Boot Lake Campground
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 21 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $18From, per site
- Sites
- 3433 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Boot Lake Campground overlooks its namesake -- 263-acre Boot Lake. Bask in the sun on the beautiful beach and then take a relaxing dip in the lake, or enjoy the fishing. Boot Lake contains walleye, northern pike, bass, musky, and panfish. In addition, several nearby streams offer excellent trout fishing, and the Wolf River provides fishing, kayaking, rafting, and first-class canoeing opportunities. The Jones Spring Non-Motorized Area is nearby, and offers hiking, hunting, and cross-country skiing. Generally, use at this popular campground is heavy throughout the summer. Keep reading
Recreation
The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest has an abundance of outdoor recreation opportunities. Those most enjoyed at Boot Lake are fishing, swimming, kayaking, and canoeing. Due to the clarity of the water Scuba diving has become increasingly popular.
Facilities
Boot Lake Campground has 34 sites. More than half of the sites can accommodate campers of 30’ and some of the sites are tent only. Drinking water, vault toilets, swim beach, picnic area, and a boat landing are also provided at this location. All roads are paved.
Natural Features
This campground sits on the northwest corner of Boot Lake, in a quiet finger of the lake. The campground is a mix of hardwoods and pine. Boot Lake is a high quality clear lake and has a maximum depth of 38 feet.
Nearby Attractions
Jones Springs Non-Motorized Area is just west of Boot Lake. It offers opportunities for hiking, hunting and cross-country skiing in the winter. There is a trail in the campground that connects into the Jones Springs hiking trails. The nearby Wolf River provides excellent opportunities for rafting and white water canoeing, and kayaking. The local community of Townsend is just north of the campground. The Cathedral Pines Trail is approximately four miles from the campground -- a must see at any time of the year.
What the agency tells you
Boot Lake Campground sites may be difficult to fit large RV's inside (greater than 40').
This facility has first-come, first-served sites. Sites: 3,4,6,7,9,11,13,15,20,21,23,24 and 27.
There are no electricity / water / sewer site hook-ups at this facility.
Everything else this campground posts · 1
Privately owned ATV's, UTV's, and Golf Carts are not allowed to be operated within the campground.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 34
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 88 ft
- Paved pads
- 15 of 34
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…the sites are tent only. Drinking water, vault toilets, swim beach, picnic area, and a boat landing are…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…30' and some of the sites are tent only. Drinking water, vault toilets, swim beach, picnic area, and a boat…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
- Night sky · 62nd darkest of 70 in WI
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 13 days ago, 11 km away
- Near peak
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 16:38 UTC
recreation.gov lists 33 of the 34 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $18 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 16:38 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
34 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 33 mapped sitesAll 34 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. 34 of the 34 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 001 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 102 ft | 299 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 002 | type not stated | 32 ft | 353 ft | $33.97 | |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 003 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 102 ft | 239 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 004 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 68 ft | 172 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 005 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 68 ft | 185 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 006 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 116 ft | 49 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 007 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 103 ft | 209 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 008 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 87 ft | 96 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 009 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 71 ft | 107 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 010 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 105 ft | 260 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 011 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 71 ft | 152 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 012 | standard nonelectric | 78 ft | 111 ft | 228 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 013 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 120 ft | 115 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 014 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 118 ft | 93 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 015 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 118 ft | 115 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 016 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 191 ft | 147 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 017 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 309 ft | 400 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 018 | standard nonelectric | 63 ft | 81 ft | 318 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 019 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 111 ft | 248 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 020 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 76 ft | 376 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 021 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 122 ft | 354 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 022 | standard nonelectric | 49 ft | 76 ft | 444 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 023 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 123 ft | 472 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 024 | standard nonelectric | 88 ft | 94 ft | 624 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 025 | standard nonelectric | 54 ft | 110 ft | 542 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 026 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 94 ft | 685 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 027 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 136 ft | 697 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 028 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 127 ft | 632 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 029 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 117 ft | 537 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 030 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 127 ft | 338 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 031 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 83 ft | 457 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 032 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 83 ft | 447 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 033 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 87 ft | 449 ft | $18 |
| BOOT LAKE CAMPGROUND | 034 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 87 ft | 468 ft | $18 |
25 of 34 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Ada Lake CampgroundNicolet National Forest · 8.1 miAda Lake Recreation AreaNicolet National Forest · 8.1 mi
Boulder LakeNicolet National Forest · 8.9 mi
Bagley Rapids CampgroundNicolet National Forest · 12 mi
Richardson Lake CampgroundNicolet National Forest · 12 miFrom the intersection of Highway 32 and County Road T in Townsend, drive south on T 5.6 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 Townsend, WI
Typical weather
Typical October night 34°F, day 55°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
Boot Lake Campground is in Wisconsin’s 8th congressional district. Its representative, Tony Wied (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →