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A roof in the woods

In state parks, visitors love their camper cabins.

The camper cabins in Afton State Park, just east of St. Paul, are right on the ski trail.

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 68 camper cabins in 23 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 camper cabin in Jay Cooke State Park is surrounded by bi

A camper cabin in Jay Cooke State Park is surrounded by giant firs.

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

To rent a private cabin, cottage or guesthouse, see Cabins & Cottages stories.

Minnesota

Minnesota state parks: Minnesota has 67 camper cabins at 23 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 $50 with electricity and $45 without. There's also an $8.50 reservation fee, so it doesn't really pay to stay just one night.

Most heated cabins are year-round, but some are seasonal. Cabins with heat are at Bear Head Lake, Beaver Creek Valley, Big Bog, Flandrau, Glacial Lakes, Glendalough, Jay Cooke, Lac Qui Parle, Lake Carlos, Lake Maria, Lake Shetek, Mille Lacs Kathio, Minneopa, Myre-Big Island, Sakatah Lake, Savanna Portage, Sibley, Whitewater, Wild River and William O'Brien.

Many of the most-popular parks have multiple cabins: Wild River (6), William O'Brien (3) and Lake Maria (3), all within an hour of the Twin Cities; Glacial Lakes (6), Sibley (4) and Lake Carlos (4), all about two hours west of the Twin Cities; Jay Cooke (5) near Duluth; Mille Lacs-Kathio (5); and Bear Head Lake near Ely (5).

In 2010, four cabins will open at Afton, just east of the Twin Cities.

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.

Some cabins are wheelchair-accessible.

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 starting at 8 a.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.

For more about state-park cabins and lodges, see Lodgings in Minnesota state parks.

Three Rivers Park District: This big parks district in the western suburbs of Minneapolis rents four seasonal camper cabins in the campground of Baker Park Reserve in Maple Plain, near the beach on Lake Independence.

The cabins have screened porches; three sleep six and one is accessible and sleeps five. They’re $50.

In Wisconsin's Point Beach State Forest, the Ketchbaw Cabin has no water or electricity, but it does have its own boardwalk to the Lake Michigan beach.

Reservations open for the season at 8 a.m. March 15. They're phone-only; call 763-559-6700.

For more, see Camping in the Twin Cities.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin state parks: Wisconsin parks are prohibited by statute from having camper cabins, thanks to the resort and hotel industry. However, it 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.

Each has a boardwalk to a white-sand beach on Lake Michigan and has a fire pit, pump and latrine but no electricity. There's also a covered pavilion for eating.

Black River State Forest near Black River Falls rents a two-bedroom cabin that sleeps 12, $3 per person with a $40 minimum, 715-284-4103.

They can be reserved 11 months in advance, 800-372-3607.

In Big Bay State Park on Madeline Island, closer to Big Bay Town Park, there's a large rustic cabin known as an indoor group camp, with a stone fireplace, loft, full-size fridge and stove. It's available only to nonprofit groups, $3 person with a $40 minimum, but they no longer can sleep indoors; they have to pitch tents on the grounds because of a Department of Health ruling. 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, $7 daily/$25 annually for residents, $10/$35 for nonresidents. Reserve up to a year in advance.

Wisconsin's state parks do have nine cabins for people with disabilities, $30 per night plus a $4 reservation fee. They’re very popular and can be reserved a year in advance.

Modern cabins are in Buckhorn, High Cliff, Mirror Lake, Kohler-Andrae and Potawatomi state parks and at Ottawa Lake in the Southern Unit of Kettle Moraine State Forest and in Richard Bong Recreation Area. Rustic cabins are at Copper Falls and Blue Mounds state parks.

Michigan

Michigan rents 61 mini-cabins in 36 state parks. Cheboygan, Interlochen and Wilson state parks rent tepees, $30. Reserve up to six months in advance at Michigan DNR Reservations, 800-447-2757.

Fourteen state parks rent camper cabins that have covered front porches and sleep six on bunk beds and a futon sofa, $80 from May through September and $60 from October through April. They include refrigerators, microwaves and coffeemakers but not bathrooms.

On Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park rents three yurts.

Interlochen has three and Holland and Proud Lake have two; Port Crescent, Lakeport, Mitchell, Pinckney, Waterloo, Metamora Hadley, Tawas Point, Onaway, Orchard Beach, Van Riper and Tahquamenon Falls have one. Reserve up to a year in advance at Michigan DNR Reservations, 800-447-2757.

Eighteen state parks include heated rustic cabins that accommodate groups from two to 24 and are reserved through each park, $50-$80. They can be reserved a year in advance at Michigan DNR Reservations, 800-447-2757.

Among the most popular are the 19 wood-heated cabins in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park on the Upper Peninsula; cabins on Mirror Lake, Lily Pond and Lake of the Clouds include boats. The park also has three year-round yurts, $60. For more, see Afoot in the Porkies.

Michigan state parks also rent modern cottages and lodges, including the 1940s Kaug Wudjoo Lodge in Porcupines Mountains Wilderness, which sleeps up to 12. They're rented through each park.

Iowa

Iowa state parks: Eight Iowa parks offer camper cabins, including McIntosh Woods near Clear Lake, which has two yurts (See Yippee for yurts). They sleep four and have dorm-size fridges and microwaves. There's a minimum stay of two nights.

Pleasant Creek, northwest of Cedar Rapids, has four camper cabins, and Wilson Island, north of Council Bluffs, has one, $25. The others are $35: Dolliver, south of Fort Dodge, two; Green Valley in southwest Iowa, two; Honey Creek in southeast Iowa, four; Lake Darling, southwest of Iowa City, five; and Stone near Sioux City, two.

They can be reserved up to a year in advance, 877-427-2757, www.reserveiaparks.com. For information, call 515-281-5918.

Iowa parks also rent studio, family and deluxe cabins with bathrooms and cooking facilities. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, they're rented only by the week, from Friday to Friday.

In northeast Iowa, south of Strawberry Point, Backbone has eight family cabins, $50; four two-bedroom family cabins, $85; and four two-story, two-bedroom deluxe family cabins, $100. For more, see A cabin in Iowa.

South of Storm Lake in northwest Iowa, Black Hawk has one stone four-bedroom family cabin, $100.

In southeast Iowa, Lacey-Keosauqua has six studio cabins, $50. In southwest Iowa, east of Clarinda, Lake of Three Fires has six studio cabins, $50. Lake Wapello, southwest of Ottumwa, has 14 family cabins, $60-$85, and the park has a restaurant, too.

Camper cabins in South Dakota's Fort Sisseton State Park, near the Minnesota border, share a dining cabin/kitchen.

Palisades-Kepler, east of Cedar Rapids, has four family cabins, $50. Pine Lake, west of Waterloo, has two studio cabins, $65, and two family cabins, $75; they're built of stone and timber by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

South Dakota

South Dakota state parks: In South Dakota, 34 parks offer 182 log camping cabins, each with heating, air conditioning, electricity and a deck. Most sleep four, with a double bed and a bunk bed, $35. Cabins sleep six at four parks, $40, including Fort Sisseton, where guests at the three cabins share a fourth cabin that has a stove, refrigerator, sink, microwave and dining table.

Custer State Park has 50 camping cabins, $45. Reservations can be made 90 days in advance at 800-710-2267 or www.CampSD.com.

Vehicle permits are $6 daily, $28 annually. For more information, call 605-773-3391.

Ontario

Ontario provincial parks: Nine parks, including Quetico along the Minnesota border and Pancake Bay on the east side of 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. Daily vehicle permits are $8.90-$16.80.

Last updated on March 12, 2010

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