This is an incredible (but very busy!) state park. We camped at walk-in site 83, which was hands…read moredown the best site in the park. The walk-in sites in general are all amazing, you're secluded from everyone else but still close to the amenities. Site 83 is about a 4-minute walk from where you park your car. There are two tent pads and plenty of space. It's a beautiful site--book it early! The amenities at the campground were great, plenty of places to recycle, fill up water, and throw out trash. The bathrooms are also very nice, but they are some of the busiest bathrooms I've ever seen! There are plenty of hiking trails as well, a great visitor center and gift shop, and it is an all around lovely state park.

We had an awesome camping weekend here - I'm so glad I got to see this state park! Here's the…read morebreakdown: CAMPSITES: 4/5 Lots of campsites here that we booked well in advance - I'd guess they fill up fast! I'm not super experienced at camping, but the campsites felt quite close together to me. Compared to other places we've been, the sites are much less private. AMENITIES: 5/5 The amount of water spickets and bathrooms around the site were great, and the showers/main bathroom facilities were nice! STATE PARK: 5/5 We loved walking a bit of the state park over the weekend! The suspension bridge is super cool, and it's really fun to walk on and explore the unique rock formations along the water.

We stayed in Camper cabin July 2023. Knife Island is under…read morenew ownership after the 2022 season. You can already see many new upgrades and it looks like many things are currently in the works (like the second shower room). Nick greeted us upon arrival, super friendly and helpful. Checkin and check out is easy. We had good email and text instructions before arrival. The grounds were well maintained. Seems like there is a lot to do right at the campground with the recreation equipment already on sight, also fishing or kayaking in the river. I'd stay here again without doubt, and honestly I'm on the picker side!

Awesome private tent sites! We made a last minute trip for the night to check out the fall colors…read moreand the state park. The state park campground was full, and another campground we checked had a two night minimum. We left a voicemail for Knife Island and they got back to us quickly. We loved our tent site. It was up on top of a soft part of rocky outcrop and very adorable / picturesque. They have a picnic table and a fire-ring at each site. The ground was also nice and flat for the tent. (I forgot the tent stakes so not sure if it would be hard to stake down). No electric or water hookups. There are water spigots along the road between every few tent sites, and port-a-potties just down the road. The only negative was that our site was pretty close to the highway. We couldn't see it, but could hear it. A little nosy but kind of a nice white noise so you don't get freaked out by animal noises in the woods. They don't sell firewood anymore so grab some from the Kwiktrip down the road. There was a pile of brush near our site that we were able to use as kindling.

Nice friendly staff and quiet campground with clean amenities. Pool was enjoyable, showers are…read moreclean, cabins are a super value.

As a full-time RV'er and KOA member, I've stayed at numerous KOA locations across both the US and…read moreCanada. This location is perfectly fine... certainly nothing to get excited about. What's going to ruin your time is if you have to talk to any of the employees in their yellow KOA shirts. Seems like they're there to police policies more than anything. I've been to Germany and they're less militant about their rules. (Another guest called them the "Gestapo"). If you choose to stay here, good luck to you and yours... do yourself a favor and stay away from the yellow shirts. As for me, my RV, and my extended family, we will not be staying here again... and I will be leaving negative reviews on every platform I use.

Very nice campground clean quite feels very remote near the river that wraps around the campground…read morewith a nice trail . The staff was very friendly and helpful. My husband got sick . Staff very understanding on our late departure . Our awning broke and 2 staff members helped me fix it . thanks for everything next time we're in Duluth we will stop back . Highly recommended !

Very clean and well maintained campground. The staff were helpful and friendly. I would stay there…read moreagain.

It is alright to camp there but nothing outstanding. We booked the place for two nights for two…read moredifferent campers. You had to send a check in advance credit cards not accepted for reservations. We booked for two nights because it's Labor Day weekend. But we saw all we wanted to see so we wanted to cancel one night. There is no money back. But I get it because she might have filled it by now. It's true that they are pull thru sites which we had. There are docks at the rivers edge. And the sunset was nice with the wispy clouds. There was power and water which we really didn't need but we did hook up to charge my IPhone. There was a washer ($1.50) and dryer ($1.00) so that was nice. There was only one flush toilet and one shower. They are in the same room so that could be an issue where you wanted to use one not the other. I felt safe there.

If every other campground is full, then this may be a viable option. Will work for tent campers…read more Those with fifth wheels of class As will have a hard time. Extremely tight corners. Office is near dock and was unstaffed when we arrived. Office is in a bit of disrepair. Sites were very crowded. We did not care for this campground nor felt safe and ended up canceling our reservation and staying elsewhere. There are much better options in the area IMHO. Pros: beautiful setting on lakefront with dock area.

Blake is incredibly knowledgeable and provides education throughout your adventure!…read moreWe did a family adventure with dog sledding and horses. I highly recommend!!!

I have never been dog sledding before but I wanted to do it before I got older. This was an…read moreamazing experience. We looked around and my wife found Positive Energy and we decided to book a weekend in Duluth so we could go dog sledding. We got all of our warm gear ready and headed out. When we arrived we were greeted by the owner and one of the dogs. Next we got a lesson on sleds and dog teams. Walking into the dog area we got to meet all of the dogs. Then we got to harness them and get them set on the rope of each sled. We learned a lot about dogs and the history of sledding the whole time were were there from the staff. They make sure you really understand everything and take the time to answer every question you have. We did the 3 hour tour and it was amazing!!! We got on the sleds as passengers and after about 25 min mine stopped and I got to drive. Wow was it fun, driving a dog sled on my own across a frozen lake. It was a lot more work than I expected but worth every second. After we were done sledding we helped get the dogs off of the sleds, they got treats and we helped get them back to each dogs house. I recommend Positive Energy to anyone wanting to try dogsledding. The staff and the dogs are amazing!

This is a very nice campground which easy access to the water. The lots are a bit close together…read morewhich can make it a little uncomfortable. The staff is very accommodating if there is an issue. We came here and found out that the camp spot two down had a bunch of dogs barking. We asked if we could be moved and they did without any issues. They also have ice and firewood for sale which makes it easy. The bathrooms are amazingly clean with clean showers! They do have a small playground and board game room that is VERY small. But that's fine because you are most likely to be there for camping. There is a fishing pier and easy access boat (canoe type) launch area. I would probably come back again

Most of my campground experience involves dispersed camping, BLM camping and National Parks, I…read moreavoid privately owned campgrounds. But because of all of the closing of public lands and campgrounds I found this place. I paid $ 45 a night to have a site at waters edge and electricity and water. There is a building with men's and women's showers and flush toilets. There are also 2 other men's and women's vault toilets. The vault toilets were pretty full and very smelly but there was plenty of toilet paper and hand sanitizer available. The sites are close together with a fire ring and some have shade. I stayed here in a tent and there were a few ticks and very few mosquitos this early in the season. The host couple seemed nice but I didn't see much of them during my stay. There is firewood for sale at $ 5.00 for a small bundle and t-shirts and hoodies also for sale. There is a huge dumpster for trash and that thing stunk up the campground. This campground isn't for a peaceful and serene camping experience, it is noisy even after the mandated 10 PM to 7 AM quiet time. Late at night there was yelling, ATV's driving around with loud talkers and headlights shining. I kept waiting for the hosts to enforce the quiet time rules listing at the entrance but to no avail. Early in the morning people launching to go fishing were loud talking and firing up boat motors. This place is more for partiers and people who want to fish. It wasn't that clean and the price is high for what you experience. I can't recommend this campground based on my experience.

The rv camp sites are very small the bathroom are very gross they only clean then 2 times a week…read more(on Friday and Monday) the shower is so gross

Start with good, campsites are really big and have nice fire pits. That's all. The roads are dirt…read moreand dusty, the bathroom is terrible, showers small and old, not maintained at all, 2 stalls for a lot of campsites. The water faucet near the sites for drinking water have used paper towels and garbage all around them, so gross. For $40.00 a night the bathrooms should be cleaned, and updated and the camp cleaned up. We won't be back and we can't recommend. It's a shame because a little bit of cleaning and updating would go a long way.

Five stars isn't enough for this crew. We fish with Craig at Lake Vermilion Fishing Guides just…read moreabout every year, and our Boundary Waters trips into Basswood are the ones we talk about all winter. From the first phone call he asks the right questions about what you want out of the day, then builds the whole trip around it. Getting into the BWCA on your own takes real planning, but Craig handles all of it, and once you're out there you've got world-class fishing with almost nobody around. He reads the water, adjusts constantly, and genuinely cares that everyone on board catches fish. He handles the big fish with real care too, quick photos and healthy releases. This is what a professional guide service should be. We're already planning next year's trip.

I don't have enough great things to say about Steve and Ginny and the rest of the crew at Spirit of…read morethe Wilderness. We were out on Knife Lake on Tuesday July 14 2026 (the day of the closure and evacuation of the wilderness). I had rented a one way Spot and picked up my permit from Spirit. Unfortunately with the device we had no one could communicate with us, but the crew at Spirit was tracking us and keeping everyone back home aware of our situation. After we got back into Ely, they even offered a bunkhouse for us to stay the night before heading home.

Beautiful views! Staff very eager to be of help. It is a work in Progress as some sites are being…read morerenovated, but all in all a very nice stay. It was a little confusing coming in but got it straightened out.

Super clean and nice bathrooms and showers. Also, great rates, management, and staff.read more