governor dodge state park

We buy the yearly state park sticker so when we travel the state we get to experience new places. This is another Wisconsin gem that is worth the visit. Unfortunately, two recent tornado's closed a few of the trails (Fall 2014). We will definitely return....This time with our Trek bikes!

We couldn't find anything wrong with this. Peaceful, park personnel very helpful and VERY,VERY CLEAN.

Wonderful park and great rangers! The trails are maintained really well and are easily followed. Our site was wonderful and the other campers very considerate. The warm showers made the stay complete. Would visit again and again!

Went here as a teenager to enjoy the beach and solitude. Hiking there this past weekend was fabulously peaceful. Stephen's Fall is home to a small waterfall and a very peaceful resting spot. We hiked Lost Canyon and Uplands trails. Lost Canyon is a really nice mix of inclines and scenary. The leaves and colors are just starting to come in with reds, yellows, and oranges. Hopefully we will get back in 10-14 days or so to see the full color effects. Very nice park. Oh, but don't forget to come to a complete stop at every single stop sign! The wardens here are sticklers about that :-)!

As a repeat visitor to Governor Dodge State Park I can share that their camping layout and facilities are as good as they come.You can choose one of several group camping grounds or you can choose the individual camping grounds. My experience is with the group sites. They were clean and each had a fire pit that was cleaned out before we arrived.If you choose to do the group sites and you enjoy the evening fires as much as I do, you'll want to call ahead to find someone willing to deliver wood to your site. The people at the front office should be able to help you find someone willing to do so.The swimming area is nice and mostly sandy. Rent a canoe for a good self guided tour of the lake.We did a little rock climbing as well as there are some nice little outcroppings next to a few of the group sites.There is a common area just a short walk from the group sites where you can get a hot shower in a half dozen little lockable rooms. This was a pleasant surprise and made for a great trip.

We love going here to swim, walk and run. They have many trails in differing lengths. You can also rent paddle boats and canoes. There are two different beaches. We live near by so we do not camp there but I hear it is a great place to camp. We love being so close to Governor Dodge Park.

I love going to Governor Dodge State Park. Multiple hiking, bike & horse trails. Fishing & boating lakes. A waterfall. 2 beaches AND a separate "dog beach". There is a little bit for everyone here!

We have stayed at a number of Wisconsin State Parks over the years. This park had jumped to the top of our list. From the talks, to the lakes, to the rock formations, and caves... This is a great park to visit. Value? Heck yes! Governor Dodge State Park offers 2 lakes for swimming, boating, fishing as well as a boat rental service that you can't beat. They have row boats, canoes, and kayaks for rent on both lakes. All of the prices were incredible, however we chose to go with the 24 hour rental for $40 (and a refundable $5 deposit) which we were able to use a boat on both lakes. We also rented the boat at noon which have us till noon the next day. Allowing for equal use on both lakes, which was great. I'm a fisherman, and although I'm told there are plenty of fish in both lakes, such add musky, walleye, bass, as well as an assortment of pan fish, I was only able to find 1 bass, but the kids loved pulling a number of blue gills on wax worms. The camp sites were clean, they offered firewood till 10PM, and although quiet time stayed at 10, there was little ranger presence around the sites. But that we were doing anything that a ranger would frown upon, and all our neighbors were quiet anyways. Only negative I can think of is... We always like to go out for a true Wisconsin walleye fish fry on Fridays when we camp. We asked around town for a good place and only got Country Kitchen as a response... We ended up going to a place called Bar 23, which was decent, but the did service was lack luster. It took over an hour and a half to get our food, and the hostess blamed it on them having an unexpected large party. I highly suggest walking the trails. As well as wall some of the rock formations. There is a 2 mile tail which ends at a cave that is perfect for children (we have an 8 yr old and a 5 yr old) and it was perfect fire them. Also beware! There are hundreds of bats at this campsite. But don't worry! They are busy eating the mosquitos which allow you to enjoy your time comfortably in the woods without swatting them away. Also make sure to never leave coolers of food or food bins outside. The raccoons are very resourceful and your marshmallows will be fine quicker than you can say marshmallows. Also, watch out for the bunnies on the road... They are all around and we accidentally hit one that we couldn't avoid. There were a number of others that we saw hit as well in the park. All in all this is a great place to camp. Plenty of activities and just a great all around experience. We will be coming back soon!

We just got back from a camping trip here. There was recently a tornado that swept through the area and some of the campsites and trails got hit. Our site was kind of sandy with small twigs everywhere and many of the trails were closed due to the risk of danger. There were still a few trails open and the ones we went through were just gorgeous. I would never fault the park for Mother Nature so I feel like there is no reason to complain.We brought our dog and he just loved the park. There are 2 dog beaches and we only went to one of them. The trails were lovely and well kept (except along some of them there were huge droppings from horses). I think it should be a requirement for anyone on horseback to have their horse wearing a bun-bag to catch all the poop. I had to clean up after my pooch so the least they can do is have their horses wearing a bun bag. My dog even obliged himself in a few mouthfuls of horse poo. The rangers were kind and we were not bothered once. We stayed at site 282 and it's a very large site. You could easily fit 4 large tents in but for us we only had one small tent and one large tent with plenty of extra room. Great spot and private along the back & right across from pit toilets. I'll be looking forward to coming again and trying some of the other trails once they open up.

This location is really awesome place to stay at this is my second time here in two years. Love the lake and pkenty of sites to choose from...just need to book early some sites are prime realestate for the camping world. It cost me 20 dollars for two days camping with family reserving a site non electric but they do have electeic sites too. The staff here is friendly and courteous.. they have maby activities to do on your stay or visit. Check it out and you will have a great time like we have had and that we are having tonight.

Clean lakes. Nice trails. The staff is the most informed and friendliest u could ask for the park is beautiful i camp here 2 or more weeks a year the fishing is spectacular and the kids and i love to swim in cox hollow lake

Booked walk in site 269 awhile back. Wanted 263, but as it's the most popular site, you need to reserve far in advance. 269 ended up working out great. We had 6 people, 3 tents, & two dogs. It was a little tight, the tents were 2-3 person tent, but we fit fine. Cox Hollow Lake is beautiful! The no motor rule is nice. Rented a Kayak, totally worth it. Dog friendly beach was clean & nice for the dog lover, but it has a nice beach for people who prefer not to be around the fuzzy K-9 buddies. I checked out some other walk-in sites that were abandoned before we left: 262 - Small, but cute. right on a cliff, nice view. One tent camping or two small tents right next to one another. 263 - a little bigger with a great view. This, in my opinion was the best site. You could fit two tents comfortably. No grate on the fire pit though. 264- was taken, but you could see if from the road, nice size. 269 - Small, but private. Pretty even. It shares a path with 270, which was occupied, so I couldn't get a good look at it. I would reserve it again.

We went without reservations for Memorial Day Weekend. Half of the family went on Thursday, the other half followed Friday night. You should definitely go a day or two early if you do not have reservations. When we arrived, the ranger showed me several sites to choose from in a notebook and asked me if I wanted to go look at it. He said the pictures aren't really clear about how much room is available on the site, which is VERY VERY true, but because it was another three miles away, I decided to get it right then to be sure that we had one for the weekend.We were going to have a pop-up camper, a tent,a smaller fishing boat and two vehicles, so I wanted enough room for that and the six of us (and a dog). I went to the site at Twin Valley(205) ...the one I paid for already, and it was WAY too small. They had informed me of the ones that were still available in the Twin Valley Campground while I was at the office so I decided to drive around and see what would work. I looked at 207 and thought that one will probably work. So off to the office to change my reservations to 207. Of course, that was if it was still available by the time I got back. Like I said, it's a three mile drive back so anyone could get it before i got back.With that being said... on my way back to change the reservation, my wonderful son, who wanted to go fishing, asked me why I got a site so far away from Cox Hollow Lake? He had been doing some research and found that Cox Hollow had a lot of fish biting so he was wanting a site near that lake, not a site so far away. I told him I will change the reservation to the 207, and then go to the Cox Hollow campsites and see which ones we could reserve there.We all love fishing, but we definitely needed to just take what we could get at the time. If all failed and we didn't get a site at Cox Hollow, we would still have a site that was big enough ( I think) for what we were bringing with us.Kathy, another ranger, changed the reservation at the office to 207. THEN I asked "do you have any sites available in Cox Hollow"? She told me the sites available and off we went...another three miles the other way to look at those sites. We found one that would work great! It was a double site, 108 and 109, double the price, but it had the space we needed. I called the office and asked if we could just park my camper here and change it over the phone instead of coming all the way back to the office with the camper and she said "no" because someone might walk in and ask for those sites(knowing what they wanted) and get them before I got back to the office. Kind of crazy, but that's understandable for the first come first serve sites. When I got back, Kathy, bless her heart, changed my site again to 108 and 109 in the Cox Hollow campground.PROS:-The fishing was wonderful and the lake isn't far from the campground.-If you have a pet, they have a pet swimming area not far from the campground-they have a small beach, but it looked clean. We didn't use the beach. -boat and paddle boat rentals.we did rent a canoe.-great quiet lake. My other son didn't think he would like the ELECTRIC Motors only rule for the lake, but he REALLY liked that idea once he realized all the fish he was catching!CONS:Some double sites should really just be single sites.Even though our site was plenty of room for us, my husband thought it was more of a single "over sized" site, not really something he would consider a "double"site. -girls bathroom doesn't have soap in it all the time (my son said he can't understand WHY the girls didn't have soap because the guys bathroom had plenty! Hmmmm???really? I wonder why too????)LOL-Girls bathroom has two showers, but no bench INSIDE the shower stall to put your things. The bench is outside by the wall to share with other shower takers and there are some hooks outside to hang up your things. I would prefer not having to step outside of my shower stall to get my towel and things. I like a little more privacy, but thankfully they at least have showers!

We decided to camp here and ride the Military Ridge bike trail. The last time I camped here was about 40 years ago when I was a child. The park is huge with two lakes and many trails to hike. We hiked the Stephens Falls trail to the water fall which is worth the short hike. The camp ground was clean and well taken care of. We enjoyed our stay and will be camping there again.

I have been to Gov. Dodge a few times and have always greatly enjoyed the time spent! I have never stayed overnight, but love to go there for a day trip. We always have a great time and have never had any issues. The daily rate (as of May 2014) is $7 for WI plates and $10 for out of state plates. There a numerous trials that vary in length and technicality- some are paved, but most are not. The beach is nice and clean and there is a separate beach for dogs (which I LOVE!). You can rent canoes or paddle boats, too. All in all this is a great park and has a lot to offer. I would also highly recommend Bob's BBQ in downtown Dodgeville for lunch or dinner after a day at the park!