Sibley State Park — Attraction in Willmar

We had booked online through the reservation system. Once we arrived we checked out the site we had reserved and decided to change to the other campground. Had no trouble doing that. Even though things in Minnesota have opened up (late May 2021) the office is not open. Staff did drive around quite a bit. We saw the bathrooms being cleaned regularly but we have a trailer so I did not need them. The sites were not mown, and the second day of our stay, Tuesday, they begin mowing and came and mowed right around our camper and pickup. Fortunately we did not get hit with rocks or anything but there was a lot of dust blowing around so I found that annoying. We have noticed both days of our state that someone is sitting in one of the park ranger vehicles wearing a headset behind the office. Saw them every time we went by yesterday and today. Not sure what that is all about. Overall this park is fine but it is not as nice as some of the others we’ve stayed in. However the lake is nice, the beach looks great, and the trails are all right. There’s a bit of construction going on and we could not bike the paved trail through the park as it was being worked on as well. We asked the staff about it and about how to find a connection with the glacial Lakes Trail and they weren’t as helpful as I...

Lakeview and Oak Grove are two completely different campgrounds. Do not choose at random!

Oak Grove for the most part has the typical State Park feel. Sites are very spread out, some are very private and shady, others sunny and grassy. I would avoid 103E. Not level, rather small. The whole campground is pretty quiet . The outhouse near 120E is probably the nicest outhouse I've ever been in. It seemed new, no odor, automatic sanitizer dispenser.

Lakeview sites are lined up rather densely for a state park. Enough trees for shade, but not privacy. Definitely avoid sites 70-74. They are just a few feet from the dump station! Those sites should not exist imo. 74 is especially small, steep incline. Good for a small tent only. But again, it's very close to the dump station, though not as bad as 70-73.

Lakeview was definitely the more crowded campground as it's near the beach, boat launch, fishing pier, etc .

The showers: You can actually control the temperature, although one time is was cold regardless. Also nice is that you can turn them on and off. No...

Stayed at oak ridge sites in a group at 82, 85, and 86. All are wooded and shaded. 82 & 85 are pretty small, 86 much larger. Bathrooms are very well kept compared to other state park bathrooms I have been to. Pave campground roads including the loop through the sites. Fished Lake Henschien; you have to portage your canoe a ways to get onto it, but IT IS WORTH IT! In less than an hour our canoe caught three northerns and a large mouth on lures and spinners, good size fish; weedy shallow lake that must be the best kept secret around, as people only spoke about fishing lake Andrew when we asked around. This was mid afternoon, so not even the best time to fish. We brought road bikes, if you are a serious cyclist there are plenty of good roads to ride both south and west of the park. We had a great time, will...