“Hike the Chase Point Trail”
With its pristine lakes, virgin pines, swimming beach, and wilderness-like setting, Scenic State Park is well deserving of its name. Here, visitors can hike the Chase Point Trail for hypnotic views of Coon and Sandwick Lakes and listen to the wind whistle through the giant pines. The park's overnight facilities include campsites (boat-in, drive-in, backpack), and a cabin. The historic lodge houses interpretive displays. More than 40 species of animals inhabit Scenic State Park including bald eagles, ospreys, loons, jays, pileated woodpeckers and a variety of songbirds. Birders consider this one of the best places in the state to see the hard-to-find spruce grouse. Along the lakes, marshes and streams, you may come across frogs, toads or even snakes. Otters, beavers and an occasional moose share this 3,360-acre habitat. Although the Ojibwe used this area as part of their hunting grounds, there is little evidence that it was heavily used. During the last glacial period, imagine a sheet of ice hundreds of feet high slowly creeping and gouging the earth. As the climate changed and glaciers began to melt, the retreating glaciers left behind depressions, ridges and deposits of soil that formed the rolling hills throughout the area. Scenic State Park protects the entire virgin pine shorelands of Coon and Sandwick Lakes, plus part of the Lake of the Isles, Tell Lake, Cedar Lake and Pine Lake. Coon and Sandwick lakes are the most popular places in the park and offer great fishing for walleyes, northerns, bass and panfish. The park is located in the Laurentian Mixed Forest landscape region abundant with aspen-birch, white and Norway pine, jack pine and mixed hardwoods.
Reviews of Chase Point Campground
7 people have reviewed this location
Ratings Summary
Cell Coverage
Verizon 4G
Confirmed by 4 users | Last reported on August 31, 2023AT&T 4G
Confirmed by 4 users | Last reported on August 31, 2023T-Mobile 4G/5G
Confirmed by 2 users | Last reported on July 20, 2024Reviews
I booked a 50’ spot for the weekend. I have a 41’ 5th wheel. We got there about 6pm to realize that the spot was 50’ but it was impossible to get into because there was no space to turn and back in and trees are in bad positions as well as the lake on one side. Very disappointing. The only good thing was we had 1 bar of T mobile so I could call and see if other campgrounds had availability. I checked the State Park website and it said they were fully booked, even though 40% of the sites were empty. The 8th call I made had an available spot. I had to drive 45 miles to get to it. Glad I did the Itasca Fairgrounds in Grand Rapids is Full hookups and lovely.
Nightly Rate: -
Days Stayed: 0
Site Number: -
Cell Coverage Rating
T-Mobile 5G
The campground sites are varied as to privacy at the Chase Point CG. Some of the pull-thrus seemed to be a little narrow from side-to-side. The sites that look out over the lake, sites #1-#8 likely fill up first. The views of the lake vary from each of these sites. Overall, I wouldn't want to camp here if it was full but during our stay it was fairly light.
The Lodge CG was closed for the season and may offer more privacy with only 2 sites having electric. There is an easy access Dump Station.
We did enjoy the short hike to Chase Point which is a peninsula in the middle of the lake.
Nightly Rate: $29.00
Days Stayed: 3
Site Number: 43
RV Length: 27 ft
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
If I could I would have given this campground 3.5 stars. The campground itself is very cramped and not well organized. I would suggest avoiding the non-electric loop altogether if you have a RV as the roads are very tight and curvy, and the sites better suited to tents (or pop-up campers). Even in the electric loop the roads are extremely narrow and the sites tight together for a state park.
Outside of the campground our experience here was great. We rode bikes on the nice wooded trails, hiked out to Chase Point, and kayaked around the beautiful and serene lake. Overall, while the area is pretty, I think there are better places to camp in Minnesota.
Nightly Rate: $21.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: -
RV Length: 25 ft
RV Type: Travel Trailer
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
AT&T 4G
The quality of the sites here varies. Some are well screened with brush and forest; some are narrow and open, particularly in the electric areas. There are two campgrounds: Chase Point and Lodge. Chase point is much larger than Lodge.
Both campgrounds front Coon Lake but no sites have direct waterfront. There is one toilet/shower building in Chase Point. A trailer dump station is available near the ranger station.
The park offers hiking and water sports. Most campers come to fish. The park was set aside to protect some of the last virgin forest in Minnesota.
Nightly Rate: $29.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: 55
(I originally wrote this review in July 2017, but updated it in June 2019 after staying here a second time.)
There are two campgrounds at Scenic State Park: Chase Point Campground, and Lodge Campground. The Lodge Campground and the upper half of Chase Point Campground is what a typical state park campground is like, and some spots have good privacy in a heavily-wooded area. The lower half of Chase Point is where RVers are likely to go. There are many pull-through electric sites, but the campground is pretty cramped when full, and with limited privacy at some sites.
Within Chase Point, sites 1-8 are lakefront sites, with greater privacy than most other sites. However, that's also the main road people drive into the campground on, and lots of people walk along that route. I enjoyed staying at Site #6 in particular, which had decent privacy but was just a few steps from the lake (which you get to by going down some steps to a boardwalk).
I definitely recommend doing the Chase Point hike. Beautiful trees and a decent view at the end. Closest gas is in Bigfork, about a 10-minute drive. Check the gas station's hours, because (as of July 2017) it's a pay-inside kind of establishment.
July 2017 cell service:
AT&T: 3 bars LTE, 57ms ping, 29mbps down, 4.38mbps up
Verizon: 2 bars LTE, 53ms ping, 2.98mbps down, 2.67mbps up
T-Mobile: 2 bars LTE, 94ms ping, 11mbps down, 4.5mbps up
I only re-did the AT&T test again in June 2019, and surprisingly I got significantly worse results: 6mbps down, 900kbps up.
Nightly Rate: $27.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: -
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
AT&T 4G
T-Mobile 4G
This campground is as it’s name states, Scenic. Beautiful lake and hiking trails, quiet campground with room between the sites. Electric only, bathrooms and showers. One of our favorite places.
Nightly Rate: $30.00
Days Stayed: 3
Site Number: 24
RV Length: 43 ft
RV Type: Fifth Wheel
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 4G
We stopped here one night on our way to Voyageurs NP. Very nice campground (Chase Point) with excellent bathhouse/showers. We did not find it cramped as the sites are spaced OK with plenty of trees. However, the campground was half full so that could be a factor. Multiple large lakes nearby.
Nightly Rate: $35.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: 31
RV Length: 22 ft
RV Type: Class B
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
AT&T 4G
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Chase Point Campground
Hours
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Parking
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Pets Allowed
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Restrooms
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Wifi
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Wheelchair Accessible
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Credit Cards Accepted
- Affiliation
- State park or forest
- Back In RV Sites Count
- 15
- Last Nightly Rate
- 35.0
- Longest Vehicle Length Reported
- 43 ft
- Lowest Nightly Rate
- 21.0
- Max Length
- 50 ft
- Max Stay
- 14
- Pull Through RV Sites Count
- 21
- Season End
- Nov.
- Season Start
- April
- Sites Count
- 69
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Paved Sites
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Fifty Amp
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Full Hookup
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Rec Facilities
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Pull Through
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Tent Sites
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Dump Station
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Big Rigs
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Open Seasonally
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Age Restricted
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Back In RV Sites
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Boondock
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Cabin Sites
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Dispersed Sites
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Firewood
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Fulltime Residents
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Group Tent Sites
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Laundry
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Mobile Homes
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Permit Required
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Potable Water
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Propane
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Public Water
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Pull Through RV Sites
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Reservations
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Sewer Hookup
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Showers
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Sites
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Standard Tent Sites
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Vehicle Wash Permitted
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Water Hookup
Campground, Restrooms
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