Other stories in "Camping"

• Camping in state parks
  For summer, reserve far ahead.
• Yippee for yurts
  Weekend stay on an Iowa lake is so simple, it's hardly camping.
• Camping out west
  Not far from the Twin Cities, county parks provide easy access to beach life.
• 10 great campsites
  It's all about location, location, location.
• Camping like a king
  The best campsites await those who know how to look for them.

A roof in the woods

In state parks, visitors love their camper cabins.

For people who love the outdoors, luxury is in the eye of the beholder.

Is it a Jacuzzi or a latrine? A four-course breakfast or a fire ring?

The answer is not so obvious. If the choice also includes starry skies, silence and snow-laden pines, many folks would take a camper cabin over a fancy inn, even if they have to use vault toilets and cook over a fire.

Minnesota's 54 camper cabins in state parks are so popular many people reserve them as soon as reservations open, a year in advance.

The 12- by 16-foot log cabins have bunk beds, a table and chairs, and many have screened porches, electricity and heat. There's always water, and in summer, guests can use campground shower facilities. In winter, campers have to stay a little grubbier, but miles of skiing and snowshoeing trails outside their doors make up for it.

One January, my husband and I stayed in the most popular camper cabin of all. The cabins themselves are equally cute, but some parks are more scenic than others. Of those, Jay Cooke, straddling the St. Louis River near Duluth, has to be near the top of the heap.

Long ago, underground heat and pressure fused mud and sand into rock and heaved it into the park, creating a Cubist landscape of tilted slabs, house-sized boulders and sharp ledges that make the root-beer-tinted river froth and bubble through a series of Class V rapids.

When we were there, new snow had coated every branch and flocked every bough in the park, creating a classic winter wonderland.

The park staff had left a bundle of wood on our porch, and we built a fire and stared into it for hours, watching sparks jump high into the sky to meet the stray flakes drifting down. Carefully stacking our slabs, we were as entertained as children playing with Legos, until our toys ran out. Then, we climbed into our sleeping bags and read as trains whistled from the rail line that still follows the park's borders.

In the morning, we hiked along the river on the Carlton Trail, under snowy canopies of aspen and up hills where birch popped out against blue sky. Human tracks disappeared at the Summer Trail junction, but deer kept us on the right track, at one point keeping us from plunging into a snow-covered creek.

When we got back, the stone visitors center had reopened for day visitors, so we stopped to pay for our wood and a new vehicle permit. We asked the office administrator if it was too late to reserve the cabin for summer, when we hoped to return and bicycle on the Willard Munger State Trail into Duluth, but she said the cabin is booked nearly solid, even on winter weekdays if there's snow. However, Jay Cooke now has five camper cabins.

The cabins help fill in for the modest mom-and-pop resorts to which vacationing Minnesota families used to return year after year. A cherished part of state history, they've disappeared by the thousands; often, an entire resort is replaced by just one vacation home, whose owners may use it for only a few weeks a year.

Nothing will replace the old resorts. But for Annika Fjelstad and her family,  the camper cabins come close. Since her sons were born, they've stayed at the Wild River State Park cabins up to three times a year, often renting an adjoining cabin for use as a guesthouse.

"It was part of our commitment to the kids, to let them know and love at least one place where they know they really belong," says Fjelstad, who once worked as a wilderness guide. "It gives them a sense of stability; it's kind of like going home to the woods.

"People who own a cabin have that experience, too, but this is more affordable and convenient," she says. "And we like sharing our cabin with the state of Minnesota when we're not using it."

Trip Tips: Camper cabins

Minnesota state parks: Minnesota has 54 camper cabins at 22 state parks; handicapped-accessible cabins sleep five, and others sleep six. Most of the cabins are in campgrounds, accessible by car, but some, as in Lake Maria, are along trails. Each cabin has bunks with mattresses and a table with benches. Each has a picnic table and fire ring, and a vault toilet and water source is nearby. In summer, guests can use campground showers.

Guests must bring their own bedding. It's also a good idea to bring a container for water, biodegradable soap for washing and a reading lamp. Candles are not allowed. Cabins with electricity have many outlets, but guests are not supposed to use coffeemakers or crockpots. Pets are not allowed inside cabins. Campers are expected to sweep the floor and wipe off the table and mattresses before they leave.

Heated cabins are $45 with electricity and $40 without. Most heated cabins are year-round, but some are seasonal. Cabins with heat are at Bear Head Lake, Beaver Creek Valley, Big Bog, Glendalough, Jay Cooke, Lac Qui Parle, Lake Maria, Lake Shetek, Mille Lacs Kathio, Minneopa, Myre-Big Island, Sakatah Lake, Savanna Portage, Sibley, Whitewater, Wild River and William O'Brien.

Seasonal cabins without heat are at Banning, Crow Wing, Glacial Lakes, Hayes Lake and Maplewood.

At Upper Sioux Agency State Park, two unheated tepees rent for $25.

Reservations can be made a year in advance at 866-857-2757, toll-free in the United States and Canada, or at www.stayatmnparks.com; reservation fee is $8.50, and reservations can be made daily from 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. (after the first day of availability, online reservations can be made 24 hours a day).

Overnight guests also pay a vehicle fee of $5 daily or $25 for an annual pass. For more information, call 651-296-6157 or 888-646-6367 from outstate Minnesota, www.mnstateparks.info.

Wisconsin state parks: Wisconsin rents two rustic group cabins in Point Beach State Forest, north of Two Rivers on Lake Michigan; one sleeps 14, and the other 16, $5 per person with a $60 minimum, 920-794-7480.

In Big Bay State Park on Madeline Island, a rustic cabin known as an indoor group camp sleeps 20 and is available only to nonprofit groups, $3 person with a $40 minimum. It has a full-size fridge and stove but no bunks or running water, 715-747-6425.

The cabins are open from May to the second weekend in October. Reservation fee is $4, and guests also must pay for a vehicle admission sticker, $5 daily/$20 annual for residents, $10/$30 for nonresidents. Reserve up to a year in advance, www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks.

Michigan state parks: In Michigan, 37 state parks include 63 mini-cabins; cabins at 10 parks are open in winter. They sleep four and cost $45; reserve at 800-447-2757, www.midnrreservations.com. Three parks rent tepees, $30; reserve by calling 1-800-447-2757.

Eighteen state parks include heated rustic cabins that accommodate groups from two to 24 and are reserved through each park. Among the most popular are the 19 wood-heated cabins in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park on the Upper Peninsula. Three are open in winter; most sleep four, but some sleep six or eight. Seven are within a mile of a trailhead, and one is handicapped-accessible; others require a hike of up to four miles. Cookware and tableware are provided, but guests need to bring a stove. Cabins on Mirror Lake, Lily Pond and Lake of the Clouds include boats. The park also has three yurts.

The cabins and yurts, $60, often are reserved a year or more in advance. To reserve, call the park at 1-906-885-5275.

For more information about Michigan state parks, call 517-373-9900 or go to www.michigan.gov. A nonresident daily parks sticker costs $8, $29 for an annual stickers.

Iowa state parks: Fifteen Iowa parks offer a variety of basic family cabins, camping cabins and studio cabins, $25-$85, including Backbone in scenic northeast Iowa. In north-central Iowa, McIntosh Woods on the shores of Clear Lake rents canvas-sided yurts, $35. They can be reserved up to a year in advance, 877-427-2757, www.reserveiaparks.com. For information, call 515-281-8368 or go to www.exploreiowaparks.com.

South Dakota state parks: In South Dakota, 34 parks offer 125 log camping cabins, each with heating, air conditioning, electricity and a deck, $35-$45. Most sleep four, with a double bed and a bunk bed; cabins at four parks, including Fort Sisseton, sleep six. Reservations can be made 90 days in advance at 1-800-710-2267 or www.CampSD.com.

Vehicle permits are $5 daily, $23 annually. For more information, call 605-773-3391 or go to www.sdgfp.info/parks/General/Cabins.htm.

Ontario provincial parks: Nine parks, including Quetico along the Minnesota border and Pancake Bay on Lake Superior, rent 47 heated yurts that have bunks for six, tables and chairs. They're $79.25 Canadian. Four parks rent rustic cabins, including Sleeping Giant near Thunder Bay, $53.45-$104; call 888-668-7275 or go to www.ontarioparks.com. Daily vehicle permits are $8.90-$16.80.

Last updated on September 22, 2008