Ojiketa Regional Park — Attraction in Chisago City

Our family had camping reservations in 5 Camp Ojiketa cabins. What we also found out is that Strom Hall was reserved for a wedding reception. We arrived Thursday at 3 and had a lovely time until wedding activity participants arrived Friday at 3. A large RV was backed in next to Strom Hall, right next to both Dogwood and Sumac, two of our reserved cabins. A wedding party member came to both dogwood and Sumac to let us know it was going to be loud and to apologize. Nice of them to do so but it did not help our camping experience. Friday afternoon and evening were a mess of dogs, kids, and wedding preparations. Haircuts were given right out our dogwood cabin front door until 10 pm, vehicle headlights were used to provide light for the haircuts once darkness fell. Hair was left all over the ground which is gross. At least 5 haircuts were given. Bug spraying/fogging was done at the same time including right up onto the side of the Dogwood cabin, forcing us to close windows. Saturday before 9 am the wedding party was back, kids and dogs in tow. The dinner bell was rung numerous times before 9 am. It was constant chaos. We did not feel comfortable doing our meals outside. We had an 18 month old and a 3 month old to protect from the noise and the bug bombing. Once we were told of the band and bonfire plans we packed up and left by 5:30 pm Saturday. While these were very normal activities for a wedding party (minus the haircuts, bug fogging, and bell ringing) we should have been told they were taking place next to our cabins at time of cabin reservation or at time of venue booking. We also ran out of toilet paper and were never restocked. We provided our own. The Weber grill provided for cooking had a mouse nest in it with live baby mice. Needless to say we did not use it and were forced to get creative for meals. The bonfire pit in the woods was virtually unusable due to location. And no outdoor eating table is provided with that cabin. We had to get a plastic folding table. Despite camp rules there was a lot of alcohol consumption at the beach and dogs in the park were only occasionally leashed. We also had the 3 camper cabins near the beach and the persons in those cabins had a much more positive experience. Had we known about the wedding plans we could have made different choices. Overall, a very disappointing experience that cut our family...

Avoid this campground until improvements are made to it. Right now, the bathroom for the campers is unisex - and there are no stall doors! There aren't any working lights either. This isn't just roughing it -- this falls under substandard. I'm actually quite surprised that the city allows this sort of thing and am surprised that the state hasn't intervened and shut the park down until improvements are made.

When we were there (July 2-5, 2015), the men's shower in the main shower facility near the cabins broke and several grown men walked into the women's bathroom when there were teenage girls in there to use the women's shower. I have to say that when the caretaker (and police) were notified, they responded quickly and sent out a handyman to fix the shower. However, lack of adequate signage regarding the bathrooms surely played into this unhealthy situation. Plus, the doors into the two bathrooms are screens and you can look right through from outside to see the men's urinal! One of the women's toilets leaks every time you flush it, and only one door actually locks. There was no soap in the showerhouse/bathroom near the cabins.

I was shocked by how infrequently the restrooms are cleaned. The rustic, unisex bathroom near the campsites ran out of toilet paper and we had to walk more there from the main cabin area. I was told the bathrooms are only cleaned on Wednesdays -- so you can guess how gross they were after the cabins and campground were full on the 4th of July!

The campsites are located near the main road, and so traffic is quite bad and unsafe for families with kids. Plus, headlights from people leaving the cabin area shines right into the tents! As it is right now, the use of the cabins for weddings doesn't work with camping -- and I really don't think Chisago City should rent out the campground area at all when they have a wedding there.

Quiet time wasn't observed by many of the other campers, and it wasn't enforced by caretakers. At midnight the wedding party turned on loud music. At 4:30 a.m. fireworks were thrown into the fire at a cabin near Campsites 2,3,4 and 5. Don't expect to get any sleep at Camp Ojiketa!

The facility has a lot of potential -- but there are simply too many serious problems right now for me to recommend this place to...

The place was beautiful, especially the Chapel with its floor to ceiling windows almost all the way around. It is wooded but also with plenty of open space overlooking the lake. The cabins were beautiful but most of them very rustic. The more rustic ones were quite cold at night for a May 30th wedding, as the windows do not seal shut. Some of the cabins have a 🔥 fireplace, including the cabin we stayed in (Tamarack), but unfortunately it smoked up the whole cabin. (Yes, the vent was open.) The mattresses were also extremely firm. If you are going to get married here, I would suggest getting a room at a nearby hotel instead of staying in a cabin. If you do decide to stay in a cabin, I would recommend bringing a mattress pad and lots of blankets. The cabins were all very cheap, however, we did have an issue with the cabins. Not all were cleaned and ready for us by our check-in time which was 3pm. The last cabin was not ready until 6pm and our rehearsal was supposed to start at 5pm. Later, we realized that the bridal cottage (for getting ready) had not been cleaned. I called to complain because I had paid for it and had been looking forward to getting ready there for a year and a half. It wasn’t until I mentioned that I am part of a large Facebook group with thousands of brides from MN and that I was going to leave reviews for ALL my vendors, GOOD or BAD, that he got it figured out. It was cleaned by 10 am on Saturday. I was pleased that he made it right but wish I didn’t have threatened him with a bad review to get him to do so. The only other thing was that we ran out of available Fire wood (the rest was locked in a cage). Overall, beautiful, and a...