Mill Bluff State Park — Attraction in Town of Oakdale

I booked this campground as an overnight site on a return trip from South Dakota back to Kentucky. The price of $38.95/night was on the high end for a state park, especially with the $11/day vehicle fee I had to pay upon entering. I knew this was a bare bones campground, but the location was convenient for my traveling needs. This campground is close to a highway and heavily used train track. It was in very poor condition and with its limited amenities, should have a flat rate of $20/night at the most & no vehicle fee on a great day. First of all, The entrance to the park, much less the campground is poorly marked. The sign for the for Mill Bluff State Park is on the opposite side of the road that the vehicle entrance is on and it sits back, hidden by tree branches. The only sign that might give you a clue that it is the entrance says, "Entering Fee Area". I thought it was just the parking lot for the picnic/swimming lake and drove past it, as there were small yellow signs as I continued down the road that stated "State Park". There is not one sign that says, "Campground". After turning around and finally entering the park, I pulled up to the small check in station and saw the attendant sitting behind the desk looking at her cell phone. She made no attempt to get up and greet me until I exited my truck and walked into the shack. I asked her about the reception for rv tv antennas and she said, "I don't know." I payed the $11.00 vehicle pass, went to my campsite, and set up my travel trailer. I observed a lot of fallen branches around the park that had simply been pushed to the side, a broken picnic table, and a deteriorating parking lot at the picnic area, as well as one at the nature trail area. I attempted to obtain potable water from the community water source in the campground area. It was a pump water source instead of a spigot, which was broken, with a trash bag over it. I found a second water pump source, but the water from it was brown and obviously not for human consumption. I walked across the road from the entrance to walk the short Mill Bluff trail. I observed a sign that welcomed hikers had rotted off at the bottom of its post and had been propped up against another sign. After walking to the top of Mill Bluff there were signs that provided information about the site, one of which had a distorted plexiglass covering and couldn't be read at the bottom. Another sign's plexiglass covering was broken. There were also fallen branches in the trail area at the top. Most of my stays are in state parks. I have stayed in many. This is the worst one I have ever stayed in. It is a shame that this state park isn't given the attention and care to keep it clean and tidy. It's as if it was established and left to rot. It could...

I could not wait to write this review so here goes. Remember the movie "Planes, Trains and Automobiles"? This campground was like the movie but the missing elements were Steve Martin and John Candy.

First off the planes. This campground was next to Camp Douglas a military reserve. So occasionally we would see and hear jets, huge transport planes and helicopters. Don't get me wrong I'm not hating on the military but this is a reality at the campground.

Next the trains. Routinely there would be a train either long freight or short Amtrak rolling through. The track are right next to the campground. And of course, legally, they had to blow their whistle at the road crossing. We were greeted each morning with the roar of the train and the impending whistle. It reminded me of another movie "My Cousin Vinny". Remember the line?

Finally the Automobiles and Trucks with this campground being flanked on both sides but HWY 12 and on the other side by interstate 90/94. The dull roar of traffic was constant. After four days camping there we got use to it.

These factors reminded me of another movie "The Blues Brothers" when Jake finds Elwood living in a dive apartment next to the "L" that would shake his apartment every time the train would roll through.

I'm guessing because of the size of the campground they only offered pit toilets and no showers. This didn't sit well with my wife but we adapted.

Finally one more negative. We're accustomed to getting our water for the stay at the campground so we don't have to travel with the extra weight of the water in our camper. Well we learned when we got there that not only did they not offer water but they didn't have a dump station either. They did have a water from a hand pump, but you guessed it, it was broken. We found another campground in nearby Oakdale called Grainger (a small engine repair/campground - quite the combo I thought...) that allowed us to buy potable water and return to dump for $5.

Now for the pluses. It wasn't all bad. They had a nice swimming pond with a sandy beach. It was a welcomed relief after hiking all those stairs to the top of the butte. The hiking and scenic beauty was great too. It's like this small 22 site campground was in-prisoned by all of mankind's trappings. So the bottom line if you're looking to get away from it all, this probably isn't the campground for you. Would we return? Probably not but don't let this review sway you from at least visiting it once because the nature with all the buttes to climb is worth it. That's why I gave a generous 3...

A stunning scenic Cambrian outlook Mill Bluff State Park is located in Monroe and Juneau County Wisconsin, near Volk Field Air National Guard Base. Interstate 90/39 goes through the park. As part of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve, this park protects several prominent sandstone bluffs 80-200 feet high that formed as geological sea stacks left by Glacial Wisconsin around 12,000 years ago. Mill Bluff is named from an old saw mill operated nearby many years ago.  A 223-step stairway was built to the short summit to protect the bluff’s rock. Few of the bluffs have Native American bird petroglyphs. Bee bluff is closest to interstate. Camels Bluff is two rock outcroppings that together resemble two humps on a camels back or two camels together. Hmmm. Adjacent to camels bluff is Long Bluff. Wildcat Bluff and Bear Bluff in the north vista South view features Round Bluff and Sugar Bowl Bluff. Cleopatra’s Needle and Devils Monument is nearby on the camels bluff hiking trail. Limited camping and few facilities available (no showers), picnic and shelter areas, small beach for swimming, hiking trails, hunting during season, no fishing or boating. Sticker is required. Handicap accessible parking spots. See Wisconsin DNR website for more...