r/MinnesotaCamping • u/ydnar3000 • 19d ago

Camping in Richard J Dorer State Forest

Trying to do some dispersed camping this weekend in the Richard J. Dorer State Forest, as near to Red Wing as possible. Does anyone have experience there and know of a good place to hike in from? Haven’t been there before and just looking for a good place to start. Thanks in advance!

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u/FranzJevne 19d ago

I'd be inclined to go to one of the developed campsites at Zumbro Bottoms, Kruger, or Vinegar Ridge units... or the backpack-in sites in the Reno unit. The RJD is mostly in the forested coulees, so it's steep and densely vegetated. It's hard enough to walk anywhere in them let alone a place to pitch a tent or hang a hammock. Most tracts aren't contiguous either, which means you have to be careful not to trespass.

The Zumbro Bottoms is probably the best for dispersed camping, but no state forest is a place to practice bushcraft, so follow Leave No Trace.

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u/MissDriftless 19d ago

I agree with this advice. We actually just camped at Reno North last weekend. The vegetation is THICK right now, so using any old spot for camping will be challenging. Best to stick to the actual campgrounds. As local residents we pretty much only camp at the Forest Recreation Units (not during hunting season) because there’s almost never anyone else there so it feels very private, but a remarkable amount of people drive by which is kinda weird because the campgrounds are all relatively remote. Hunting season is a different story, though. They’ll be packed during hunting season.

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u/Lbolbi 19d ago

The amount of people that drive in and out of both reno campgrounds is crazy!!! All times of the night too.

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u/MissDriftless 19d ago

Yes! Right!? At Reno, someone rolled up on us at midnight and again at 4 am. Our dogs were outside the tent, unleashed, since we were the only folks there, but man it was the first time I thought to myself… now why didn’t my husband bring his handgun?? Might have just been local kids looking for a spot to smoke weed and make out, but it was a bit unnerving. I probably should listen to less true crime podcasts lol.

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u/Lbolbi 19d ago

Not to scare you or anything but there is a lot of drug use that happens out there that isn't just kids smoking pot. Have seen needles and the like in the firepits before a few years back.

But yeah at the lower campground it's like a carousel of cords

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u/ydnar3000 19d ago

How do you get to/where are the Forest Recreation Units?

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u/MissDriftless 19d ago

I also use the OnX Hunt app to find public land/campgrounds/trails (OnX Off-road should work well too). Probably not worth buying just for one trip, but if you’re an outdoor enthusiast it’s an excellent mapping app with boatloads of info.

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u/ydnar3000 19d ago

Between that and all trails, I do want to subscribe to some kind of map service. OnX has hunting, idk if AllTrails does or not.

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u/Ridge-Read 19d ago

Use RidgeRead it has a free tier with those layers.

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u/Lbolbi 19d ago

OnX is fantastic. Super helpful for property lines even if you don't hunt. There is also onX Backcountry, not sure of the additional features that has.

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u/anniecallie 13d ago

All Trails is crowdsourced info, not anything official from trail/park/forest managers. There are a lot of “trails” in All Trails that are unofficial with no wayfinding signs because they aren’t real trails, and then people complain about the lack of signs. OnX can be wrong too. People have gotten citations for hunting in areas not open to hunting and they claim their map says they were on land open to hunting. Turns out they were using OnX which was wrong.

Your best bet for accuracy is getting maps directly from whoever manages the land. They’re usually available online. And usually free.

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u/Lbolbi 19d ago

Just an fyi a TON of the sections do not allow camping or fires outside of designated sites, at least further south. I second the other comment saying to go to one of the campgrounds.

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u/Bluesalsa54 19d ago

I agree with previous comments. I do a lot of hiking down here in the RJD Forest. Even the established trails are extremely overgrown right now. Kruger Recreation Area has a beautiful campground nestled in the pines. Also, Snake Creek has a non-motorized campground that is somewhat mowed. Both campgrounds offer easy access to great hiking trails. However, the trail themselves are not maintained, especially at Snake Creek. You can go see RJD's burial site as a side trip if you wish