National Park Service · Isle Royale National Park · MI
Duncan Bay Campground
5Heads uppark alerts
Information
All Backpacks Must be in Storage Area at Three Mile and Rock Harbor. All backpacks must be stored in backpack storage areas at Three Mile and Rock Harbor campgrounds. All food and scented items are to be in the Food Storage Lockers. Containers should be kept in the Food Storage Locker when space allows or…
Caution
Island Mine Campground Stream Low The stream has very little water flow. Campers should bring enough water to Island Mine or plan on collecting water along your route.
Information
Food Storage Regulations in Effect Proper food storage is required on Isle Royale. All food, trash, scented items, cooking supplies, cooking utensils, and fish/fish parts must be stored properly. To learn more about food storage and to learn how to properly store your food…
Information
Boat Fuel Unavailable Fuel for boaters will not be available from September 13 through October 31 except for emergencies only. Boaters are encouraged to bring extra fuel in containers.
Park Closure
Tent Camping Closed at Multiple East End Campgrounds Due to increased human-wildlife interactions and food storage concerns, individual tent sites and group sites at Three Mile, Daisy Farm, Moskey Basin, and Caribou Island Campgrounds are currently closed. Tent and hammock camping are not…
Alerts: National Park Service alerts API · Oct 16, 2026
First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: all 3 sites go to whoever pulls in first.
This is how it should work.
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- Sites
- 33 of them walk-up
- Season
- April 16 – October 31Open April 16 through October 31
Photos · NPS Photo/Paul Brown
620 ftElevation
94 ftWater · Lake Superior
62.8 miN of Laurium, MI
3Walk-up sites
21%Tree cover
Open April 16 through October 31Today
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there
In the agency’s own words
Duncan Bay Campground is located on the west end of Duncan Bay, on the northeast end of Isle Royale National Park. Boats can stay overnight at dock. Stay Limit: 3 nights from June 2 – Labor Day annually. Shelters: 2 Depth at dock (normal conditions): 6’ Access: Canoe/kayak/private boat
Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026
Facilities
- Toilets
- Composting Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- Yes
Source: National Park Service and agency records
Around the campground
- On the water
- Coast
- Night sky · 13th darkest of 192 in MI
- Bortle 2
Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026
Nothing to book, just show up
One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first. 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 · 3
What you actually pay
The sign priceNational Park Service
The National Park Service publishes no per-night rate for this campground that we can read, so there’s no sign price to print. That’s a gap in the record, not a free campground.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s no total to show.
How we know this receipt · 4
Booking fee, change fee, cancellation fee, no-show: Rules and Reservation Policies, Recreation.gov, the published fee schedule, curated by hand into lib/reservation-fee-schedule.json (9 rows, each carrying its own verbatim sentence). The publisher states these policies were last updated September 2019. · Sep 9, 2026
The two totals: Derived by CAMPANAC by adding the agency’s own published nightly rate to recreation.gov’s own published reservation fee. Both components are cited above; the addition is ours and is shown only where every component is known. · Sep 9, 2026
Who keeps the booking fee: Recreation.gov facility policy text, Dead Swede Campground (facility 234221) · Not on the national policy page. This is agency policy text recreation.gov publishes on individual campground pages; this site holds it verbatim on 45 active campgrounds (campground_rules.cancellation_description, scripts/load-facility-rules.mjs). · Sep 9, 2026
The contract: Reservation Gods: Who Stole Our Campsites and Sold Them Back to Us, More Than Just Parks, April 2025 · Apr 1, 2025
Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026
rules read Sep 7, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the phone number
Coordinate48.15063, -88.52247
The mapSee it on the map
The driveDirections ↗
The phone(906) 482-0984
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗
Where it is
Also near here
Rock Harbor CampgroundIsle Royale National Park · 1.6 mi
Lane Cove CampgroundIsle Royale National Park · 1.7 mi
Tookers Island CampgroundIsle Royale National Park · 1.7 mi
Three Mile CampgroundIsle Royale National Park · 1.9 mi
Duncan Narrows CampgroundIsle Royale National Park · 2.4 mi
Belle Isle CampgroundIsle Royale National Park · 2.9 mi
Rock Harbor CampgroundIsle Royale National Park · 1.6 miLane Cove CampgroundIsle Royale National Park · 1.7 miTookers Island CampgroundIsle Royale National Park · 1.7 miThree Mile CampgroundIsle Royale National Park · 1.9 miDuncan Narrows CampgroundIsle Royale National Park · 2.4 miBelle Isle CampgroundIsle Royale National Park · 2.9 miSource: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
This Afternoon44°Mostly Sunny
Tonight39°Partly Cloudy1% rain
Saturday52°Sunny3% rain
Saturday Night45°Mostly Clear
NWS forecast for Eagle Harbor, MI
Source: National Weather Service, MQT forecast office · Oct 16, 2026
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Duncan Bay Campground is in Michigan’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Jack Bergman (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: The agency lists it open right now.
Season: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026
Elevation: USGS 3DEP elevation point query at this campground’s coordinate · Sep 7, 2026
Tree cover: NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC), one 30 m cell at this coordinate · Sep 9, 2026
Cell signal: the Park Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Eagle Harbor, MI, 50.4 mi NNW (a census designated place). Straight line.