New campgrounds and improved sites pop up to meet Minnesota demand

When 46 new drive-in campsites open at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park in Two Harbors, Minn., this fall, the Department of Natural Resources will nearly double its electrical offerings for North Shore camping visitors.

The $7.5 million Shipwreck Creek campground, built with showers, flush toilets and $1.6 million of new bike trail connections, grew from the DNR's overall vision of modernizing the state's largest collection of overnight outdoor recreation space.

The agency wants to broaden access for people with disabilities and keep up with diverse demands — from updated options for ATV riders to larger group facilities and enough quiet places for tenters to get away from it all. With a massive base of 4,652 campsites already available by reservation in state parks and state forests, planners are prioritizing quality over quantity.

"Modernizing is our primary focus," said Jamie McBride, DNR parks and trails program consultant. "We want well-maintained campgrounds that meet all visitors' needs."

McBride said public demand for camping opportunities hasn't eased much since Minnesotans flocked to the great outdoors in boffo numbers last year during the pandemic. Even in November, select state parks accommodated record numbers of overnight visitors. McBride said this year's visitation is set to remain high, but not at the extremes of 2020.

The camping wave includes higher concentrations of visitors to more than 20 state forests, including some that are busier than ever with the boom in ATV off-roading. DNR received more than a half-million dollars in state forest overnight fees last year — a 33% jump from 2019. Forest campground sites are occupied on a first-come, first-served basis.

But there's also an unquantified number of visitors who camp remotely as "dispersed" users at least a mile away from any amenities. They park their RVs in clearings and power them with generators. Others tuck away in the backcountry in tents, limited to stays of two weeks at a time.

Laura Preus, a supervisor and planning manager for the DNR, said families who ride ATVs on the state's growing network of motorized trails have made a lot of requests for more camping infrastructure. McBride said the riders are part of a broad clientele served by the state.

Rock climbers, birders, multigenerational families, backpackers, naturalists, hunters and anglers all generate revenue for the system, which needs $104 million a year over the next 10 years to sustain itself. In the last biennium, $14.5 million a year came from state bonding and the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

A sampling of recent improvement projects includes new shower facilities at Whitewater State Park; eight new camper cabins at Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park; new restroom facilities at Jay Cooke State Park; and other facility updates to meet accessibility needs at Myre Big Island, Temperance River and Buffalo River state parks.

"We want to be more welcoming to people with disabilities," McBride said.

In the public realm, the Superior National Forest is the next biggest provider of Minnesota camping landscapes. Last year in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, where paddlers have access to some 2,000 campsites, visitation shot up by 16% to 166,000. In response to a pattern of newcomers violating the Forest Service's Leave No Trace rule, park managers this year are more stringent on education protocols before issuing permits.

Outside the BWCA, where Superior National Forest provides another 600 designated sites for camping, the Forest Service is stepping back from its first-come, first-served policy. Spokeswoman Joanna Gilkeson said the switch to camping by reservation allows for more equitable access to certain campgrounds for people who live far away. This year, reservations are offered for space at Ninemile Lake Campground, Little Isabella River Campground and McDougal Lake Campground, she said.

At YMCA of the North, leaders are creating new points of entry into the camping world to advance the nonprofit's commitment to communities of color. Anthony Taylor, senior vice president of equity and outdoors, said high demand for camping and other outdoor experiences works in the Y's favor.

Taylor and others are leading kids and families on a natural progression from nature classes to neighborhood park activities to nearby day camps to overnight adventures Up North. When participants get a taste of the fun, they want more, he said. The movement is strong enough to help the YMCA diversify its own ranks of camp counselors, he said.

"We're seeing growth at every level," Taylor said.