lake wissota state park

This park has excellent scenery, over 80 very nice campsites, good hiking and cross country ski trails, boat launch and a river beach that is sandy but water quality may vary due to algae in the heat of summer.

This state park is full of many activities with a beach on the Yellow River, trails to hike/bike/ski through the woods, prairies to take school groups to and great campsites and picnic areas.

Even during 1st of week didn't see any park staff. Used restrooms at campground, not real tidy. Bank fishing areas were not that good. Girl at main entrance just wanted to get us in and on our way.

I spent a night alone camping (site 82) @ the Lake Wissota State Park near Chippewa Falls, WI. My wife (Stacy) joined me on Friday and Saturday leaving me Sunday to spend one more night alone. The campground is well maintained and rather quiet (even for an August weekend). My camp site and the others adjacent to it 80, 81, 83, and 84 are very open and could offer more concealment from other campers and passersby. Don't let that stop you from camping here... There are plenty of much more private and secluded sites (sites 25, 27, and 79 for example). The trails are well maintained and the restrooms (two having shower facilities) are quite clean. We rented a canoe ($10) for three hours, for which we might have used the canoe for 1 1/2 hours paddling around the tranquil Lake Wissota (I had no idea it was such a large lake)! Plus, Chippewa Falls is within a 5 minute drive! Make sure you stop by the Wissota Meat Market for all of your grilling needs!

I am from Canada and head to the U.S. for camping, birding, and shopping and 'R&R. Our Provincal Parks are nice but the price is high. We have camped at many Minnesota Parks and wanted to explore another state. The campground at LWSP is beautiful with only 116 lots, some electrical, showers, flush toilets, and pit toilets. The lots are separated by trees and bush so privacy is no issue and you feel like you are out in the wilderness. There are a few sites which are open between sites to allow more than one trailer/family/group camping. They have a couple group camping sites, a decent boat launch and wilderness center. It rained heavy the second day of a six day camping trip, so we didn't do any walking trails due to the swampy, muddy mess we ran into our first trex out. Not sure if it's the result of the economy, but we walked to the ampitheatre (for a short walk) to find nothing. It opened up to a small clearing. An electrical box was sticking up from the ground, a few lumber pieces sticking up from the ground (as if something was mounted there) and that was it. Said earlier we camp in the U.S. because it's ceaper...however I should have researched Wisconsin's Park Pass better. In Minnesota when you purchase a Park Pass, say in August, it is good for a complete year - till the end of the following August. You could purchase a pass on August 5th, 2014 and go camping again on August 20th, 2015. In Wisconsin however, when you purchase a pass it is only good till the end of the calender year, Dec. 31. Even the girl working the camp entrance had wished it worked like Minnesota. I would return to Wisconsin for future camping if it worked that way. That is the only negative I found. The camp is beautiful, the roads in and around are paved. Bike riding is nice because of the paved roads. For people traveling with a trailer, the lots look easy to back into or there are a number of pull-thru sites. We use a large tent and had no problem finding a somewhat level position for the tent. The campground is a short 10-15 min. drive to Chippewa Falls - food, ice, supplies are not too far away. Also Eau Claire is about 30 min. drive away.If I could use my park pass for next year I would return to Wisconsin and check out another park but will be returning to Minnesota next year...not that I am cheap, but just an added benefit to draw me back.

We went here on a Tuesday during late morning. The park was easy to find due to the amount of park signs on the adjacent highways. The day parking fee is $7 for residents and $10 for non-residents. There are a number of trails, which offers the hiker a decent variety of mileage and scenery. The wildflower trail goes through the a meadow with blooming flowers, while the lake trail takes you along the coast of Lake Wissota. Our group chose the interpretive Beaver Trail. This trail was about a 1 mile loop. It took you though quiet pines, a marsh, and offered facts about the parks glacial origins along the way. It was a perfect trail for kids, because it offered a lot to look at. We saw lots of mushrooms, a field of ferns, and even illusive ghost plants. This trail is mostly in the shade and very buggy, so make sure you bring your bug spray.

Lake Wissota State Park is located on Lake Wissota by Chippewa Falls, Wi. The campground bathrooms / showers are adequate. The west (sites 1-45+) bathroom - shower house also has a laundry room. Newer sites have been added to both campground areas. These are less shaded, but our site #45 had an area by the fire pit that was tucked around behind some trees affording a nice cozy area for a nice fire and time to read through a couple of books! There are a number of marked and maintained hiking, biking and horse trails in the park and that one can take to the nearby (about 3-4 mile ride) to the Old Abe State Trail - a biking / running / roller blading must do. Keep the binoculars handy if you hike the trails as there are plenty of birds to watch and listen to.Lake Wissota is a great place to boat, tube, and fish!! For a pretty cool picnic, head to the southeast corner of the lake where you will find a good sized island to park the boat and picnic or swim. The weekends and during out July 4th weekend, the weather was perfect, so there were a lot of boats and tubers on the lake!

Kayaking up to the yellow river is quite a distance and you can't get up the river too far, first you have to rough portage over some rapids and then not too far up you'll need super human strength to get past a fast moving bend. Otherwise the boat landing is nice and the rest of the park is great .

beautiful,just gorgeous.the sites are superb and well kept up.Bathrooms are handy and the showers are fantastic.Can get noisy especially with kids but worth the trip.The staff is very accommodating.Remember tick season and take precautions,especially with pets..

We actually stayed in a hotel whie in Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire, but we had a couple hours to kill in the morning. We decided to visit Lake Wissota State Park. It was very nice, as there is camping, fishing, and a beach available. A very nice place to stay for a few days, if I were camping. I believe it is $7 a day, but I am not sure if that is the cost for camping, or other services.

Husband and I are novice kayakers. Wanted a quiet lake to try. Went to the park and put in at the boat landing. It was peaceful (Wednesday). Paddled around the shore, saw some wildlife. Enjoyed the views of the lake homes too. Would do it again.

My first impression driving down the drive way was that it was a fairly secluded area. We had pre booked a 3 night stay Sun-Wed. The campground area was nice, almost all the sites are designed in a way that they face away from anyone driving around the campground. The road around the campgrounds are one way so the sites are slanted away from the direction that people drive around. Our site was a challenge. It had a water source next to it that people kept walking through our site to get water. We also had a hard time in our site finding a place to put our tent as almost he whole site had gravel covering it except near the fire pit. Near our site there also was a large play area and open grassy area that was very nice for the kids. The person camping next to us did get reprimanded for having the music to loud. The ranger was rather snotty to them and said he could hear the radio four campsites away which seemed ridiculous to me as I could hardly hear it wear I was. It was also 3 in the afternoon when he was telling them to turn it off so that left me a little afraid that the Rangers were going to be overbearing during our stay. Though they never were overly friendly they did seem to take there job serious in keeping the park safe and friendly for all.The beach area is very nice and seemed to be well taken care of. Clean sand and a large area to both swim and play. There are no showers at the beach location but there is another nice play area for kids as well as a sand volleyball court. There is also a nature area that is great for kids and has lots of information.The hiking trails are nice and do have a lot of nice variety. Though you can't walk far before you see signs that say to stay on the trails as there is poison ivy off the trail. Actually we found poison ivy right next to the trail were you would even have to go off the trail only just have a moment of not paying attention and you would be affected.Overall it was a pleasant place and a place we would go back to.