Mendota County Park — Hotel in Middleton

We booked a site here two months ago, specifically close to where relatives reside. This is not our first visit to the park, or in scheduling it online!! We arrived just after 2pm 5/31/24.. got all set up and left to enjoy our day, not arriving back until 10pm . My husband received a call from the Ranger telling us we weren't registered and had to leave (which was not true!) Then she told us we're registered at another camp, Babcock Co. Park.. we've never even heard of it nor do we know where it's at 😠‼️ After talking to a nearby camper who witnessed a Ranger knocking hard in our door and telling her we were gone for the day... he noticed she put a citation for $60 for a nonregistered guest and left after returning several times beating on the RV door because another camper was registered there too and they wanted in. We left our telephone # upon registering as asked to..but it wasn't until receiving a call THAT NITE AT 9:45PM telling us we needed to leave because we weren't registered, that we were aware of an issue... and we'd been sitting there all set up since 2pm😣 with no one seemingly aware or trying to get a hold of us until bedtime!!!!!!! The Ranger had put the other people into another spot then told us to leave ASAP in the a.m.! Once back at our campsite after the call, as we're getting ready to go to bed.. there comes more pounding at the door from the Ranger(not the one who called us apparently) & she was demanding to know just who we were and wanting to see our IDs like we were criminals or something. We told her all that info was on the registration site and to CHK there if she had questions, and offered to show our driver's license. Meanwhile my husband stated "when you called us".. & she stated she'd never called us and both my husband and I showed her the call. how were we to know she wasn't the...

Forth of July weekend 2021. Charming little campground smack dab in the middle of a tony residential neighborhood on lake Mendota. Sites do NOT have water but there is both potable and non potable water available at the park office. Bathrooms and showers on site, along with a dump station.

The "beach" is small, maybe the size of a volleyball court, and the "swimming" area is about the same, but when we were there over July 4th weekend the water was unswimmable, from what looked like a foul smelling blue algae infestation.

Bring an extension cord for your electric hookup because some of the electric boxes are 30' - 40' from the parking pads.

Sites have fire rings and wood is available for $5/bundle. Ice is not available but the are numerous stores nearby.

Kayaks are available for rentals and there's a small boat lunch as well.

There's also boat "camping" available. That is, you can pull your boat up to a designated boat slip in a man made canal and tie up and camp in your boat. There's electrical hookup for those spots. Six spots available. However, again while we were there, the smell from the algae bloom would have made boat camping a very smelly endeavor. A county boating permit is required.

EDIT to add:

There's a sand volleyball court, two half court basketball courts, and a playground for kids.

Cell reception for T-Mobile is zero to one bar, Verizon is three to four bars.

All the sites have some shade for parts of the day but the best sites for all day shade are 6, 23, 24,...

I love the camping feel in a Madisonian setting. It's not super often you can be so close to work and be able to camp, fish, and enjoy a fire too. We have camped here each year for the past 10 years or more and it has come a long way. They do a great job at mowing the lawn and keeping everything clean. Of course the bathrooms can be closer, but this is not home...this is "camping"....of sorts. They have spent much more time on cleaning up the bathrooms and showers. The boat launch could use some work as often you have to relocate to Governor Nelson to launch larger boats. I wish the swim area was cleaner and less rocky as well, but due time, due time. The really nice area is that they updated the local dock area and it provides a great docking and fishing area for locals to walk, and catch some high quality fish. I recommend stopping in for a picnic, camping, fishing, and hanging out at...