Cross Lake Recreation Area

Cross lake campground is phenomenal. Great place in northern MN.

We recently stayed at the Cross Lake Recreation Area Campground and had a wonderful experience overall. It is a very nice, well-maintained campground, and we were especially impressed with the staff. Everyone we encountered was friendly, helpful, attentive, and took pride in keeping the campground looking great. Even the staff driving around in the carts were continually checking sites, cleaning them up, and making sure they were ready for the next campers. It was very noticeable and appreciated!

The restroom area with the toilets and sinks was also clean and well maintained.

The one area that could use some improvement is the showers. The shower stalls themselves could really benefit from being updated or retiled, as some areas were difficult to keep looking and feeling clean. We also noticed that after the tiled floor outside the showers had been mopped, it was extremely wet and slippery, with quite a bit of cleaning solution left on the floor. A better squeegee or drying process might help make this area safer for campers.

One other suggestion would be for the boat dock area. We noticed some jet skis occupying slips large enough for pontoons and other larger boats. It might be helpful to have a separate area or smaller designated spaces for jet skis so the larger slips remain available for larger boats.

Those are really just suggestions for an otherwise excellent campground. The grounds are beautiful and very well cared for, and the staff deserves a lot of credit for the work they do. We really enjoyed our stay and would definitely stay here again!

The atmosphere and campground is excellent. The space between sites are great.

The campground was very well maintained, staff were courteous and helpful, especially the gentleman in the front office, who assisted us with questions we had. The campground was fun to walk and ride our bikes around, as it was chock full of other campers. We also noticed several large families that were camping together here and this seems like a really good campground for multi-generations, since there are several playgrounds and the sites were very large, making for a nice gathering-around-the-campfire ambiance. We were also impressed that the campground provided life preservers to borrow, for kids at both of the beaches.
Most of the sites were quite shaded, so don’t expect Starlink to work inside the campground.
And this is not a criticism, but just be aware that the main attraction of this campground is the lake, so if you do not have a boat and want to do something other than partake of lakeside activities, there is little to do here, especially when it is very hot, as it was during our stay.
We did go to the local log village attraction, which was informative, but, as it was too hot for a long bike ride and there are no hiking trails to speak of, we mostly just hung around our campsite.

Great Campground… Great people

Great place to stay and sites that are super nice.

A

Campground is great

Great campground!

Very nice campground. The staff and volunteers do a great job. My only wish is the two MN state senators would help get this Army Corp. of engineers campground more funding. Thousands of visitors come to this campground each year and it take a lot of resources just to stay afloat. They are struggling to keep up with all the maintenance that needs to get done. Tree trimming alone is a big expense.