Crescent Lake (MN)

This is our favorite campground. We love the walk-in sites 1-5. We have reserved sites 1,3, and 5 for a family camping trip for several years. Sites 2 and 4 are beautiful but first come first serve. We have found that if we arrive on a Thursday one or both of these sites might be available. Our favorites in order starting with our favorite are 5, 4, 2, 3, and 1. Our priority is private and rustic so the walk to 5 is a positive rather than a negative. If I wanted to be closest to the bathroom/car area then I would rank #2 highest.

Our party of 5 had a lovely night at one of the walk-in sites at Crescent Lake as we were sorting and packing our gear in preparation for a 5-day back country trip. We were taught a valuable lesson by a thoughtful chipmunk about not leaving food unattended even in closed containers. Appreciated the picnic table.

We stayed at site number 5. A good 2-3 minutes walk to site from parking area. Clean site with a beautiful view. It is near a boat launch so can get a little noisy from time to time. Bathroom is well stocked and clean. The host and his lab were very nice.

We absolutely love this site!

Two things to note:
1. The camp host is friendly; however he does bring his leashed dog into your campsite unannounced. We travel with dogs ourselves, and fortunately they are also pet friendly. This is very poor management on behalf of the camp host, he should never trust that his dog wouldn't turn to defend himself against another dog. Who would be at fault should this situation ever happen?
2. There is a $10 per night fee for a vehicle - no exceptions. We travel in a class A and need a small vehicle to explore the area. Our "extra vehicle" fit on OUR PAID SITE with room to spare. We paid the nightly rate for camping and once we were set up, we were told we had to pay an additional $10 per night for the "extra vehicle" which was parked IN OUR SITE! The host acted like we might be taking up another person parking spot. IF someone were to park behind our Class A and in our camp site - I would be wonder what creep would do that??? If your car fits entirely into the site you have already paid for - you should not have to pay additional parking fees!

Bring a screen tent if you can, but other than mosquitoes, amazing trip! Cleanest toilets I’ve seen anywhere in the US (thanks Jack- campground host!). Fishing wasn’t great for us, but good for others. People we met who have been coming to Crescent Lake for 30+ years say it is because muskies were introduced- VERY sad!!!

Unque campground. Outhouses were very clean. Most of the sites #10 to #32 have step terrain to navigate. If fishing for the first time, beware of dynamic lake structure. My Topographic Lake Map was higly inaccurate to vissibke and non vissible lake hazards. The potable water, garbage and recycling amenities were great for extended stays.

The campground is clean, quieter than expected and feels safe. The host was friendly. If you are not a dog person you may want to look somewhere else. We enjoyed every second and will be back. Not the biggest fan of atv and loud gas engines but that is not the fault of the campground.

Great Campground, quiet, pretty, sites are secluded for the most part.

This campground is well wooded with good separation and privacy between campsites. Campers, be aware that a majority of the sites require an uphill climb from your parking spot to the picnic, fire, and tent area. In some cases it is pretty steep. Also, even sites located on the lake side of the road do not all have lake access. The public access was easy to use for launching kayaks and was just a short drive from the sites.

Absolutely gorgeous campground! We stayed at campsite #26 & would do so again. Right on the lake, nice tree coverage, easy to put tarp up over picnic table. Beautiful island view & loons came right up along the water by our site. In spite of 31 of 33 sites occupied over the July 4th weekend, it was so quiet!

Camp host is great, too! Super nice guy - and helpful. Someone was in our site when we arrived - they should’ve been out at least an hour prior. We showed up from our 6 hour drive ready to get our tent up, etc. We politely let them know the site was ours. Instead of apologizing, the guy starts yelling at us. At which point we left because he was clearly a lose cannon. Had planned on just staying away for 30 minutes, but camp host drove by in golf cart & we mentioned what was going on. He said he’d make sure the guy wasn’t taking his time. It was a surprising way to start things out (the man with anger issues), but we were thankful to have the assistance of the camo host. Camp host was just a pleasant, easy-going, & nice man.