Lake Auburn Campground

This is a 54 site campground with bathrooms and a dump station. Very nice private sites with lots of length, but all are back in sites. No pull through sites. We didn’t stay as we are pulling a trailer and wanted a pull through. Really nice looking place to stay.

We decided to make reservations for this park because it is so close to Minneapolis and we couldn’t find a boondocking spot closer than 60 miles. I found their website very hard to manoeuvre - it took three tries before I was successful. None of the 57 sites have electricity or water. We stayed on a Thursday and Friday in late June and I made the reservation the first week of June. Every site was taken by the time we arrived. So we got here and checked in and read in the rules that only sites 35-45 allow use of a generator! I never saw that info on their website. We were in site 30, not very far away. The staff let us use the generator on Thursday because the Park was pretty empty, which was very kind. We spent most of Friday in Minneapolis and left first thing on Saturday. Check out time is 3 pm; check in is 4 pm. There is a beach here but we didn’t check it out. If you reserve, there is a $7.50 fee in addition to the fee for the site. There are 3 buildings with pit toilets, plus spots with drinking water, trash and recycling containers and even a Coke machine. Each site has a picnic table and a fire ring. You can hear some traffic noise but it isn’t very loud. They give you a recycle bag and a small trash bag at check in.

This is such a nice campground. It's lakeside, but no real lake views due to the trees. The campground is well-kept and we saw park rangers patrol often. So many shade trees and lots of space between campsites. Do note that there is a smallish section where generators are allowed so if you need one, book in that section. Lots of trees make solar a little difficult, but can be done especially if they are portable. The dump station costs $5 for campers and requires a code to unlock. There is a number to call if the office isn't open. If you can dump elsewhere, I would. Worst dump station I've ever used. Very good coverage on AT&T and Verizon.

We camped here during late September in our 40' Grand Design Solitude and the fall colors were beautiful. The campground was fairly busy on the weekend but empty during the week. The park rangers are attentive to the grass and mowed several times during our short stay. The beach was closed but several people were using it.

The sites were well-spaced with a picnic table and fire ring. There are bathrooms and a drinking fountain, as well as a couple drinking water pumps around the campground. Bathrooms were a little messy but not terrible. My kids loved the playground and the little climbing wall there.

Our site was only 1/2 mi. from a paved bike path which connects to the broader Carver Park Reserve network, with several loops around a few area lakes. Most sites are shaded, we specifically picked one with less shade for our solar. Along our area of camp sites, almost every site was tents with only a couple RVs.

We paid $5 for the dump station ($8 if you are not a registered camper) and $5 for a small pack of firewood. There was also ice available at the entrance. The sites here do not have any hookups at the sites. The dump station is a tight turn for larger RVs.

Overall a great campsite for us to begin our full-timing journey and learn the ropes of RV camping. We will definitely come back when we return to the Twin Cities.

Nice campground. Gravel pads. $20 per night for gravel site with no power, or water.