TLDR: We spent about three weeks in Minnesota and had an okay trip.



Keep reading for details.


We got home late this afternoon / early evening from a 22 day, 2800 miles trip to northern Minnesota and back.  Campsite on Pelican Lake, MN was so-so with one downside being no sewer hook-up.

Bathrooms and showers were clean.  Not large as there were only two stalls and two showers.   But, the water smelled of iron... bad.   I'm glad I bought the Clearsource Ultra RV triple filter water filter system for the trailer.  $400 but our water comes out of the faucet with no weird taste or smell, just like bottled water, at every campground.  Worth every penny IMO.


We had a Camco portable waste tank so we didn't HAVE to use their bathroom and shower which was a couple hundred yards away and up a hill, but it was a pain having to dump it a couple times.  On the plus side, we got used to using that to empty our tanks in preparation to the upcoming six week Maine trip with none of the three campgrounds we're staying at having sewer hook-ups. For another plus, the wife has decided we won't be staying more than a single overnight enroute to a destination without sewer. Keep in mind that she loves to research and plan trips and is almost always the one of us to pick where we camp.


Back to the campsite on Pelican Lake, we were lakeside but trees and brush effectively cut off most of our lake view.  The site was barely big enough for our 34' Grand Design 297RSTS travel trailer and the pickup to fit.  I wasn't overjoyed with it being next to the beach.  We're in our mid-to-late sixties so listening to little kids screaming in the water isn't high on my list of things I like to listen to.  "Adapt, Improvise, Overcome" is one of my key phrases for life, though, so running the A/C and using sound cancelling headphones went a long way to alleviate the kids screaming issue.


One thing that we couldn't overcome, though, was the smoke from Canadian wildfires.  The first and last days on the lake (July 5th and July 24th) were the ONLY two days that had little to no haze due to fires in Canada.  A few days it was bad enough you could barely see the far shore of the lake.  Granted the lake is pretty good sized, but still...


Also the wife wanted to visit Lake of the Woods to check out a couple campgrounds there.  That was a wasted day.  Unless you are going to be out fishing all day long and only using your trailer to sleep, I just don't see any reason to be there.

We took a day and made the the 2+ hour drive to Split Rock Lighthouse State Park on Lake Superior.  We paid the day pass fee and spent a fair amount of time on the shoreline.  Highly recommend this.  Also visited Gooseberry Falls State Park.  There wasn't a lot of water going over the falls but still it was worth the stop. I'd like to see it in the springtime.  We ate lunch at Betty's Pies.  Rueben sandwich, fries, and a slice of French Cherry Creme pie to finish it off.  Betty's is one of our traditions for Minnesota trips.


Going up and coming back from Indiana, we spent two nights each way in campgrounds on the way.  Had decent ones on the way up (Madison KOA, WI and Red Pines outside of Duluth, MN).  Nothing great, but okay.  Coming home we spent the first night at Hayward KOA.  Terrible.  Sites right on top of each other.  We reserved a pull through site and it was "barely" long enough for the trailer with just enough room side-to-side for the slide-outs.  I had to unhitch and park the truck parallel on the edge of the one lane drive, and even then I couldn't get it completely off the roadway.  Fortunately the family next to us pulled out before we did in the morning, otherwise I would have had to ask them to move their truck in order to have enough room to pull our trailer out.  We'll never go back, but I had a nice young lady talk to me while I was buttoning things up to leave in the morning and she said her family loves it there and comes at least once a year.  Go figure.  In contrast, we stayed at the Milton, WI KOA last night and it was great.  Spacious sites, well layed out, full hook-up, shady hard wood trees.  The "club house" has a snack shack and delivered pizza, appetizers, and ice for us 20 minutes after we ordered.  Pizza was NOT frozen, either IMO.  Bathroom / showers were exceptional.  The ONLY downside to the Milton KOA was it's proximity to I90.  Traffic on the interstate was audible all night long.  While it didn't bother me much, the wife wasn't pleased, claiming it kept her up for a while at night.  Despite that one quibble, we would go back there and spend a week or so.  


No pictures of campsites, unfortunately.  If anyone wants more detail about any of the campgrounds, let me know and I'll do my best to answer.

If you come up this way again, I'd avoid the Oakdale KOA too. Place is a mosquito kingdom.

Thanks OP. I'll show this to the wife. She's been wanting to go. I don't.

Great review OP.

Thanks.