Penmarallter Campsite

Date of visit was first week of July 2015

This campground was a great choice for my visit to the North Shore. I chose here because it was a nice distance between all the places I wanted to visit. I stayed here 4 nights total. When you enter you are greeted by a nice woman in the back door of her house. After checking in I asked a lot of questions about the area and she was happy to answer all of them. She took got in her vehicle and drove in front of me through the campground to my parking spot and had advised me which corners to take extra wide. The site was pretty level side to side but I believe my hitch side of the spot was lower than the rear but that's not a problem in the slightest. Water and electric hookups were available at my site, and I used my air conditioner so they asked me for an additional five dollars a night. This is communicated on the website and when I checked in. The wifi signal was there at my site, 2-3 bars, but I had no internet. I am knowledgeable on networks and wifi so I know it was not my equipment. The only place I could get the internet to work was inside the back of there house where you check in, once I walked towards my site it quit working. I asked them about it and they said that everything was working and they just got done having the internet company expand their network. I just agreed and let it be because internet was not a necessity this trip. If I was operating a business while camping there I would make sure I had a better spot to get internet. I had many channels with my over the air antenna so when I was home at the RV I had entertainment enough. Overall I had a great experience here, and on my last night around 6pm they had a parade of classic cars come through and they let people know it would be happening it was no disturbance to me. This campground is everything as advertised and expected so I give it full stars except the overall due to the wifi issue, and it's close proximity to a four lane highway make it have a background noise of cars driving by, but that noise is by no means distracting or a problem, it's just there.

Next time I come to the North Shore I will stay here no need to research other campgrounds

I know I had cell service with Verizon there without booster, I however do not remember the strength

Great owners. Clean grounds. Room for our 45’! Very pleasant stay. Quiet grounds, traffic noise.

Friendly owners. Clean grounds and restroom with showers. Easy pull thru sites with a few trees. Not on top of your neighbors but not spacious. Great spot to stay so you can explore the area. Some traffic noise

This RV Park is easily accessible from Highway 61 OT the scenic North Shore Drive. It’s well kept and clean. The only downside Is the highway traffic noise. The campground WiFi is spotty to bad. Cell service was medium for AT&T.

Getting to the campground was easy from either MN-61 or the scenic drive road. You check in at the house/office near the entrance then guided to your campsite. We were in upper pull-through site 9, which was mainly grass with a little gravel. The north side sites by the office were water and electric. There was a tent area that was closed due to CV-19 that had no hookups. The south side sites where FHUs but filled mostly seasonal customers. There are two rows of sites they called lower and upper that have the same site numbers, 1-12. We were assigned our site after arrival. The $35 rate reflects weekly plus 5% military discount. We received two major stations OTA and had a clear shot south for our satellite dish. We got 2 bars each on Verizon and AT&T. The CG Wifi worked above average for a CG of this size. For the non sewer sites there was a honey wagon that you let the office know when you need dumped and they would come to your site and to dump your trailer. The CG was adjacent to MN-61, which was heavily used 24/7 so there was considerable road noise. As with most CGs in MN, they require you to locally purchase firewood. Penmarallter sold a small wheelbarrow load for $6, bigger than most firewood bundles you find for sale. There was no formal dog area, but plenty of room to walk the dogs. The owners were very nice, helpful, and not overbearing. Lots of State Parks and other touristy things to do in this area. You'll need at least a week to visit the main ones but get there early in the morning as even during the week this time of year most were crowded by noon, even with CV-19 on the rise again.

Owners are nice people and offered to let us stay an extra day but we would of had to move to another spot so we declined but appreciated the offer. They take very good care of the campground, the only thing I would change is adding sewer connections. We dumped a couple miles down the road at the car wash that has an RV dump.

Cash only, but a great place to spend a night.

While the facility is clean with full amenities, they seems to favor larger RVs and is not particularly friendly to tenters and smaller travel trailers. Also, the grounds lie between 2 busy hi-ways (61 Express and 61 Scenic) so we had traffic noise in stereo all night long. We arrived late (after dark) and staff were somewhat less than welcoming.

If you're looking for a smaller, friendlier spot try Knife River Campground (just a few minutes south down Scenic 61).