Camping on the Mississippi

I was curious if their are rules or guidelines on where you can & can’t camp out on the Mississippi. Can you pretty much camp wherever you want to?

You have just asked the question of the ages. We try to take the family to the Illinois triver every year to one sandy beach spot. It used to be OK and people camped out there over night and some goty rowdy. Now for the past couple of years there have been huge signs saying NO TRESPASSING all over the beach.
I CValled everyone i could think of to find out if that was legal or if we would get into trouble for spending the afternoon. All i got was more questions. It seems that there is something called “Riparian Rights” which in some states gives the property owner posession of the land under the water. It gets real confusing from there. Try Googling Riparian Rights and you will see what I mean. I don’t know what the regs are in MInnesota, but in Illinois they are a mess.

As far as I know it is legal to camp on the Mississippi River. I do believe the new progam may limit the areas you will be able to camp but for now uless it is marked otherwise you can camp. Primitive camping is allowed. Many of the islands down in this stretch of the river have white signs that spell out the camping regulations. Groundfires are allowed but you cannot cut down any trees including dead ones (from what I have been told) but you can use any dead wood on the islands to build your fires. I camp out on the islands once or twice a year. Just make sure that you pack up all your trash when it is time to leave. I don’t think the landowner thing applies to the Mississippi.

Eyehunter

On the Upper Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Refuge, which comprises most of the river and its islands, you can legally camp anywhere within sight of the main channel. There are also traditional camping sites where this rule is not enforced (e.g. Rosebud Island on Lake Onalaska) and you can camp out of sight of the main channel. In reality, you can camp anywhere you can put a tent on refuge land, but cannot have a fire unless you’re within sight of the main channel, and even if you do have a fire, you probably won’t get fined, just told to move or douse the fire. In fact, many wardens won’t even bother with you if you’re not doing anything they suspect may be illegal.

Thanks for the info guys!

Yep, what Flathead said During duck hunting, we camp a ways off the main channel and have had the DNR come and check our camp. We have never had an issue as long as you are not doing any damage and are using common sense.
The biggest problem you will face on the main channel on Pool 8 is finding a camp site. They tend to be occupied more than not, but there are a lot of sandbars on Pool 8 to camp on