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Water

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People

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Camping

Established Camping

Pattison State Park Campground

26 Reviews

About

State Park

Pattison State Park features the highest waterfalls in Wisconsin and the fourth highest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains. Big Manitou Falls is 165 feet high and Twin Little Manitou Falls is 31 feet high. This 1,400-acre park also has a lake with a beach, a nature center, camping and scenic hiking trails. Pattison State Park has 59 regular (family) campsites, 18 of them with electric hookups and three backpack sites. There is a sanitary dumping station but no sewer or water hookups. Showers and flush toilets are available during the summer. Pattison State Park is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2020.

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Location

Pattison State Park Campground is located in Wisconsin

Directions

From Superior: From Belknap Street (US Highway 2/53) in downtown Superior, go south on Tower Avenue (State Highway 35) 13 miles. The park's main entrance will be on your left.

Address

6294 S State Rd 35
Superior, WI 54880

Coordinates

46.51758301174951 N
92.12146319578773 W

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Access

Drive-In
Park next to your site
Walk-In
Park in a lot, walk to your site.

Stay Connected

WiFi
Unknown
Verizon
Fair
AT&T
Unknown
T-Mobile
Unknown

Site Types

Tent Sites
RV Sites
Standard (Tent/RV)
Group

Features

For Campers

ADA Access
Trash
Picnic Table
Firewood Available
Phone Service
Reservable
Showers
Drinking Water
Electric Hookups
Toilets
Alcohol
Pets
Fires

For Vehicles

Sanitary Dump
Pull-Through Sites
Big Rig Friendly

For information regarding reservations, contact this campground directly.

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Contact

General Info

Brody

Traveler

Reviewed Jun. 8, 2022

Nice place for a few days

Nice pull through sites. Some with plenty of privacy and shade. Showers were not too clean but acceptable. Beach was ok for wading in but was not appealing to actually swim in. Hiking trails were great!! Very picturesque. Big manitou falls is right there at the campground off the main road. And little manitou was well worth the hike. You can also drive there. There’s a great store that has everything you may have forgotten. Also refill propane tanks. It’s on cty hwy B east of the park 5 min

Site17

Month of VisitJuly

Dayton .

Guide

Reviewed Dec. 1, 2021

Falls were amazing!

I live in Wisconsin and it took me this long to come see this state park and the Big Manitou Falls

Unfortunately they were closed for the season so I had to car camp nearby.

Month of VisitDecember

Fred S.

Legend

Reviewed Oct. 18, 2021

Just Okay

After reading the reviews, and also after depending time previously at Minnesota state park campgrounds, I was disappointed. It's an okay campground but I wouldn't stay here again. I have read that the campground had some tough times, & it shows in places. The dhower/restroom building needs some repairs. It was not clean. Stall door latches need replacing. The dower stalls were actually disgusting. In the mens room, only one of 3 urinals worked. Campsites were small & close together. Not much privacy between most sites. No staff on hand to answer questions. Overall, I didn't get a good vibe at this campground.

Site52 & 53

Month of VisitNovember

Matt C.

Guide

Reviewed Sep. 16, 2021

Beautiful waterfalls and Great Backpacking

We stayed in one of the 3 backpacking sites. Our site was closest to the little manitou falls and had a few little access points to take in the view. The site was tucked away and private, but could pick up the occasional sound of cars/hikers on the other side of the falls/river

SiteWhite Birch

Month of VisitAugust

(5) View All

Joy

Scout

Reviewed Jul. 23, 2021

Quiet, Small and Charming Campground

Great campground! Sites are mostly level, treed, and most are very spacious! Enjoyed this campground! We camped in motor home at an electric site. Our AT&T signal was strong. The hike to Little Manitou Falls was easy and really pretty - well worth doing!

Al J.

Guide

Reviewed May. 1, 2021

Great!

Awesome state park! Right along side of State Hwy 53. All the amenities you would need. Clean restrooms, bathrooms etc. All kinds of room to stretch out. Playground in good shape and very large area's for BBQing. Also nice trail system for hiking with a few site's for backpacking in.

Month of VisitMay

(14) View All

Gary P.

Ranger

Reviewed Sep. 27, 2020

Pattison State Park

Very nice, clean park with easy trails. Sites were well spaced with brush/trees between. ATT & Verizon both worked fairly well. One on the nicest night overs we encountered so far. Would return. Big rig friendly with decent roads.

Site36

Month of VisitOctober

Kim

Guide

Reviewed Sep. 14, 2020

Beautiful surroundings

Pattison state park has gone through some hard trials over the past few years. Heavy storm and food damaged washed out the main freeway to the park, destroyed the river side trails from Little Manitou to Big Manitou falls and shut down the public beach and campgrounds for some time.

The state has been pouring a lot of money into the repair and improvement of the park since then. They undertook the building of a new shower house facility, repairing all the hiking trails and restoring the observation decks and trails around Big Manitou Falls.

Pattison features the 4th highest waterfall east of the rockies (highest in WI/MN). Even the "Little" Manitou falls is 31 feet in height. It is also within a one hour drive to several other amazing parks with waterfalls.

The family camp sites are small, sometimes not the greatest with tree coverage and a bit of a walk to the shower house facilities.

The staff there are nice. There is lots of parking available. Easy and quick access to see both of the falls from parking areas. This is a nice weekend camping location. The trail system is limited in miles so more than two or three days may be too long for those that like to hike and explore.

Shelagh R.

Guide

Reviewed Jul. 18, 2020

White Birch site is outstanding

The area around Big Manitou Falls and the swimming area are too developed and close to the road for my taste and many of the less developed trails are still closed - but the backpack campsites are gorgeous and worth the trip. It’s only a 1.5 mile hike and there is a vault toilet so it’s a nice compromise between convenience and true backcountry camping. The White Birch site is almost right on top of Little Manitou Falls and it’s an easy trek from the campsite to some boulders where you can sit and watch the water. There is access to the opposite side of the falls from a parking lot so it’s not completely secluded but we only heard one or two visitors during our entire stay.

Roni J.

Guide

Reviewed Jun. 30, 2020

Nice park

Good hiking trails, beautiful nature, quiet and tucked away...I like it.

Jim H.

Scout

Reviewed Jun. 28, 2020

Perfect for the family!

Great campground! Most of the sites are perfect for tent camping or glamping. Clean and each site is well separated and lots of trees. Manitou Falls is a short walk away and is incredible. Bring firewood.

Rebecca B.

Ranger

Reviewed Feb. 16, 2020

One of my favorite campgrounds

Waterfalls, large well maintained sites, hiking trails, clean restrooms/showers.

Site053

Month of VisitAugust

(5) View All

Lili R.

Guide

Reviewed Jul. 11, 2019

Beautiful!

Tallest waterfall in Wisconsin! We’ve camped here many times, a good place to try and snag a first come first serve site if you’re camping last minute. The fall colors are AMAZING to witness at this park!

Nick K.

Guide

Reviewed Jul. 1, 2019

Backpacking/RV life oh my!

We have started at Pattinson State Park a total of three times.

Our first time was at a backpacking site and we did not arrive till after the office had closed. We found a map at the park office and set off on our trek. The park had a major flood Father’s Day 2018 and we were staying in September 2018 which meant many trails were washed out. The trails leading into the backpacking sites were not marked and there was construction everywhere making it very difficult to find out site. Once we found the site we discovered the backpack site was a very secluded site with nobody else in site. The site has ample space with a two picnic tables and a nice bench.

We returned this year in May to the backpack sites and found the trails were still as torn up as before and with just as little navigational markers on the trail to tell us where to go. At the backpack sites you can use whatever wood is down at the site for your fire.

We again returned in June this time to stay at the Main campground with our camper. Our site was located on the left side of the loop. The site is designed as a pull through site however if you do this your door will facing the road and the back of the camper will be to the fire pit and picnic table. Other than that the site was great with LOTS of space. We could have parked two campers on the site and still had room for a tent.

The hike to the falls is amazing as well. This park has the 4th highest waterfall east of the Rockies at 165 feet which is only 2 feet shorter than Niagara Falls. They have a nice selfie station where you can set your phone to take photos of you and whoever your with.

There is a lot of construction at the park due to the flooding that occurred in 2018 but it is well worth it.

(21) View All

Bryce R.

Traveler

Reviewed Apr. 22, 2019

Largest waterfalls in the state

Beautiful beautiful state park for hiking and swimming for children the beaches enclosed on a man-made lake with no motor boats allowed perfect for kayaking and canoeing for hiking through the woods to see the waterfalls campgrounds are nice and secluded but I have minimum utilities Vault toilets the definition of a beautiful Northern Wisconsin Campground the only downside is the beach has been closed for swimming as of 2018 due to flooding

Bryce R.

Traveler

Reviewed Apr. 22, 2019

Beautiful State Park

This is a this is a beautiful Wisconsin state park with some of the largest waterfalls in the state beautiful Trails for hiking and a nice man made beached in Lake for swimming as of 2018 due to flooding the beach has been closed the campground is nice with private sites

Cyndy S.

Traveler

Reviewed Apr. 15, 2019

Beautiful!

Bbeautiful spot. Great hikes. Nice showers and her peaceful.

Site2 and 3

Month of VisitJuly

Tony E.

Guide

Reviewed Oct. 4, 2018

Meh

Great place to hike around at however the campsites are stacked on top of each other. We had a very rude and loud family come in late at night blasting music. Each spot had a picnic table and fire ring

Emily M.

Traveler

Reviewed Aug. 16, 2018

Great campground

Great clean campground. There were lots of pit toilets close to our campsite and then the shower house had nice real toilets. Showers were hot and clean. Each site has a fire pit and firewood available for purchase there was also a bench and picnic table at each site. We have at&t and had great service but sprint didn’t have service. There was a flood June 2018 and a lot of the hiking and beach was closed but the waterfall was pretty. If we ever come back this way we will defiantly stay here again.

Site18

Month of VisitSeptember

Paige J.

Guide

Reviewed Aug. 6, 2018

Clean Campground and Good Hiking

The campground I stayed at was clean and it was awesome waking up with the sound of rushing water. I loved hiking around the falls and being able to swim all day as well. Though, with all this water the bugs were thick and there wasn't enough deet to keep them away. Pretty area to hike through but I don't think I'll be staying the night again due to the bugs.

Month of VisitSeptember

Erin T.

Guide

Reviewed Jul. 4, 2018

Beautiful, quiet

A great campground! There is a beach, playground, as well as drive-in and hike-in sites. The waterfalls are very cool, and they have nice signage and pamphlets to learn more about them. I recommend taking the time to read about the geology. I haven't stayed in a car camping sites, but we thought they looked very nice.

The hike-in sites are great, not too far to walk but you have privacy. One thing to note about the hike-in sites is that the trails aren't well marked. Once you're on the trail for a while, they start having regular signage, but the start of the trails themselves aren't marked. You park in an area behind the car camping sites, next to what I assume is a storage building or old house. There are two starts to the trail, the one I found best is down the service road maybe a couple hundred yards. There's also one on the other side of the lot, but it winds a bit, forks into another trail, and all in all seems a little more confusing. I'd recommend just talking to the campground host when you get there, they can explain everything. The walk is short enough (a mile and a half) that we hiked out and back a couple times when camping, either to access the beach or to fill up water. Another important note is that while it's in an area where hanging a bear bag is recommended, the woods aren't thinned enough to where there are strong branches low enough for a bag. It took quite a lot of looking to find a suitable spot for our bag. There's a fire ring and picnic table at each site, which was nice. The bathrooms outhouses, which was a nice surprise, as I was expecting an unenclosed vault toilet.

There's a separate trail to the beach from the sites as well, but I went back the main way anyway. The beach isn't anything special, but is nice enough. There's a nice, small playground near the beach as well.

Month of VisitSeptember

(6) View All

Benjamin O.

Scout

Reviewed Jul. 3, 2018

Pattison

Pattison State Park features a good sized campground, nice swimming area, and Wiconsins highest waterfall, along with some beautiful hiking trails

Lyila S.

Scout

Reviewed Jun. 23, 2018

enjoyed our stay!

clean campground, lots of shade, lots of hiking water spigots throughout campground

Robin M.

Guide

Reviewed Sep. 29, 2016

beautiful Falls

The falls are so beautiful. Well taken care of park with wonderful hiking trails, pet friendly clean park and did I mention the beautiful falls? :) I can't wait to come back. SO much to do and see. If your a nature lover then this is a must visit place.

Lisa S.

Guide

Reviewed Sep. 26, 2016

Loved this campground!

This was a really nice campground. Nice and quiet for its medium size. Wooded sites are nicely spaced (but never far enough away). Facilities were clean and maintained. Liked all the possibilities for hiking and the proximity to other State parks in Northern wisconsin. We visited Cooper Falls as well. Took a trail path out of the campground to the most amazing water fall. Showers available in season. Pit toilets but nicely maintained.

(4) View All

Sarah J.

Scout

Reviewed Aug. 28, 2016

Backpack the Falls

Great friendly service from Rangers. Trails were well maintained. Stayed at both backpacking sites and campground. Both were clean and provided a great experience.