. From their vantage point are warning signs of the high levels of e-coli contamination in the water. From their vantage point, and not mine.
minneopa | Core/Gateway
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61 drive-in campsites (6 with electricity)
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Shady oak savanna. Brushy enough for limited privacy. A couple of sites have limited views over river valley. No river access, separated by railroad.
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Classic Minnesota river bottoms. Under the cottonwoods I found a volunteer marijuana plant. Looking back, it was probably hemp.
flandrau | Core/Gateway
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57 drive-in campsites (34 with electricity)
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Semi-modern amenities, including an artificial swimming reservoir & concessions.
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Open, airy and park like but shaded.
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Rustic Campground: 34 drive-in campsites (0 with electricity)
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Wide open space with little to no privacy.
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3 walk-in campsites
Minnesota Valley
Shooting off a cannon would do a lot for my historical education.
Fort Ridgely | Core/Classic
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31 drive-in campsites (15 with electricity)
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In a shady creek bottom. Creek is shallow, but clear with sand and gravel bars.
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3 walk-in campsites
On the banks of the Yellow Medicine River, I realized how little I know about using wild plants as medicine, despite how much interest I have in wild plants as food.
upper sioux agency| Rustic
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Closed 2024 and transferred to Upper Sioux Community.
The Hiking Club trail was flooded when I arrived. I estimated it was one quarter mile to the password, and wasn’t intending to return to this park anytime soon. I waded, and “carried” my mostly floating dog who remained in persistent paddle mode. It was more of a swamp forest Everglades experience. Instead of alligators, we found a fawn hiding out on a tiny patch of high and dry ground where mom must have left it, safe from predators.
Lac qui parle | Core/Classic
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24 drive-in campsites (21 with electricity)
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Wide open. No shade. No privacy.
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3 cart-in campsites
The former glacial Lake Agassiz of northwest Minnesota and beyond, broke earthen embankments and thundered through this valley all the way to St. Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis. Some of the oldest human remains in North America were dug up here. The "Browns Valley Man" dated to some 9,000 years ago - what was this river like on the day he died here?
Big stone lake | Core/Classic
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37 drive-in campsites (10 with electricity)
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Campsites are lakeside. Open and airy but shaded.
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Upper Sioux Agency
Lac Qui Parle
southwest Series | The Prairies
Once 'oceans of grass' - these pockets of landscape remain. Some native prairie, most others as savanna, lakes and wooded river valleys.
I remember this park well enough, and yet I have nothing to say about it.
Sakatah lake | Core/Classic
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62 drive-in campsites (14 with electricity)
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Wooded and nicely spaced out, pretty private. Distant from lake and water access.
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Fire. The story of how operative natural wildfire is in the tug of war for ground between open prairie and the edge of the river valley woods is told very well here. Also, this picture of my dog from here... fire.
camden | Core/Gateway
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Upper Campground: 45 drive-in campsites (21 with electricity)
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Shady but open, airy and dense.
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Lower Campground: 35 drive-in campsites (29 with electricity)
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Shady but open, airy and dense but several have nice views and interaction with river.
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"Shetek is an Ojibwe word for pelican." I didn't see a pelican. Why an Ojibwe name was here, in a deeply Dakota inhabitated landscape was an inconsistency that bothered me greatly. Thanks to Wikipedia, it was French explorers who slapped shetek on to the Dakota's 'lake rabechay', still translated to "place where pelicans nest."
lake shetek | Core/Classic
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Oak Wood Campground: 38 drive-in campsites (31 with electricity)
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Shady, open and airy oak park. Adjacent to lake with limited view. Walk to beach for water access.
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Sunrise Campground: 30 drive-in campsites (all with electricity)
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Wide open, no shade - popular for RVs.
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Prairie: 12 walk-in campsites
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Bit more shade, but on an open, communal feeling space.
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Parker: 6 cart-in campsites
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Wooded, shady and a bit more private but no great lakeshore access.
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Sakatah Lake
Camden
A frustrating place. So small, that the Hiking Club trail forces its way awkwardly and interruptively between the road and people's campsites. Why are we trying to make this happen? Maybe not every park needs to join the Hiking Club?
And I know folks who accidentally reserved campsites here instead of Split Rock Lighthouse. What a pain in the ass.
One learns to appreciate any significant body of water like this one, uncommonly present in the expanse of former prairie, farms and farm communities. This little lake serves Southwest Minnesota well enough. I guess.
Split rock creek | Core/Classic
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31 drive-in campsites (21 with electricity)
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Open and parklike, but shady. Moderate lake views from some sites. Hiking trail passes very closely along many sites on the west side.
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I had to sit down and remove a cactus spine from the toe box of my shoe. Looking over to notice my dog was nibbling one out from her paw at the same time. Bonded.
Cactus grow here. Eastern Prickly Pear.
Blue mounds | Core/Adventure
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73 drive-in campsites (40 with electricity)
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Dense, open and not private. Big open skies though. Several have nice opening access to tiny lake.
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14 walk-in campsites
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These walk or cart in sites are right next to the bison range observation platform and big sky views. Themselves, they are in shaded woods alongside a creek. A couple of tipis can even be rented.
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Camden
Blue Mounds
Here, I realized how many of these parks were historically valued for being something other than prairie, when everywhere surrounding was just that. Today, less than 1% of Minnesota's native prairie remains, having been converted to agriculture.
kilen woods | Rustic
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33 drive-in campsites (11 with electricity)
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Open, light to no shade. Not private. Away from river.
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4 walk-in campsites
south Central Series | The Central Lakes
The Big Woods reaches northeast - brokering a scenic peace between western prairie, eastern boreals and glacial kettle lakes.
I actually couldn't find this that day.
Greenleaf Lake | State Recreation Area/Rustic
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No camping.
Mt. Tom.
How different is the view from the observation tower today, from when it was built?
Sibley | Destination
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Lakeview Campground: 74 drive-in campsites (53 with electricity)
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Open oak park with limited shade and little privacy. Beach and shoreline amenities are directly adjacent.
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Oak Ridge Campground: 58 drive-in campsites (34 with electricity)
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More shade but open and park like. Away from water.
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A dark and somber memorial, after reading primary source material of events that unfolded here. Like a true crime tour...
monson lake | Rustic
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20 drive-in campsites (6 with electricity)
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Dense but woody and brushy enough for privacy. No great lake views and shoreline is heavily vegetated, but it is right there next to some of the campsites.
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Glacial Lakes
I think the most attractive patch of prairie land I've had the pleasure of visiting.
glacial lakes | Core/Classic
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Oak Ridge Campground: 18 drive-in campsites (14 with electricity)
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Lower Campground: 21 drive-in campsites (14 with electricity)
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Closer to lake, but no sites on the shoreline. Wooded.
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Can't say I recall this one.
Lake Carlos| Destination
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121 drive-in campsites (81 with electricity)
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Upper Campground: Some, but not all are wooded and secluded.
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Lower Campground: Dense, but nearby the lake.
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No memory of this one either.
glendalough | Core/Classic
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22 cart-in campsites (14 with electricity)
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Requires carting in, but nicely spaced out. Some close to lakeshore.
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Glacial Lakes
Afternoon. A major thunderstorm threatens while I race to pitch the tent. Fat drops land on my legs as I pull them into shelter, and the deluge unfolds. I unpack and organize my pile of gear, settling in while the atmosphere marches through.
maplewood | Core/Gateway
Peering intently at the cut banks along this river. One of these days I'll find a prehistoric fossil...
buffalo river | Core/Gateway
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44 drive-in campsites (35 with electricity)
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Very dense. Shaded, on edge of open prairie.
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Main Loop Campground: 32 drive-in campsites (all with electricity)
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Nicely spaced out, more open, several on shoreline of lake.
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Knoll Loop Campground: 14 drive-in campsites (0 with electricity)
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Very shaded, spaced out.
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Hollow Loop Campground: 13 drive-in campsites (0 with electricity)
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Heavy, deeper woods. Spaced out. Away from water.
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Lake Lida Campground: 11 drive-in campsites (0 with electricity)
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Spaced out, nearby shorelinebut water inaccessible.
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Maplewood
northwest Series | The Borderlands
Where water flows towards Hudson Bay. The land of tallgrass aspen parkland, big bogs and 'border waters'.
Why am I seeing a tiny antelope, bounding along across the way?
A jack rabbit! The first and only I’ve ever seen.
red river |State Recreation Area/Core/Classic
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109 drive-in campsites (101 with electricity)
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Some shade, mostly open. Not private at all.
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By no means a naturalistic camping experience.
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I was the only one camped here that night, and learned how many different scoffs, grunts and growls whitetail deer make as they surrounded my tent.
I legitimately don’t remember an old mill.
old mill | Rustic
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26 drive-in campsites (10 with electricity)
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Shaded, but open and airy. Not very private.
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If Minnesotans don't have a lake, they'll build one.
lake Bronson | Core/Classic
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Two Rivers: 115 drive-in campsites (11 with electricity)
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Lakeside: 62 drive-in campsites (57with electricity)
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Park-like manicured. Some sites directly on lakeshore.
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Nothing remarkeable on memory.
hayes lake | Core/Classic
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35 drive-in campsites (18 with electricity)
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Very wooded. Limited access to lake.
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2 walk-in campsites
Lake Bronson
Zippel Bay
Some major seashore vibes, but instead of dune grasses you get birch groves growing straight from the sand. What better exhibit of major landform changes than the shores of Lake of the Woods - shallow, sandy bays on the south and west to craggy, contorted shores of Canadian Shield on the north and east.
zippel bay | Core/Classic
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Ridge: 14 drive-in campsites (0 with electricity)
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Birch: 16 drive-in campsites (0 with electricity)
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Anglers: 16 drive-in campsites (0 with electricity)
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Deep woods, but spaced out and secluded.
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Lady's Slipper: 11 drive-in campsites (0 with electricity)
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Not quite on the expansive beach, but close enough. A short stroll away.
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This remote and inaccessible place still beckons. The stamp doesn't keep you from completing your passport, which is fair. There was an April where I set up with a friend to ski, sled and kite our way across frozen Lake of the Woods to formally visit and camp on the ice nearby. The weather didn't hold, so we played around on Kabetogama instead. I'll probably just catch a ride on someone's fishing boat someday.
Garden Island | State Recreation Area/Rustic
Franz Jevne
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No camping.
It is the smallest of the state parks but a fun pit stop. Climbed the rock outcrop. Scanned the Rainy River surface for roiling sturgeon. None to report.
franz jevne| Rustic
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18 drive-in campsites (1 with electricity)
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Remote and secluded by state park campground standards.
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3 walk-in campsites
Caribou, caribou, caribou. Any place like this I imagine phantom caribou from centuries ago. Supposedly, their ancient trails can still be seen in the ever slowly changing bog.
big bog |State Recreation Area/Core/Classic
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31 drive-in campsites (26 with electricity)
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Dense, open, developed - popular with RVs.
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Big Bog
Happy Camping.
Recommended Reading while Touring the State Parks...
Minnesota State Parks (5th ed.) Arthur, Anne. 2022.
Everyone’s Country Estate: A History of Minnesota’s State Parks. Meyer, Roy. 1998.
North Shore: A Natural History of Minnesota's Superior Coast. by Chel Anderson and Adelheid Fischer. 2015.
Minnesota’s Natural Heritage: An Ecological Perspective. by John Tester. 1995
Confluence: A History of Fort Snelling. Smith, Hampton. 2021.
What This Awl Means: Feminist Archaeology at a Wahpeton Dakota Village. by Janet Spector. 1993.
Algic Researches. Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe. 1839.