Wisconsin State Parks

[HDRider]

We thought we might escape the heat and go to Wisconsin, especially The Driftless area.

 

Does anyone have a recommendation?  I haven't found one with water.

 

[Gliddenwoods]

Water? 

Define.

Recommendations of great WI public parks is easy and many exist...but if you want to city water connection AND a great WI public park that's unlikely. 

WI Oliver Owner here.

 

[HDRider]

11 hours ago, Gliddenwoods said:

Water? 

Define.

Recommendations of great WI public parks is easy and many exist...but if you want to city water connection AND a great WI public park that's unlikely. 

WI Oliver Owner here.

 

I am looking for a city water connection at the campsite.

 

Are you saying WI does not offer city water connections at the campsite? 

[Galway Girl]

Here’s an example,  

Potawatomi State Park WI

Individual sites offer a mix of non-electric and electric pedestals (40 sites with electricity), but lack individual water or sewer hookups.  There are communal water spigots in the park.

And another park

Devils Lake has Water on pedestals but not each campsite.

We carry an extra 7 gallon blue water carrier and refill our tank Using the rear siphon port.

 

Search result:

 

No, there are no Wisconsin State Park campgrounds that offer water hookups at every individual campsite. [1]

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) deliberately designs its state park campgrounds to offer a more rustic experience. While many parks provide electrical hookups at select sites, none of them feature individual water or sewer connections at every campsite. [1, 2, 3, 4]

 

Edited Tuesday at 01:59 PM by Galway Girl
Added map

[Gliddenwoods]

15 hours ago, HDRider said:

I am looking for a city water connection at the campsite.

 

Are you saying WI does not offer city water connections at the campsite? 

Not at State run WI Natural Resource Government public campgrounds. However many very nice campgrounds.

We call it camping...

[Gliddenwoods]

23 hours ago, Galway Girl said:

Here’s an example,  

Potawatomi State Park WI

Individual sites offer a mix of non-electric and electric pedestals (40 sites with electricity), but lack individual water or sewer hookups.  There are communal water spigots in the park.

And another park

Devils Lake has Water on pedestals but not each campsite.

We carry an extra 7 gallon blue water carrier and refill our tank Using the rear siphon port.

 

Search result:

 

 

No, there are no Wisconsin State Park campgrounds that offer water hookups at every individual campsite. [1]

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) deliberately designs its state park campgrounds to offer a more rustic experience. While many parks provide electrical hookups at select sites, none of them feature individual water or sewer connections at every campsite. [1, 2, 3, 4]

 

Potawatmie Park under construction this season.

Other Door County State Park Peninsula is very popular.

FireFly in northern Vilas Co is highly recommended. A real nice park on a small quiet lake. The area has many many inland lakes and thousands of acres of public lands.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://northwoodswisconsin.com/northern-wisconsin-recreation/northern-wisconsin-camping/firefly-lake-campground/&ved=2ahUKEwiEw6jv_PeVAxUpoCsGHQQRLdIQFnoECGIQAQ&sqi=2&usg=AOvVaw25dOd2yyBQgR0ACbU_0RQL

[Galileo]

14 hours ago, Gliddenwoods said:

Not at State run WI Natural Resource Government public campgrounds. However many very nice campgrounds.

We call it camping...

I thought “camping” was that thing people did with tents, sleeping bags, and cooking over an open fire? 

I guess to some, even that would be a bit wussy. 

[Galileo]

On 7/27/2026 at 8:39 AM, HDRider said:

 

Does anyone have a recommendation?  I haven't found one with water.

The one we’re at in Minnesota (Glacial Lakes SP) doesn’t have water at sites either. The downside of the Northern states I guess. 

We’ve been to a couple of Western and Northwestern states that have water, but either don’t turn them on until (what I would call) pretty late in the season - or - use the “freeze proof” hydrants. ‘Course, they’re only freeze proof if they’re turned off and allowed to drain. 

I froze my hose a couple of times. (I mean that literally by the way…) and ruined my good regulator and pressure gauge by leaving them hooked up when the temps dropped to 18F one night. 

[Galileo]

On 7/27/2026 at 8:39 AM, HDRider said:

Does anyone have a recommendation?  I haven't found one with water.

We stayed at a couple of private campgrounds and “RV Parks” in WI. Some were actually pretty nice and not terribly crowded - like the parking lots with hookups - that many RV Parks are. 

Yes, they cost more - but you typically have more amenities - nicer showers, laundry, maybe even cable. 

Though we like and gravitate towards State Parks - we’re finding that security is frequently lacking. Very truncated staff hours - especially mid-week. Often no access control at all. We’ve seen some pretty shady characters come and go as we’ve traveled across the country. Just a casual reminder to keep anything loose and remotely valuable locked up. 

[Gliddenwoods]

17 minutes ago, Galileo said:

I thought “camping” was that thing people did with tents, sleeping bags, and cooking over an open fire? 

I guess to some, even that would be a bit wussy. 

Some of us still backpack.

[Galileo]

As a friend of mine would say “camping is a 4-star hotel without room service”. 

[HDRider]

2 hours ago, Galileo said:

we like and gravitate towards State Parks - we’re finding that security is frequently lacking. Very truncated staff hours - especially mid-week. Often no access control at all. We’ve seen some pretty shady characters come and go as we’ve traveled across the country. Just a casual reminder to keep anything loose and remotely valuable locked up. 

We really like state parks.  I guess we have been lucky, nothing has been pilfered.  We leave the cap wide open and setup when we leave it to look around.  We do lock the trailer. 

I have found most parks have city water at the site.  We did a 4,000 mile trip up to NY and back down the coast to VA and back to Arkansas in 2024 and I think a SP in Indiana is the only one with no site water.  We did 7,000 last year out west to Montana and down the coast to CA.  Every SP had water.  Maybe it is a northern thing. 

 

[Galileo]

1 hour ago, HDRider said:

Maybe it is a northern thing. 

 

Bingo

[Gliddenwoods]

3 hours ago, Galileo said:

We stayed at a couple of private campgrounds and “RV Parks” in WI. Some were actually pretty nice and not terribly crowded - like the parking lots with hookups - that many RV Parks are. 

Yes, they cost more - but you typically have more amenities - nicer showers, laundry, maybe even cable. 

Though we like and gravitate towards State Parks - we’re finding that security is frequently lacking. Very truncated staff hours - especially mid-week. Often no access control at all. We’ve seen some pretty shady characters come and go as we’ve traveled across the country. Just a casual reminder to keep anything loose and remotely valuable locked up. 

I know this will be hard for many to understand and/or believe. But if you are camping in our northern Wisconsin State Forest/State Parks you will note that most of the campsite leave a fair amount of gear outside at the campsite at night and when elsewhere without fear of someone taking something. It is just that way in this part of the world; really it is the rural upper Midwest. I have been camping for over six decades and have never lost an item.

[FloraFauna]

On 7/27/2026 at 8:39 AM, HDRider said:

We thought we might escape the heat and go to Wisconsin, especially The Driftless area.

 

Does anyone have a recommendation? 

Depending on your perspective, you will not escape the heat in the driftless area right now.  This past week i went into the Superior National Forest in northern MN  to " escape the heat" in southern Wisconsin.  I only escaped the heat there for 48 hours and then the heat moved in and it was almost as hot there as in southern wisconsin. 

I own property in the driftless area and have only seen a couple of days in july where i would oliver camp there.  

If you want to give it a shot i would recommend an electric site at Wyalusing or Perrot or Interstate State Park.  All are gorgeous and most have showers/flush bathrooms.  But this time of year you are going to want the option to run your ac and generator use is not allowed in the state parks.  Good luck!

[HDRider]

12 hours ago, FloraFauna said:

Depending on your perspective, you will not escape the heat in the driftless area right now.  This past week i went into the Superior National Forest in northern MN  to " escape the heat" in southern Wisconsin.  I only escaped the heat there for 48 hours and then the heat moved in and it was almost as hot there as in southern wisconsin. 

I own property in the driftless area and have only seen a couple of days in july where i would oliver camp there.  

If you want to give it a shot i would recommend an electric site at Wyalusing or Perrot or Interstate State Park.  All are gorgeous and most have showers/flush bathrooms.  But this time of year you are going to want the option to run your ac and generator use is not allowed in the state parks.  Good luck!

Just checked La Crosse.  Their high is my low.

 

Like you said, all a matter of perspective.

 

BTW - Good luck with your next governor. 

[HDRider]

I think we have confirmed WI SP's do not provide water at each site.   At all.

 

Do they always have a drive-in, hose accessible community spigot to refill the freshwater tank?

[FloraFauna]

2 hours ago, HDRider said:

Do they always have a drive-in, hose accessible community spigot to refill the freshwater tank?

Generally, no.  There may be an exception or two but i dont remember for the three parks i mentioned.  There are usually several spigots spread thru the camp ground.  But they typically dont have a hose fitting so parking in the camp road to refill  is probably difficult if not outright discouraged. You would have to take a 5 gallon bucket and refill doing the boondocking valve juggle to refill at most of these parks.  This would be very possible with strategic selection of campsite.  Now you know why i carry an extra 35 gallons of water in the back of my truck.

The driftless area will be gorgeous going into the fall.  All three parks i mentioned offer spectacular views if you are able to do some light hiking.

[FloraFauna]

4 hours ago, HDRider said:

BTW - Good luck with your next governor. 

Sheesh.  Lol.  I won't touch this one.