Riverway Campground

This is a great state park with lots to do. There are two camp areas, this one on the river and then one up the hill in the 'prairie' (although it's in the deep woods). No it's not perfect and pristine, but it's a state park for $35 a night... if you're looking for perfect there are plenty of $150 RV parks around. Most sites are large enough for large RV's but it's better suited for medium sized rigs or tents. shower building is a bit old (being totally rebuilt in 2024 - as is this entire lower campground), but you get to wake up in the morning, walk 100 feet and sit (with your coffee) on the banks of one of the most beautiful rivers in North America.
Stillwater is 20 minutes south - a great tourist town with shopping, antiques, fantastic food and a park right on the river. Marine on St Croix is 5 minutes south with a fun little country store (deli and ice cream) and a great bar/restaurant with fun outdoor dinning.

Shower / toilet bldg was disgusting and too small for the size of campground. Too many oversized trailers squeezed into sites meant for much smaller setups or tents. Many of those rigs left there outdoor lights on at nught too. Little privacy. Pointless “camping” experience if you truly want a more relaxing pleasant experience in the outdoors.

Stayed at two different sites in September, one in the Riverway (lower) Campground and one in the Savannah (upper) Campground while visiting family in the area. The Twin Cities area has a lack of campsites, given the population of the area, so William O’Brien State Park is very popular and full on the weekends. Sites are close in both campgrounds, just a thin barrier of foliage separating sites so noise and smoke spread easily throughout the campground. Highway 95 along the St Croix River is a main access road for the area and popular for motorcycle rides which adds significantly to the noise factor. Campground hosts are friendly and helpful. Restrooms are clean but dark inside. Didn’t check the showers as we prefer to use our own. Sites are electric only or primitive camping.

Nice walking trails along the river, through the forest and to the swimming beach in the lower park area. Multiple water spigots to fill jugs are available around the campground as well as fresh water and rinse water spigots, with threaded connections, at the dump station. Cell signal is very low throughout the park. Just a short drive for groceries and services. A state park pass is required, in addition to the camping fee, which can be purchased at the ranger station at the entrance.

Nice weekend getaway just an hour from the Twin Cities. Enjoyed fishing on Lake Alice - kids caught a lot of sunnies. Riverway trail was a great loop for biking, finding mussels in the river and exploring. Also enjoyed the Beaver Lodge Trail up near the visitor's center. Would bring canoe next time. Site was a little tight backing in due to tree on left side, but otherwise spacious and really nice privacy so close to MSP.

Had a site close to showers/restrooms. Most of the sites here are good sized and allow some privacy or brush borders. You have book online or call reservations. Daily fee paid by envelope due to COVID19 and they will patrol to verify. Showers are decent with timed usage. Water from pumps is very clean. Please be safe if you go on river. They had to do another missing person search today. :(

We stayed here as a shakedown run of our new camper. We knew from satalite maps and pictures that it wouldn't a particularly private Campground but we didn't expect it to be as open as it was. There was no brush or trees between out campsite and the two behind us and the one to our right. There is absolutely zero privacy. You are exposed on all sides. Our fire ring was as close to our camper as our neighbors. Every direction we looked out of our camper we could easily see people. This Campground is also swarming with kids who were apparently not taught to look before running or riding their bikes into a roadway. The closeness of the same sites along with the number of them and being in a river valley made the air quality from all the camp fires in the evening very poor. We didn't use the shower or bathroom buildings so I am unable to comment on that. The good: the site was fairly easy to get into, it was pretty level, the electric pedestal was in a good location, firewood is for sale right in the Campground, and there is drinking water available to fill your camper at the dump station. We probably wouldn't stay here again unless we need to do a shakedown again.

Note: I marked cell service as 1 bar of lte which is what our phones indicated but it was functional useless as pretty much nothing would load.