Ada Lake Campground
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 24 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $15From, per site
- Sites
- 2019 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Ada Lake Recreation Area is tucked away from the hustle and bustle of some of the more popular recreation sites on the Lakewood-Laona District. It has many amenities of the other recreation areas, just not all the crowds. There are plenty of sites to see on the district and Ada Lake Recreation area can serve as a home base. Keep reading
Recreation
The exceptionally clear water makes it great for swimming, and the lake contains northern pike, bass, rainbow trout, and panfish. Another nice feature is the boat landing which makes the lake easily accessible to non-motorized boats.
Facilities
Ada Lake Campground has 19 sites. A majority of sites can accommodate campers as long as 30 feet and longer. Drinking water, vault toilets, swim beach, picnic area, and a boat landing are also provided at this location.
Natural Features
Clear water, a sandy beach, and a blue sky are all it takes for many to have a memorable camping experience. Ada Lake Campground offers this and more. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (715) 674-4481.
Nearby Attractions
The Ada Lake Recreation Area is near popular local site-seeing spots Quartz Hill, Jones Spring Area, Cathedral Pines and Knowles Creek Interpretive Trail.
What the agency tells you
Use is restricted to hardened campsite area.
Generator use is limited to the hours of 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 pm. and only while users are present at the campsite. Unreasonably loud generators which may bother others cannot be used at any time.
Privately owned ATV's, UTV's, and Golf Carts are not allowed to be operated within the campground.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Single occupancy sites are allowed up to 8 persons and one wheeled camping unit, e.g. camper or RV, as well as three additional vehicles or trailers, so long as they are not wheeled camping units.
Firewood must be purchased or collected from no greater than 25 miles of a National Forest destination or collected directly from National Forest land. Firewood from any distance that has been certified by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is allowed.
There are no electric hook-ups at this facility.
Lake is restricted to boat speed of no greater than "Slow-No-Wake".
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 20
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 45 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…as 30 feet and longer. Drinking water, vault toilets, swim beach, picnic area, and a boat landing are…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…campers as long as 30 feet and longer. Drinking water, vault toilets, swim beach, picnic area, and a boat…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Beach
- Birding
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Kayaking
- Swimming
- Night sky · 59th darkest of 70 in WI
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 13 days ago, 12 km away
- Near peak
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 19 of the 20 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $15 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
20 sites
All 20 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 20 of the 20 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Ada | 01 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $15 |
| Ada | 02 | standard nonelectric | $15 | |
| Ada | 03 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $15 |
| Ada | 04 | standard nonelectric | $15 | |
| Ada | 05 | standard nonelectric | $15 | |
| Ada | 06 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $15 |
| Ada | 07 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $15 |
| Ada | 08 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $15 |
| Ada | 09 | standard nonelectric | $15 | |
| Ada | 10 | standard nonelectric | $15 | |
| Ada | 11 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| Ada | 12 | standard nonelectric | $15 | |
| Ada | 13 | standard nonelectric | $15 | |
| Ada | 14 | standard nonelectric | $15 | |
| Ada | 15 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $15 |
| Ada | 16 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $15 |
| Ada | 17 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $15 |
| Ada | 18 | standard nonelectric | $15 | |
| Ada | 19 | standard nonelectric | $15 | |
| Ada | S&P Single | type not stated | $15 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Richardson Lake CampgroundNicolet National Forest · 5.0 mi
Boot Lake CampgroundNicolet National Forest · 8.1 miBoot Lake Recreation AreaNicolet National Forest · 8.1 miBear Lake Recreation Area15 mi
Bear Lake Campground (Chequamegon-Nicolet NF, WI)15 mi• From Wabeno, drive north 0.8 mile on Highway 32 to Highway 52. Turn left (west) on Highway 52 and drive 7.0 miles to FR 2126. Continue straight on FR 2126 for 0.4 mile to FR 2620. Turn left on FR 2620 and drive 1.2 miles to campground.
• From Laona, drive south 8.0 miles on Highway 32 to Highway 52. Turn right (west) on Highway 52 and drive 7.0 miles to FR 2126. Continue straight on FR 2126 for 0.4 mile to FR 2620. Turn left on FR 2620 and drive 1.2 miles to campground.
The agency publishes this point for 2 campgrounds; it’s likely a district office, not the campground. Use the agency’s own page for directions.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Wabeno, WI
Typical weather
Typical October night 35°F, day 52°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 4°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Ada Lake Campground is in Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district. Its representative, Tom Tiffany (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →