Day Lake
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 19 mi
- Right now
- OpenListed open; its database flags it not open
- A night
- $18From, per site
- Sites
- 5238 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 2 – October 31Open May 2 through October 31
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 2 notices
In the agency’s own words
Day Lake Campground is situated in northwestern Wisconsin, not far from the shores of Lake Superior. The spacious and peaceful Day Lake offers a family-friendly campground with swimming beaches, a boat launch and picnic area. Day Lake is a designated off-road vehicle campground, allowing off-road vehicle use to and from the nearby trails. Keep reading
Recreation
Located in the elk capital of Wisconsin, the Day Lake area has activities for everyone. Miles of off-road vehicle, hiking and mountain biking trails are nearby on the Dead Horse Run Off-road Vehicle (ATV/UTV) Trail. A half-mile interpretive trail can be accessed from the campground. A boat ramp and picnic area with beach access are located two miles south of the campground, on County Highway M. The 640-acre lake is a popular destination for anglers, with musky, bass and panfish available in abundance. The area is also ideal for kayaking, canoeing and swimming. Elk, eagles, loons and other wildlife are often spotted in the area.
Facilities
The campground offers dozens of single-family campsites for tent and RV camping. Only the Paper Birch loop has a paved road, while the remainder of roads within the campground are gravel. The parking aprons are grass and dirt. Each campsite is equipped with tables and campfire rings with grills. Accessible vault toilets and hand pump drinking water are also provided. Trash collection and recycling bins are available at the campground as well.
Natural Features
The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest offers 845,000 acres of lush landscape dotted with lakes, rivers and streams. Pine, spruce, maple, aspen and balsam forests, as well as extensive jack pine plantations, make up the vegetation.
Nearby Attractions
A general store, bait shop, firewood vendor, fuel and restaurants are located in Clam Lake, about a mile from the campground. The local community club hosts an annual July 4th fireworks display.
What the agency tells you
Click here for more information on the Chequamegon National Forest
Don't move firewood: To limit the spread of invasive tree-killing pests, firewood from outside the area is not permitted. Some states have quarantines and may confiscate your firewood. Please help protect our forests from invasive species by obtaining your firewood at or near your camping destination and burning it on-site. Visit dontmovefirewood.org for more information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 52 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 60 ft
- Paved pads
- 4 of 52
- Accessible sites
- 15
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…campfire rings with grills. Accessible vault toilets and hand pump drinking water are also provided.…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…grills. Accessible vault toilets and hand pump drinking water are also provided. Trash collection…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Store
- Nearby
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Swimming
- Night sky · 3rd darkest of 70 in WI
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 38 of the 52 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, $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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
52 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 38 mapped sitesAll 52 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. 51 of the 52 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| HERO | 011 | type not stated | 30 ft | 1,032 ftDay Lake | $18 | ||
| HERO | 012 | type not stated | 25 ft | 921 ftDay Lake | $18 | ||
| HERO | 013 | type not stated | 25 ft | 838 ftDay Lake | $18 | ||
| HERO | 014 | type not stated | 24 ft | 783 ftDay Lake | $18 | ||
| HERO | 015 | type not stated | 25 ft | 838 ftDay Lake | $18 | ||
| HERO | 016 | type not stated | 30 ft | 917 ftDay Lake | $18 | ||
| HERON | 017 | type not stated | 30 ft | 1,053 ftDay Lake | $18 | ||
| JACK | 001 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 89 ft | 526 ftDay Lake | $18 |
| JACK | 002 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 89 ft | 541 ftDay Lake | $18 |
| JACK | 003 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 115 ft | 584 ftDay Lake | $18 |
| JACK | 004 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 81 ft | 545 ftDay Lake | $18 |
| JACK | 005 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 81 ft | 469 ftDay Lake | $18 |
| JACK | 006 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | yes | 89 ft | 383 ftDay Lake | $18 |
| JACK | 007 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | yes | 89 ft | 349 ftDay Lake | $18 |
| JACK | 008 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 103 ft | 303 ftDay Lake | $18 |
| JACK | 009 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | yes | 103 ft | 346 ftDay Lake | $18 |
| JACK | 010 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 92 ft | 464 ftDay Lake | $18 |
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 040 | type not stated | 25 ft | 826 ftDay Lake | $18 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 041 | type not stated | 764 ftDay Lake | $18 | |||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 042 | type not stated | 659 ftDay Lake | $18 | |||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 043 | type not stated | 43 ft | 696 ftDay Lake | $18 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 044 | type not stated | 25 ft | 799 ftDay Lake | $18 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 045 | type not stated | 25 ft | 906 ftDay Lake | $18 | ||
| MUSK | 046 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 112 ft | 161 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| MUSK | 047 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 112 ft | 245 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| MUSK | 048 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 94 ft | 205 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| MUSK | 049 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 94 ft | 218 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| MUSK | 050 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 141 ft | 264 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| MUSK | 051 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 156 ft | 419 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| MUSK | 052 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 157 ft | 305 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| PAPE | 018 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 82 ft | 315 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| PAPE | 019 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 86 ft | 259 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| PAPE | 020 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 84 ft | 231 ftDay Lake | $18 |
| PAPE | 021 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 84 ft | 212 ftDay Lake | $18 |
| PAPE | 022 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 78 ft | 230 ftDay Lake | $18 |
| PAPE | 023 | group standard nonelectric | 55 ft | yes | 78 ft | 292 ftDay Lake | |
| PAPE | 024 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | yes | 81 ft | 374 ftDay Lake | $18 |
| PAPE | 025 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 125 ft | 431 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| PAPE | 026 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 128 ft | 430 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| PAPE | 027 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 128 ft | 433 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| PAPE | 028 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 82 ft | 385 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| REDP | 029 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 87 ft | 499 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| REDP | 030 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 118 ft | 510 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| REDP | 031 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 87 ft | 512 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| REDP | 032 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 63 ft | 457 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| REDP | 033 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 63 ft | 394 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| REDP | 034 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 86 ft | 348 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| REDP | 036 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 154 ft | 272 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| REDP | 037 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 93 ft | 336 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| REDP | 038 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 87 ft | 412 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| REDP | 039 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 154 ft | 469 ftDay Lake | $18 | |
| REDPINE HOST | 035 | type not stated | 45 ft | 270 ftDay Lake | $18 |
25 of 52 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
East TwinChequamegon National Forest · 2.6 miBeaver Lake Recreation AreaChequamegon National Forest · 8.7 mi
Beaver Lake (Chequamegon-Nicolet NF, WI)Chequamegon National Forest · 8.7 mi
Mineral LakeChequamegon National Forest · 8.8 miNamekagon Lake Recreation AreaChequamegon National Forest · 9.7 mi
NamekagonChequamegon National Forest · 9.7 miFrom Clam Lake, Wisconsin, travel a mile north on Highway GG.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Clam Lake, WI
Typical weather
Typical October night 34°F, day 53°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 34°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
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Day Lake 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 →