Nothing says summer like lakeside living.
Cass Lake
About a month ago we remembered that Memorial Day weekend was coming up and scrambled to make reservations before all the campgrounds filled up. Sure enough, the first few state parks we checked were already booked, but then Tim stumbled across a small national forest campground on a lake in north-central Minnesota. Not only did they have open sites, but a few were right on the water. Perfect.
Site 11 has a terrific view!
Cass Lake Loop is one of four national forest campgrounds on the shore of Cass Lake. Of the four it’s the only campground with wide open lake views. No hook-ups, a permanently closed dump station, and “primitive” showers mean this is no resort-style campground, but for our needs it couldn’t be better.
Site 21 in the Chippewa CG. This is the best choice if you want an electric hook-up.
No surprise that all the sites were full over the holiday weekend, and while the thick border of trees between sites provided us with lots of privacy, we could have done without the neighbor’s nightly chainsaw session (downed and dead tress are fair game here – I guess a regular handsaw was not enough for him ). We survived the busy weekend though and have been enjoying a nearly empty campground all week.
All tucked into the forest
The weather has been…well exactly like you would expect the weather to be at the end of May in a northern climate. Sunny and warm one day, rainy and cold the next, partly sunny the next day, more rain the next, and so on. Reminds us of the northeast — except with more mosquitos. Despite more clouds than sun, we’ve made sure to get out when we can and managed two paddles around the lake, a ride on the Migizi Bike trail, a few walks around the campground, and even a drive to Bemidji for some Memorial Day ice cream.
Biking on the Migizi Trail
The blue waters of Cass Lake
A lonely boat ramp
Evening paddle
A subtle sunset
Tim hanging with Babe the Big Blue Ox
Obligatory Memorial Day ice cream
We planned to move on to another lake this weekend, but after failing to find a suitable campground (i.e. one with cell service) that had waterfront sites, we decided to stay here for another week. Our site is already booked, so we have to pack up and move a few sties down, but with the same awesome lake view it’s hard to complain.
5 comments
Hey! We were neighbors for the weekend. We noticed you were from South Dakota and I thought for sure you were already familiar with the place. We make one trip to the Chippewa National Forest every year from the twin cities and usually stay in the chippewa loop. This was our first time in the cass lake loop and did so because of the sites right on the lake (great for launching our kayaks). My sisters family was in site 4 and we were in site 6. I reported the all night use of generators to the forest service office in town and they said they will do some follow up. If you havent made a trip into Cass Lake to see the Supervisors Office its a really neat old building and worth the time. If you do that please report the chainsaw exhibition to them. I forgot about that one and they will wanna know. I think that most of the issues would not have happened had there been a host. This years host in this loop had to back out due to health issues. Hey. Glad you like the campground even with the distractions.
Oh too bad we didn’t connect in person! I can see why you would come here again and again. We’re loving the campground and lake. This week we moved over to site 6 because 11 was already reserved and we wanted to stay longer. Loving the wide open lake view! They must have found a replacement host because someone moved into the host site late last week. It’s been quiet here since the holiday crowd left.
Looks like a gorgeous place…postcard perfect…especially after the crowds moved on!
Glad to see you enjoying our North Country. We have had a Family cabin on Lake Bemidji for over 100 years. You can always revisit Paul and Babe via the Chamber’s webcam
http://www.bemidji.org/pages/ChamberWebcams
Great place to have a cabin! Thanks for the webcam link. We’ll have to check and see what Paul & Babe look like covered with snow this winter :)