Bear Lake Campground (Chequamegon-Nicolet NF, WI)
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 18 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $15From, per site
- Sites
- 27All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
If you are interested in a quiet campground and excellent pike fishing, Bear Lake Campground is for you. Campsites are situated along the wooded shore and ridge with outstanding views of the lake. Keep reading
Recreation
The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest has an abundance of outdoor recreation opportunities. Those most enjoyed at Bear Lake are fishing, swimming, kayaking, and canoeing. The Rat River trail is a good nearby hiking opportunity.
Facilities
Bear Lake Campground has 27 sites. A majority of campsites can accommodate campers as long as 30 feet and longer. The campground also has five tent-only walk-in sites on a wooded peninsula jutting into the lake. Drinking water, vault toilets, swim beach, picnic area, and a boat landing are also provided at this location. All roads are paved with blacktop.
Natural Features
This campground sits on the southwest corner of 68-acre Bear Lake. The campground is a mix of hardwoods and pine. The water quality of the lake is moderate at a maximum depth of 20 feet. Fish species found in the lake are northern pike, panfish, and largemouth bass. This campground is also popular with grouse hunters and fall color enthusiasts.
Nearby Attractions
Bear Lake is in close proximity to the Rat River Hike and Bike Trail. Trout fishing opportunities are also nearby on the Peshtigo and Rat Rivers. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (715) 674-4481.
What the agency tells you
Use at this campground is heavy during summer holiday, so come early in the week.
There are no electric site hook-ups at this facility.
Bear Lake is restricted to electric boat motors use only.
Everything else this campground posts · 3
Some of the sites are first-come, first-served.
All firewood brought into the campground must be harvested within 10 miles of the campground.
Privately owned ATV's, UTV's, and Golf Carts are not allowed to be operated within the campground.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 27 · 5 walk-in
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 64 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…jutting into the lake. Drinking water, vault toilets, swim beach, picnic area, and a boat landing are…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…wooded peninsula jutting into the lake. Drinking water, vault toilets, swim beach, picnic area, and a boat…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Night sky · 48th darkest of 70 in WI
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 17 km away
- Peak color
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 16:44 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
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 · 13
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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:44 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
27 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 27 mapped sitesAll 27 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. 27 of the 27 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 001 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 84 ft | 342 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 002 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 81 ft | 267 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 003 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 58 ft | 161 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 004 | standard nonelectric | 54 ft | 118 ft | 205 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 005 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 76 ft | 98 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 006 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 76 ft | 74 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 007 | standard nonelectric | 64 ft | 87 ft | 157 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 008 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 97 ft | 56 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 009 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 87 ft | 157 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 010 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 95 ft | 84 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 011 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 127 ft | 144 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 012 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 127 ft | 118 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 013 | standard nonelectric | 54 ft | 116 ft | 108 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 014 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 104 ft | 156 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 015 | standard nonelectric | 58 ft | 104 ft | 62 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 016 | standard nonelectric | 58 ft | 100 ft | 151 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 017 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 100 ft | 66 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 018 | standard nonelectric | 64 ft | 102 ft | 101 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 019 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 117 ft | 185 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 020 | standard nonelectric | 64 ft | 131 ft | 112 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 021 | standard nonelectric | 54 ft | 83 ft | 272 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 022 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 58 ft | 199 ftBear Lake | $15 |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 023 | walk to | 179 ft | 76 ftBear Lake | $15 | |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 024 | walk to | 124 ft | 52 ftBear Lake | $15 | |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 025 | walk to | 107 ft | 58 ftBear Lake | $15 | |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 026 | walk to | 95 ft | 78 ftBear Lake | $15 | |
| BEAR LAKE CAMPGROUND | 027 | walk to | 95 ft | 68 ftBear Lake | $15 |
25 of 27 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Richardson Lake CampgroundNicolet National Forest · 11 mi
Laura Lake CampgroundNicolet National Forest · 13 miLaura and Gordon Lake Recreation AreaNicolet National Forest · 13 mi
Ada Lake CampgroundNicolet National Forest · 15 miAda Lake Recreation AreaNicolet National Forest · 15 miFrom Wabeno, drive north 5.5 miles or from Laona drive 3.0 miles to County Road T. Turn east and drive 3 miles to County Road H. Turn right (north) drive 0.75 miles to Goodman Park Road (FR2136). Turn right (east) and drive 4.1 miles to FR3770. Turn right (south) on FR3770 and drive 0.4 miles to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Laona, 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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Bear Lake Campground (Chequamegon-Nicolet NF, WI) 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 →