Agency-listedNPSFree
St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come)
Hike-in · National Park Service · WI · 45.79381, -92.76958
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →National Park Service lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Free, first-come, 3-night limit. St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, Wisconsin bank.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 818 ft.
Fire & smoke — around St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come)NIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come) · National Park Service · WI
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- WWater8 mi
- FFuel10 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- +Urgent care12 mi
- ShShower14 mi
- RxPharmacy17 mi
- DDump18 mi
- HHardware20 mi
- MMechanic23 mi
- LLaundry24 mi
- AAir-up40 mi
- OOutfitter41 mi
- PPropane45 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 4 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come)
Access
Hike-in
Land
National Park Service
Elevation
818 ft
Ground slope
42.4% · steep
Nearest rail line
~9.4 mi · main line
State
WI
Coordinates
45.79381, -92.76958
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come) · National Park Service · WI (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSaint Croix River · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Drinking waterWater · ~8.4 mi
- FuelFuel · ~9.8 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~17.5 mi
- GroceriesBP · ~4.4 mi
- PharmacySt. Croix Regional Medical Center Frederic Pharmacy · ~17.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicHospital · ~12.4 mi
- HardwareLuck DO It Best Hardware · ~20.5 mi
- Nearest rail line~9.4 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
EV charging — from St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come) · National Park Service · WI — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.2 mi straight-line W — Nordic Star LLC-Evergreen Square (Pine City, MN) · Electrify America · CCS · 6 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach7 within 25 mi · 20 within 50 · 195 within 100 · 257 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)16.8 mi — Hinckley, MN - Tesla Supercharger, Hinckley
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO45.5 mi — MOOSE LAKE LEVEL 3, Moose Lake
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)20.0 mi — Northwest Passage Gallery, Webster, WI (at a parking lot) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-01-13 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Kevin's Auto - Tesla Destination, Frederic, 17.2 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 279493 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come) · National Park Service · WI — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomMD SandRock Cliff Vault Toilet · at this camp · NPS
- RestroomMD HWY 70 North Vault Toilet · ~1.4 mi S · NPS
- RestroomMD Hwy 70 South Vault Toilet · ~2.0 mi S · NPS
- RestroomMD Snake River Landing Vault Toilet · ~2.0 mi N · NPS
Coming out here — St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come) · National Park Service · WI
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Saint Croix River as a perennial river, ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 42.4% — steep. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Rail line mapped ~9.4 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come) elsewhere
Other camps near St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Governor Knowles State Forest - Brandt Pines Backpack Campsite (free, permit required)~5.4 mi
- St. Croix NSR - River Mile 99.4 Campsite (free, first-come)~7.3 mi
- St. Croix NSR - Nelsons Landing Campsites (free, first-come)~8.9 mi
- St. Croix NSR - Norway Point Landing Campsites (free, first-come)~10.9 mi
Who holds the land at St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come)
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway, manager on record: National Park Service (federal). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come)
Stay limit
3 nights (stay limit is 3 consecutive nights)
Area rules
Camping is only allowed at designated sites on a first-come, first-served basis.
Source
public land records
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
FREE, per the National Park Service's own page for St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, https://www.nps.gov/sacn/planyourvisit/camping.htm read 2026-08-15: 'There are no fees or reservations required. However, a camping permit is required on the St. Croix River below Highway 8.' This site is ABOVE Highway 8, so no permit applies -- but check that before publishing any site further downstream. 'Campsites are on a first-come, first-serve basis and are easier to secure mid-week and during non-holiday weekends.' NPS upper-riverway camping page, https://www.nps.gov/sacn/planyourvisit/upper-riverway-camping.htm read 2026-08-15: 'There are no fees to camp here and sites are available first-come, first-served.' 'There is a three-night limit of stay.' 'Primitive toilets are located near the campsite.' 'There are picnic tables at most sites. Drinking water is not available.' Individual sites: max 8 people and 3 tents; group sites: max 16 people and 6 tents. RULES from the NPS Namekagon Section Map 1 (2024) regulation panel, read 2026-08-15: 'Camping is only allowed at designated sites on a first-come, first-served basis.' 'Camping stay limit is 3 consecutive nights at a campsite.' 'Tents must be occupied on the first night of stay. Equipment left unattended to hold a site will be treated as abandoned.' 'Campfires are allowed in designated areas with NPS-provided metal campfire rings.' 'The cutting of live vegetation is strictly prohibited.' 'To prevent the spread of emerald ash borer, only use firewood that is kiln dried or collected within 25 miles of where it will be used.' 'Campfires must be out and cold before you leave the area.' Quiet hours 10pm-6am. Carry out all trash. SEASONAL: the NPS pages state no closing date for the campsites, but warn that low water and obstructions can make stretches impassable -- check nps.gov/sacn/planyourvisit/current-conditions.htm. Nearest town: Grantsburg, WI (Burnett County). OSM records pit toilets and drinking_water=no. COORDINATE PROVENANCE: OpenStreetMap, queried via Overpass 2026-08-15. It is NOT an agency coordinate and NOT a field visit. The agency page cited above is the authority for the site's existence, fee status and rules; OSM supplies only the position. Confirmed to fall in Wisconsin by Nominatim reverse geocode 2026-08-15. | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come)
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — St. Croix NSR - Sandrock Cliffs Campsites (free, first-come)
Cold-weather camping →Fire rules & restrictions →Reading your camp page →Dispersed camping tips →All field notes →