Looking for Lakeside RV Camping

[marymary]

My dream is to paddle my kayak in as many U.S. lakes as possible. Do you have locations to share?

I will be using my new toy, a 1994 17' Coachmen Ford 250, with my kayak and a clam shell on a Rack'n'Roll trailer.

[Davydd]

Kayaking lakes is very popular in Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. We live near Lake Minnetonka outside Minneapolis and kayak all the time on lakes and occasionally on rivers. We have dozens of small lakes within a few miles of our house other than Lake Minnetonka and we have explored most of them.

Minnesota has a few state parks with lakes where you can put in easily. Our most recent was Bear Head Lake State Park near Ely and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. At the end of the Gunflint Trail out of Grand Marais, MN their is the Trails End National Forest campground where you can put in right in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and you don't need a wilderness permit if you are just going to day paddle and not wilderness camp.

The ultimate lake is Lake Superior. A few years ago we took our kayaks and made the circle tour and put our kayaks in mostly in protected bays on that vast lake. Grand Marais, MI and Grand Marais, MN both have protected bays and are good road food cities to boot. Rossport, Ontario is the ultimate stop to put in with its many small islands to explore. Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin are also must put ins.

We haven't solved how we are going to kayak with our Pleasure-Way yet. We may buy folding kayaks.

[julievojo]

http://www.moosetrackadventures.com/

Check out this place in Northern Minnesota. It's right on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. It's a very small resort, with a nice little 4 site campground. The lake is exceptionally clean and big enough for paddling.

[Davydd]

Julie,

Just north of Farm Lake and Moosetracks is Fall Lake and there is a national forest campground there with lake access and electrical hookups that we scouted out on our last trip. It is the Fall Lake NF campground. We are starting to get partial to national forests and parks because I now have the old geezer pass (they call it something more appropriate ) that gets me half off on fees.

When in Ely, this is a great breakfast place - The Chocolate Moose.

[Davydd]

We don't have to travel far to see nature. Right in our neighborhood is Lake Minnetonka. We kayaked out to Big Island on Lake Minnetonka were there is an American Bald Eagle nest. To our delight we found the eagle and the baby eagle. The mother would fly out to hunt food and the baby will stay in a tree not at the nest but near the nest and wait. When the mother comes back the baby would fly back to the nest for food. The first picture is of Nancy kayaking right below the baby. Look straight up from Nancy's head and you will see the eagle on the perch. The second photo is the mother near the nest. The nest is located on land owned by the City of Orono that is being developed into a primitive public park.

[julievojo]

Also check out Fenske Lake Campground, up near Ely. It's another Forest Service Campground on a nice quiet lake. Only 1 or 2 cabins on that lake I believe. Definitely one of my all time favorites! Somewhere I have pictures of myself canoeing on that lake in the snow....

Davydd, we went down to Harmony MN today to check out Dobie Days. Got rained out...... Stopped for lunch and had a really crappy Pork Tendorloin at the Sports Bar on the north end of town. Skip that place!

[Davydd]

I've driven through the Harmony area about a half dozen times in the past two years but on the way to and from Iowa where the real pork tenderloin sandwiches are. I have wondered about restaurants in the area. So I will put this one on the backburner.

[julievojo]

We tried the little "mom and pop" restaurant right in the middle of downtown Harmony first. However, after sitting at a table for about 20 minutes with the waitresses ignoring us (no hello, no menu, no glass of water.... nothing....) we left. I'm not sure if they thought they were too busy, or if Chino's appearance scared them off. Their food might have been good but service was awful. So we stopped at the Sports Bar on the north edge of town instead. Not a good experience in this town at all.

We like driving around to the small towns this time of year to check out the little fairs and festivals. It was a big scary driving home yesterday though, it was really pouring down rain. Visibility was poor. I was glad to get home. We wound up with 7.71 inches of rain here.

[bburx]

Marymary: We have great lakeside state parks here in Arkansas. DeGray, Ouachita, and Lake Catherine are all state parks with panache--- Daisy State Park, too. Give us a try---- no crowds, no yahoos, just great locations and good people. You'll be glad you came!