Red River State Park

We ended up staying in this State Park as a result of working the Sugar Beet Harvest. It is a unique place, being placed in downtown East Grand Forks, Minnesota, right on the Red River. When the Red River flooded in 1997, the Sherlock Park neighborhood was wiped out. FEMA bought out the home owners, the dikes were rebuilt, and the area was turned into a State Park. The roadways are the old neighborhood streets. So you are basically camping inside the flood plain/dike system right in downtown East Grand Forks.

The best part of this park is the ability to walk into downtown East Grand Forks, or over the bridge into Grand Forks, North Dakota. There are a multitude of restaurants and a Cabela's just a 5 minute walk away. The 1997 flood also resulted in The Greenway being created along the Red River with miles of paved bike trails on both sides of the Red River and bike only bridges connecting the two sides. If you like easy bike trails, this place is for you.

The campsites within the park are large. The roads are paved, the sites are gravel. There are lots of trees and grass. Sites are both pull through and back in. Some have 50 amp electric and sewer and water. All have picnic tables and fire rings.

You will hear some road noise and train whistles, but nothing too bothersome. There are lots of over-the-air TV stations, with only ABC being a little temperamental. The State Park does have WiFi. We found it to be mostly excellent, but I heard others complain. We have an external WiFi antenna, so that probably contributed to our strong, fast signal.

If we were to come through this area again, I wouldn't hesitate to stay here. It's the best of both worlds.

Cee Gee's review does it great justice. We were there the night of 10/12/16 visiting grand daughters attending UND across the river in North Dakota. This park is centrally located as an excellent base for the upper Red River area. Full service nightly rate is $33 plus $5 daily permit fee.

The highway and RR traffic is a bit noisy, but not a deal breaker. Might be different in the summer with windows open! Then it would help getting a spot on the south end of the c/g away from the highway.

Only thing else I would add to Cee Gee's notes is bring some blocking for leveling. I looked at five sites and still had to block the street side significantly. For some reason when grading they slant everything to make sure the water runs off quickly. I guess I can't fault their phobia, but the over compensation of grading seems typical of many city and state maintenance departments. They are probably not RVers!

It was too cold and windy when there, but they have what look like great bike and walking trails along the city river course. I was told that many Canadians use the park during their shopping trips into the US. It is convenient to the Winnipeg metroplex.

This campground is in the middle of East Grand Forks Minnesota. Sites are large open some more shaded than others and almost all have full hookups. During our 3 day stay it’s obvious this is used primarily by large motor homes 5th wheels and travel trailers. Almost all are full hook up, level and pull through. There were a few tents as well but if you are looking for seclusion and wilderness you might want to pass it by. Being in the city you are walking distance close to restaurants, shops stores and a movie theater. It’s relatively quite, clean and well maintained. There is some road noise but it’s more like white noise in the background, nothing that intruded on our relaxation. It sits along the Greater Grand Forks greenway with miles of paved bike/walking/jogging paths on both sides of the river. Showers are free, don’t skimp on the hot water and seem to last forever on one push of the button. For the kids and young at heart there is an ice cream truck that came through each evening.

As has been previously mentioned, this park was created in the Sherlock Park neighborhood of East Grand Forks following a massive flood in 1997. The campsites are mostly pull-through and large enough to accommodate almost any RV. The streets beginning with sites 29 and 73 (listed as two-way on the campground map) are the streets from the old neighborhood, while the other three roads (listed as one-way on the campground map) are the old alleys.

There are approximately 10 restaurants within walking distance (5 min or less) of the campground. I would recommend the Blue Moose for their patio, Sickies Garage and Up North Pizza for their food and Spud Jr. for their drink specials. The largest movie theater in the area (15 screens) is also within walking distance and Cabela's is right across the street. Of note, this Cabela's is smaller than most and does not have any RV services (e.g. water, dump stating) as far as I know.

Overall, this is a large campground with ample green space around the sites. The campground Wi-Fi is East Grand Forks Public Wi-Fi and was surprisingly good. We camped here over the 4th of July weekend and it was still very quiet at night.

Perhaps one of the best state parks we’ve stayed at in our travels across all 50 states. Huge sites, well spaced out, and modern bathroom facilities all within walking distance to down town make this place an exceptional bargain. We were only passing through looking for a one night stay and were so impressed we extended for a week. As the other reviews note the interesting history behind this park makes it that much more appealing. Whomever came up with the idea to repurpose this flood plain into one of the best state parks in the Country is a genius.

Excellent ATT data speeds of close to 50mbps down... TMobile has good coverage but the data speeds were finicky during our stay... 8-9mbps down one min, 2 mbps the next...

One note, kind of confusing picking a site if you don’t have a reservation as they don’t mark which sites are reserved and which are available... you actually have to pull up their website and figure that out yourself which is not ideal...
Will return to this gem in the future.

Great park. Quiet but we stayed during the week. Nice camp showers! Full hook ups + pull through for $41/night. Have to buy a MN state park vehicle registration or get a daily one at front office. Nice trails down to the water and good for biking.

What a gem! The spots are so spacious and with full hookups! Nice walking trail along the Red River. Don't be surprised by the jackrabbits and deer all around. We love this park and will continue to stay here when we need that close-to-home getaway.

This is the second time we stayed here and the young lady checking us in remembered our French-Canadian name. Great bike trail nearby, walking distance to downtown Grand Forks and now with Covid on the retreat, a movie theater just outside the entrance. We came back to visit friends who we could not see because of the virus last year , same great park!

I didn't know what to expect and was hesitant as we needed a spot on fairly short notice and this was the only state park in the region with availability. No regrets. Even the odd arrangement of the sites is forgiven as they are well spaced and well equipped. All my cell carriers have strong enough signal so I had no issues working. And the nearby restaurants are excellent. We hope to return!

There was no problem with our 45’ class A towing a truck for a pull through site! Celebrated our anniversary having a great time meeting wonderful people! Soo many restaurants and a quick walk across the bridge there’s more and you’re in North Dakota! Great history! Myra was very helpful in the office, too! Biking and walking paths too!