Anvil Lake Recreation Area
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 23 mi
This is how it should work.
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $7.50From, per site
- Season
- May 2 – October 15Open May 2 through October 15
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there
In the agency’s own words
If you are looking for a base camp to explore area trails or a destination rustic campground with a family atmosphere, try the Anvil Lake Recreation Area off Highway 70 east of Eagle River. The Anvil Lake Recreation Area on the Eagle River District consists of a campground with 18 campsites equipped with fire rings and picnic tables, wheel-chair accessible with easy access to drinking water and vault toilets. Keep reading
Day use facilities include a 377-acre lake with crystal clear water, swim beach, paved boat launch, year-round fishing and access to the Anvil National Recreation Trail, one of the most popular trail systems in the area, that includes hiking and mountain biking and converts to a winter cross-country ski trail. So, if you like to swim, boat, fish, hike, picnic or enjoy being close to town, then the Anvil Lake Recreation Area is the place for you, conveniently located just 15 minutes east of Eagle River. The Anvil Lake Recreation Area is pet friendly; See restrictions below for more information.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…with easy access to drinking water and vault toilets. Day use facilities include a 377-acre lake with…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…accessible with easy access to drinking water and vault toilets. Day use facilities include a…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
Nothing to book, just show up
One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and a night costs $7.50 with nothing added. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.
recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.
Every line of the receipt · 6
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($7.50), and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
How we know this receipt · 5
record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this
Getting there
the map and the coordinate
Where it is
Anvil Lake CampgroundNicolet National Forest · 0.2 mi
Franklin Lake2.6 miFranklin Lake Recreation AreaNicolet National Forest · 3.5 miSevenmile Lake Recreation AreaNicolet National Forest · 4.2 miLuna - White Deer Lake Recreation AreaNicolet National Forest · 5.3 miKentuck Lake Recreation AreaNicolet National Forest · 5.4 miThe weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Eagle River, WI
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 53°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 33°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
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

Anvil Lake Recreation Area 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 →