Minnesota Camping Meetup

Here is my current list of places to camp. I am looking for your comments and opinions about where to go and which weekends for the 2026 camping season. My only rule is no holiday weekends. Please post comments. If there is a problem with a link please let me know.

Afton State Park: This is a nice park and close to the cities. This park has a nice group site. Nice hiking trails and a few miles of paved bike trails. The swimming beach is nice when it's hot and the river isn't flooded.

Bear Head Lake State Park: This is one of my favorite parks. The scenery is amazing. It has a nice swimming beach close to the campground. There is also a fishing pier plus kayak, canoe, paddle board and boat rentals. The Mesabi Trail is nearby. The group site is extremely hard to reserve so we would be in drive-in sites. The drive-in sites are hard to get also because this is such a popular park. You pretty much have to reserve extra days then cancel the excess (reserve Tuesday - Sunday then cancel Tuesday - Thursday when you can).

Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area: Primarily built to be a mountain bike park and has beautiful lakes. The swimming beach is close to the group site. The Cuyuna Lakes State Trail is an 8 mile paved bike and hiking trail a short walk from the campground. The scenery has been compared to the Boundary Waters. Even if you don't mountain bike there is fun to be had biking, kayaking, fishing, swimming, and hiking. We would be in the group site.

East Bearskin Lake Campground: Take the Gunflint Trail out of Grand Marais and go about 26 miles. This is a national campground. Part of East Bearskin Lake is in the Boundary Waters. There is a resort on the lake that has rentals. There are cross-country ski trails you can hike and mountain bike on in the summer. I am not sure of the trail maintenance during the summer. These trails connect to Flour Lake Campground listed below. We would be in drive-in sites.

Fall Lake Campground: Fall Lake is about 5 miles east of Ely. Part of Fall Lake is in the Boundary Waters. The campground is a federal campground. They have canoes and kayaks for rent. They have a swimming beach and a hiking trail that is 1.5 miles. We would be in drive-in sites. The group sites are usually reserved Monday-Sunday seconds after the reservation window opens. Yes, I did mean seconds. That is how popular the place is.

Flour Lake Campground: Flour Lake Campground is on Flour Lake close to East Bearskin Lake. There is a resort where we could rent canoes and kayaks from. (Different from East Bearskin). Flour Lake is in the Boundary Waters. There are hiking and mountain biking trails that connect to East Bearskin Lake Campground listed above. This is a federal campground.

Frontenac State Park: This is a nice little state park just south of Red Wing. The park has 13 miles of hiking trails. The group site has two picnic shelters. I like to go to Frontenac to start the camping season.

Gooseberry Falls State Park: This a great park just north of Two Harbors on the north shore. The park has 20 miles of hiking trails. Paved bike trail connects to the Gitchi-Gami State Trail. Great views of Lake Superior. This is one of my favorite parks.

Itasca State Park: Great park. 49 miles of hiking trails, 16 miles of paved bike trails Canoe, kayak, paddle board and bike rentals. We would be in drive-in sites.

Jay Cooke State Park: Nice park just south of Duluth with 50 miles of hiking trails, eight miles of paved bike trails that connect to the Munger Trail, and 13 miles of unpaved trail.

Lake Louise State Park: This is a small park close to the border with Iowa. It has 11 miles of hiking trails and connects to to Shooting Star State Trail for 14 miles of paved bike trails. Only open Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend.

Maplewood State Park: This park is out west. Lots of trails, a swimming beach and a couple of lakes to play in.

McCarthy Beach State Park: This Park has an awesome swimming beach and lake on one side of the campground and a good fishing lake on the other. It has a group campsite (I haven't actually seen it). Beautiful hiking scenery but the trails are not at the campground. This is a great park for water activities.

Sakatah Lake State Park: Nice little Park West of Faribault. It has a few miles of hiking trails. The Sakatah State Trail goes through the park.

Sawbill Lake Campground: Get to the north shore, turn left at Tofte and go about a half hour and you get to the campground. This is a federal campground. Sawbill Lake is in the Boundary Waters. There is an outfitter there that rents canoes. Multiple lakes and entry points nearby to put in at for a day on the water. There isn't a groupsite here but they do have a fair amount of good campsites.

Savanna Portage State Park: Nice park. 27 miles of hiking trails, 10 miles of unpaved bike trails. Kayak and canoe rentals. We would be in drive in sites.

Scenic State Park: One of my favorite parks. 14 miles of hiking trails. Kayak and canoe rentals and a nice swimming beach. We would be in drive in sites in the Lodge Campground.

Split Rock Lighthouse State Park: Beautiful park. 12 miles of hiking trails. The Gitchi-Gami paved bike trails runs through the park. 22 miles of mountain bike trails. We would be in the Shipwreck campground.

St. Croix State Park: This is one of my favorite parks. 127 miles of hiking trails, 5.5 miles of paved bike trails and 21 miles of unpaved bike trails. Canoe and kayak rentals.

Wild River State Park: Nice park. 30 miles of hiking trails and 3 miles of paved bike trails. There had been canoe rentals in the past but I didn't see anything on the website.

William O'Brien State Park: Nice park with 12 miles of hiking trails and a paved bike trails that goes out of the park.

We will be in Group Site #2. It has a big open area for our tents. Nice park with good trails.

Come and get to know others in the group.

The cost will be $20 ($18 until 90 days before the tip) and cover the campsite and firewood. You will need to bring your own food, tent, chair for sitting around the campfire 🔥 etc. You will also have a vehicle permit. I will bring a cooking basket to cook over the campfire, a pie iron, and a marshmallow/hot dog fork for everyone to use.

Here is a link to the parks website.

Contact me to pay using something other than PayPal. I also have Venmo.

We will be in the Bearpaw Campground. I was thinking in the Basswood Loop. Let us know your thoughts. I am not sure if there are good views of the lake from this campground.

Everyone will have have to get your own campsite or share. If people are interested we can camp Thursday night also. Let your wishes known.

Sites for a Friday the 19th arrival open February 19th if I calculated correctly. (120 days before the arrival).

Check out the park's website for more about the park.

The park has 49 miles of hiking trails, 6 miles of paved bike trails plus 10 miles of one way road on the Wilderness Drive Loop. There is also a lake to canoe, kayak, paddle board, fish etc. Itsaca Sports which is located in the park has canoe, kayak, paddle board and bike rentals.

I will try to reserve a group site for this trip.

Click here to visit the park's website.

The park has 20 miles of hiking trails, 15 miles of paved bike trails which connect to the Gitch-Gami State Trail. The trail heads north 17 miles to Silver Bay, going through Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. Gooseberry also has about 10 miles of hiking trails that you can mountain bike on. These are not mountain bike trails, just trails you can bike on. The Split Rock Wilds Mountain Bike Trails can be accessed at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park for actual mountain biking. They have trails that range from easy to double black diamond. The Superior Hiking Trail also goes through Gooseberry. You could also cool off in the Gooseberry River.

There are a lot of ways to have fun here. The cost will be $20 per person. This covers the campsite and firewood. You will have to have a vehicle permit and bring your own food and gear, etc.

If there is interest I can reserve Thursday also. There would not be any extra cost.

If you can't take Thursday off you should come up Thursday night after work. You miss all of the traffic and when you wake up Friday morning you will already be there ready to enjoy yourself.

Let me know if you want to pay by a method other than PayPal.