Where to Stay

There are five campgrounds within the park: North Star, North Hill and South Hill on the west side of the main park road, and Washegum and Maid O’ Moonshine on the east side. North Star is walk-in campsites only, North Hill is for tents only, and South Hill can accommodate both tents and RVs. All three of those campgrounds are primitive, meaning there is nowhere to hook up to electric, water, or sewer. Washegum and Maid O’ Moonshine are where all the modern (electric and water) sites are. There are 3 group campsites in the park, which we have yet to explore. Five cabins, a yurt, and a group cabin are also available for rent.

We stayed in the South Hill campground this year, in a site that was large enough to pull our 5th wheel through. It’s nice when we don’t have to back into a site. Since it was a primitive site, we had to fill our water tanks at the dump station located near the entrance of the modern campgrounds. This is also where we emptied our grey and black tanks to prepare for the long weekend. For power, we ran our generator for a couple hours per day to run our air conditioner. The temperatures were in the 70’s and 80’s and sunny for most of the weekend, so we spent the majority of our time outside.

Since we had no way to fill our fresh water tank unless we moved our trailer, we took advantage of one of the shower houses located near the modern campgrounds for all of our showering needs. The shower house was clean and well maintained, and we never needed to wait long for a shower to open up. Besides the men’s and women’s shower rooms, there were two family shower rooms, complete with a toilet and an accessible shower. 

We arrived on Thursday and were scheduled to leave on Sunday, but ended up extending our stay by a day. The highlight of Thursday and Friday night were our loud neighbors to the south of us, but by Saturday afternoon the campground was starting to clear out, and by Sunday afternoon we had nearly the entire campground to ourselves. We thoroughly enjoyed being the only family there for a night!

What to Do

We spent most of our days either at the beach or exploring the hiking and multi-use trails in the park in-between trips to Bottineau, the closest city, to grab groceries and wash our laundry. We didn’t spend any time on the water, but should we have wanted to we could have rented canoes or kayaks. Cross country skis and snowshoes are available to rent in the winter months. Four fishing docks are available for use, as well as a boat ramp, which proved to be quite a busy spot during our stay. Directly across from the park on Lake Metigoshe is a marina for boats and water craft to get fuel, and in the middle of the lake is Masonic Island, a popular spot for tourists to explore.

Lake Metigoshe isn’t the only lake in or near the park. Within the park you will also find Lake McDonald, School Section Lake, Rost Lake, and Eramosh Lake. Lake McDonald is accessible by kayak from Lake Metigoshe or on foot by trails, while School Section and Rost Lakes are only accessible by trails within the park. Eramosh Lake is shared between the USA and Canada and can be accessed within the park by trails or from Manitoba. 

There are two playgrounds at the park, of which we found and played at one. The kids particularly enjoyed the presentations by the park rangers in the evenings. There is also a dog park right on the lake. Our pup is still too young to be trusted off the leash so we didn’t take her there, but it was nice to know it was an option since dogs are not allowed on the public beach.

Unfortunately, we missed the Independence Day festivities, which typically take place on July 3rd to coincide with a water show on the lake. That doesn’t mean we didn’t miss out on some fireworks all weekend, though. There were residences around the lake that had fireworks every night through Sunday, though most of them we could only hear, not see. Fireworks were not allowed inside the park.

Twenty miles east of the park is the International Peace Garden. The garden straddles Canada and the United States and encompasses 2300 acres of trails, gardens, camping areas, and more. Entering the garden means passing through customs, which means you will need either a Passport/Nexus Card, or a Driver’s License and Birth Certificate (or just a Birth Certificate for minors). Because it means leaving the country we’ve never been there, but plan to visit some day.