Wild River State Park

This campground is huge! it's also spacious and heavily wooded. We had two tents, two cars, and four dogs and there was plenty of space at the site itself. There's also a ton of space between each site so you have a lot of privacy. It's heavily wooded with access to some hiking trails leading to the river. There's a boat launch as well. They have a small gift shop where they sell basic camping items and firewood.

I would say this park was quite inviting. The views were beautiful and the trails/paths were well maintained. I arrived early set up, and went for a two mile hike. I was told to be cautious of the horse trails and showed very cute photos of baby blue birds. I ended up spotting a deer close to my site, and walked into the road for a better photo. Turns out it was two fawns and a small herd of deer. I got a great photo. Later after a buggy hike (thank god i put my heavy deet on prior), when i saw two sand hill cranes. They casually strolled in front of my car and i got tons of beautiful photos at sunset of them munching. This is amazing considering they are notoriously scared of humans! I did leave early due to rowdy 4th of July campers but overall had a nice time at the park. I won't stay again on the fourth though even though fire works weren't allowed!

We love camping at Wild River camp grounds. There are some nicer sites to reserve, if you know ahead of time which spots are premium, not all sites have a raised tent pad though. They also offer full facilities as well, including warm showers. Each site has a fire ring and picnic table.They also offer specific areas for campers and personal cabins too. Lots of walking and biking paths which connect to all the camping areas. The walking paths will take you down to the St. Croix River and a small sandy beach. The only down side is the over zealous DNR employees. We had one employee driving by around 9pm tell us we were being too loud, even though the "quiet time" is from 10pm-8am. We responded "sorry we were laughing too loud", he then shined a flashlight on our picnic table to see if we were drinking(alcohol is prohibited BTW). How about they tell the family next to us to turn off their music and stop talking so loud when it's midnight ...sorry I was just on my soap box, all in all I would recommend Wild River for a nice place to camp and enjoy nature for a weekend.

This is delightful Minnesota State Park on the St. Croix River. We are Minnesotans, so we do things outdoors in the winter: Snowshoe, hike, cross-country ski. WRSP includes all, even differentiating trails between the classic x-c skiing and x-c skate skiing. We snowshoed the 2.1 mile snowshoe trek thru Amin's Pond Trail down to the frozen St. Croix & Walter F. Mondale River Trail. It is a wonderful winter excursion! The Trail Center was open but masks are required indoors. Be sure to check with the park rangers if the snowshoe & ski rental area is open (they have abbreviated hours & opened it up just so someone could snowshoe on Friday). Our thanks to Russell, the working staff at WRSP for the interesting tidbits on the park wildlife!

Typically well-kept Minnesota State Park. I spent a weekend at a backpacking site in September, 2021. I arrived in the early evening on a Friday and the office/shop facility was still staffed, so that was nice. I chose a site ("Buck Hill") that would require a long hike, but even though it was distant from where my car was parked, it was at the southern edge of the park where there was plenty of noise from traffic and non-camping humans that just live a few hundred yards away, plus there's a highway right across the river. I was even visited by police officers who had been called to the area because someone reported hearing "domestic disturbance" noises in the vicinity! Another thing about the site I chose is that it's along the Deer Creek Trail, which is mainly designed for horses during the warmer months. It's not as nice to hike around there on foot; much of the trail has a sandy, beachy surface, and you have to be on the lookout for piles of poop the whole time. But it's probably awesome for going on a horse-walk. And I can't forget to mention that from my site, the view of the St. Croix River was spectacular!In addition to the front office, there is a Visitor's Center with an indoor section, a balcony with great views, and a cool botanical exhibit around the exterior. I wish the signs posted along the trails were more informative; many of them don't indicate where you are, so they're no better than the map you probably have in your hand. But there are lots of nice nature walks to be had here. The options for camping are much broader than what I experienced, but because I was so isolated and the trails in my area were so horse-y, I didn't get as good a look-around as I'd like. But there are drive-in sites, some with electricity, canoe camps, horse camps, and many other facilities that make this park looking into for lots of camping situations. If you're going to camp along the St. Croix, you should definitely check this park out.

As of today 10/1/21 the leaves haven't quite peaked. We hiked from the boat launch to the dam-not-dam scenic view point and back. The Boat launch and first part of the wild river trail had the best views. The dam isn't there and the leaves hadn't changed at all there.

This review is specifically for the cabin at Wild River State Park. It's got great amenities and is secluded deep in the woods for a peaceful getaway/retreat. There is a kitchen stocked with pots/pans/plates/utensils, a full bathroom, and a beautiful living room with floor-to-ceiling glass windows. The things I would improve are the creaky tub (the bottom is so worn that I feared it would cave in) and the bunk beds, which are worn thin. I'd recommend bringing an extra sleeping pad. Your back will thank you later!

A lovely state park just outside the metro area. We rediscovered Wild River this fall after a long absence. A month ago we hiked the Walter F. Mondale trail along the St. Croix river and then back through the woods on the Old Logging Trail. A good 5 miles. On latest visit we hiked the Old Military road - with limited but beautiful views of the river - and the Deer Creek loop, which twists and turns through the woods. Many other miles of hiking for future visits.

There are many types of trails and a network of intriguingly named trails. One branches off to another so take a map from the visitor center and use your compass on your smartphone. It could be a long walk back if you get yourself lost in this vast park. Some of the trail maps with blow up inserts are missing the "You Are Here" sticker so that's the only issue that made this somewhat confusing, but I don't mind as I love this type of adventure. There are so many more miles of trails to explore. The main trails are wide and cleaned and it is advisable to stay on these during tick season, the rougher trails through the heavy forest and grass are loaded with ticks and skeeters so beware.

This is a great park with some amazing fall colors. I found this park after searching MN's color map, and even if it was a bit past peak, I decided to take the hour long drive from Minneapolis to the park. I'm definitely glad I went!The park was very quiet; with only a handful of visitors and cars on a Sunday morning ~ 11am. With vibrant trails and fallen leaves everywhere, Wild River offers some great views of the river that flows through the east side of the park. I brought my drone out here for the morning and got some great shots of the trees, river, and beautiful skies that morning.Each standard sized car is $7 for a day pass, and you can buy them with cash or credit at the main office. I'd recommend entering from the 95 east (via the 35), with taking Country Road 12 north for 3 miles. Google maps told me to take a quicker (2 minute) route, but that doesn't have you go through the main entrance of the park. The park also has cabins, a dock for any boats that want to enter the water, and looks to have some water rentals in the summer. I'll definitely be looking to come back to this park at a different time of the year!