Mirror Lake State Park

Pretty tight park. It is kind of like, overflow for devil’s lake which is obviously more popular.
Lots of lousy dbags from Illinois tho, that’s prob the worst part.

My family and I stayed at Mirror Lake for four days. The campground and facilities were very well maintained. Thought the sites were perhaps a little too small, but we were able to fit everyone. The trails were well marked and beautiful. The swimming beach was a wonderful amenity! A few of us rented canoes & kayaks. There is a 25% discount on boat rentals if you are camping at the park, make sure you mention it! The camp sites were quiet for the most part (a few ding dongs felt it necessary to have their car alarm on). We would happily return!

We were looking for a calm, quiet, fresh air, easy (flat) hiking experience with a low amount of people; we hit the jackpot here.
The trails were well marked and the paths were wide and clear of large fallen debris. I love that they use wood chips to even out the paths (easy on the feet vs. rocks).
From the main parking lot we took the Newport Trail to the Lakeview Trail, then Echo Rock and followed it up to Ishnala restaurant, then came back down. A nice hike; saw red squirrels, perch/​sunfish from the boat launch area, huge green bugs, toads, inchworms, etc. No mosquitoes surprisingly!
A nice change from the craze of the dells area. Can rent kayaks, canoes, and pontoons in this park as well. A good hiking area for children and beginner hikers. Will return!

Other reviewers have nailed the description — I don’t think I can add anything else of value, but I do like to hear myself talk (or in this case, see my words appear on a screen), so…
— Painless reservations and check-​in. Booked online and it took less than 5 minutes to check-​in with the Ranger station.
— Very logical layout; it was easy to navigate and find your way around.
— Great ammenities — never more than 200 – 300 yards from fresh water fountains. It was so nice to have easy access to clean, tasty water at all times. The restrooms were phenomenal — really. I’m not a fan of public restrooms, but these were more than A-​OK.
— Awesome campsites. As noted, they were well shaded, private, and super clean. The picnic table was huge and in great condition. The fire pit was perfectly sized and featured a cooking grate on one side (my grate was broken, but still functional). Had 3 other campsites directly near us, and never heard a thing all night.
— Excellent trails; wish I would’ve had more time to explore and/​or to kayak on the river. The water near the swimming area was pretty gross — you could see huge (like 20-​yard radius) algae pools everywhere. It also appeared to be very shallow.
— Easy in/​out — parking was so close and so convenient.
The only bummer from my perspective was the firewood. At the recommendation of the ranger, I purchased our wood from the camp host ($ 5/​bundle), because the ranger said the wood from the concession stand was receiving a lot of complaints. Well… the camp host’s firewood wasn’t anything great, either… I literally watched as more than half of our logs steamed away on the fire — you could see the moisture steaming out of the ends… had to split a ton of logs to make small enough kindling that would burn (lightly), dry the larger logs over the fire, and tend to/​stoke constantly. Thank goodness for firestarters, or I’d have been out of luck.
Firewood aside, this was an awesome camping experience (and my first ever as an adult). Pro tip: buy good camping gear. It made all the difference in the word — I’d seriously consider camping over a hotel any time.