Stopped at this campground on one of our northern trips,,,was greeted by a cheerful lady and was checked-in in just a few minutes. Lots of drive-thru sites, as a overnighter, we found this place very easy to find, easy to park rig,,and these are things that matter most to us while towing a vehicle.. We will stay here again when in the area. We camped here in a Motorhome.
First impressions weren't great, due to the smoke-filled "office" one has to go into upon arrival. But the sites were well level and maintained, with mowing and maintenance going on constantly. The pool and sauna areas were also well taken care of. And the owners could not have been more helpful or accommodating, answering all questions readily and happily. We give this campground higher marks solely because of the owners. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Review Rating
[ 1 / 10 ]
July 2007
$25
We should have know that we would not enjoy this campground upon arrival. The "camp store" is nothing more than a disgusting bar with the owners sitting enjoying a brew and a smoke. Sites had not been mowed in weeks and owners were constantly hounding people at the pool concerning rules that seemed made up on the spot. Pass on by, too many other nice campgrounds in the area. We camped here in a Motorhome.
To be fair it had been pouring down rain for hours before our arrival, however the roads were not in good shape in the campground and the grassy areas were covered with a couple of inches of water. The check in office doubles as a local bar. The RV pads were pavement strips in need of some repair. The campground might take on a different look in nice weather but I do not think I would stop here again. It is a convenient location and easy to find from major highway. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
This park has improved a little bit since we were there in 2003, but there is still room for a lot of improvement. There was a Bounder RV Rally while we were there, don't know if they cleaned it up for the rally or had done so previously. The office area had been cleared of trash & cobwebs and the floor had been swept. The restrooms and showers were hosed out daily, not sure how clean that made them. Grass was cut but not trimmed around utility posts and trees. We camped here in a Motorhome.
I agree with the above review. This park needs a lot of maintenance. The office, restroomes, showers and laundry were dirty. The grass needed to be mowed. Roads and sites were gravel & level. It is rather tight for big rigs, but lots of them stay there including Prevosts. I think the reason for this is because it seems to be the only park in the area. We camped here in a Motorhome.
While this is not an uncomfortable park, it needs a lot of maintance. Office/reception area tattered and worn. Most sites are pull-thrus. We camped here in a camper.
Pattison Lake State Park, WI. Stayed here for one night on 1 July 2007. A nice state park, but we were surprised at how difficult it was maneuvering our 35ft 5er into the sites that were deemed large enough for our rig. The problem wasn’t the sites themselves, rather it was the very narrow and curved entrance and exits for each site that were the problems, with rather large trees to maneuver around. No generators of any kind are allowed in this state park, so plan accordingly if you can’t get a site with electricity. Some nice hiking trails to a couple of waterfalls in the immediate area, one the highest waterfall (165ft) in WI. Park is clean, quiet, just narrow camping sites, including the access roads through the campsites themselves. The vast majority of sites in this park are suited best for TTs and Class Cs under 30ft or Pop-Ups. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Nightly rate on a large pull through site with electricity was $17. Most sites are large and pull throughs. All were very well shielded with bushes & trees for a feeling of solitude. I expected it to be crowded with no vacancies, but I drove in without reservations and had a choice of sites to pick from. There are great trails for hiking, a beach, nature center, etc. Restrooms were large, clean and well maintained. Showers were HOT! Nice on a cool northern WI AM. This park was highly rated on all the web sites I checked & I can see why. I only wish all campgrounds and state parks were this great. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Pattison looked good on the web, but it looks even better in person. Almost every site is a pull-through which is unusual for a State Park. However, only 18 have electricity. The sites are Large, Medium & Small (the ranger station has them labeled that way on their map) but they are all quite nice. There are a couple of double sites for camping with friends. Good playground for kids. $4 for a pile of firewood - enough for all night. Excellent interpretative center. The naturalist while we were there, Jesse, was wonderful. He was a very hands-on field work kind of a guy, not the lecture kind. His naturalist hikes were excellent - he knew every bird in the forest, he took us off-trail to a huge beaver dam, he had a fine insect collection, well, you get the idea. The hiking here was awesome. The trails were well maintained but not totally artificial. Hiking to the waterfalls is a must. At 165', Big Manitou Falls is the highest waterfall in Wisconsin and the 4th highest east of the Rocky Mountains. Very easy hike to it, and around it, and down river. Well worth it! Rangers patrol the campground hourly and it was very peaceful while we there (as is typical). It is also very quiet at night. Very nice beach and bathhouse too. Great for kids to play on or swim in the roped off area. Water was a bit cool in late August already. One disadvantage for multi-day visitors in a non-electric site: Generators are not allowed to be run at any Wisconsin State Park at any time. After three days, we had to strike camp in our Class A and take a drive into Duluth for groceries (but the drive was really to recharge our house batteries). The ranger, when he found out, was so nice - "Ya coulda driven down to the shop, I'da let ya plug in for a cupla hours. " This park, in our opinion, is a good destination park. We spent 4 days there in late August and were not ready to return home. There were good hiking trails we didn't take, more swimming to do, horseshoes/volleyball/basketball (all free, get supplies from the park office), and walking the campground talking with more people. No problem with animals (bears are very rare there). We had good Cell Phone coverage there, but there was no Blackberry (digital) coverage. No Internet access at the park (but one of the lady attendants offered to let us plug our laptop into their phone line in the office). When we return, we'll look to reserve one of the electric sites on the inner loop. All of the electric pull-throughs are quite nice. They reserve 6 sites for people without reservations - all non-electric. Site #1 is the best if you can get it (we did). Finally - that far north, the sky is spectacular at night. You can easily see the Milky Way among an incredible number of stars. We camped here in a Motorhome.