East Bearskin Lake Campground
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $24From, per site
- Sites
- 32All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 10 – October 21Open May 10 through October 21
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
East Bearskin Lake Campground is located on its namesake lake, at the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Northern Minnesota. It is a perfect spot for visitors who want the experience found in Boundary Waters and the convenience of car camping. Visitors can reserve standard or walk-in tent sites, or rent small cabins that accommodate up to five or seven people. Canoeing, kayaking and motorized boating is available on East Bearskin Lake. The facility can be conveniently accessed by vehicle. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
Over a million acres in size, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness extends nearly 150 miles along the borders of the United States and Canada, containing over 1,200 miles of canoe routes, 12 hiking trails and over 2,000 designated campsites. The two eastern bays of the lake are within the boundaries of Boundary Waters, thus the campground attracts canoe enthusiasts. Portages link to Flour Lake. Entering the wilderness area requires a special permit. Day permits for non-motorized use are available at the campground, but overnight and motor use permits must be obtained in advance. More information on the Boundary Waters region can be found here . East Bearskin Lake features several shallow bays, making the campground and shoreline good places for wildlife watching. Moose, beavers, eagles, ducks, loons, songbirds and bears are the most common visitors. See recreation guides and maps of hiking trails and canoe routes in the national forest. Fishing is also a huge draw for the area, with East Bearskin Lake offering great fishing for bass, walleye and lake trout. A boat ramp at the campground allows motorboats and canoes access to the lake. Back on shore, a variety of hiking, mountain biking and cross-country ski trails are nearby.
Facilities
Campsites are arranged along one large loop and three smaller loops within the campground. A few sites provide a limited view of the water and all sites are within walking distance of the lake. Each campsite has an accessible fire ring with grill grates and a picnic table. Vault toilets and a solar-powered drinking water system are provided throughout the campground. The four rental cabins sleep five or seven people, respectively. Each has a single bed, double bed and set of bunk beds, while one has an additional bed. The cabins have no running water, electricity, heating or cooking facilities. Cabin visitors must use the campground's toilet and water facilities. Cabin campers must bring their own sleeping bags, cooking gear and food. Flashlights are also recommended.
Natural Features
The campground and surrounding area is shaded with majestic red and white pines, balsam fir, spruce, birch and aspen trees. A thick understory offers plenty of shade and excellent privacy between campsites. The campground lies on the shore of the 643-acre East Bearskin Lake, a typical loon nesting site. The surrounding Superior National Forest is located in northeastern Minnesota's arrowhead region and is comprised of 3 million acres. The forest spans 150 miles along the border of the United States and Canada. Visitors can find recreation opportunities year-round, including travel in the famous Boundary Waters area.
Nearby Attractions
Boats, canoes and kayaks are available for rent at the neighboring Bearskin Lodge. The store also offers fishing licenses, day use permits, groceries, ice, firewood, maps and fishing guide services for sale.
What the agency tells you
This lake has portages into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness; when portaging or paddling from this lake and into another, be aware that permits may be required to enter (click here for permit information)
Some first-come, first-served sites are available within the campground
Bears may frequent the area; use appropriate containers for food and garbage and be aware of your surroundings
Everything else this campground posts · 2
Click here for more information about Superior National Forest, and here for additional points of interest in the region
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
- 32 · 2 tent-only, 4 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 30 ft
- Accessible sites
- 4
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…with grill grates and a picnic table. Vault toilets and a solar-powered drinking water system are…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…table. Vault toilets and a solar-powered drinking water system are provided throughout the campground. The…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Firewood
- Sold here
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Ranger programs
- Other Recreation Concession Site
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
- Night sky · 4th darkest of 77 in MN
- Bortle 1
Full this Saturdayread 16:10 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 15 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 19 are free on Tue, Oct 20. read 16:10 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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 · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $24 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 16:10 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
32 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 32 mapped sites2 sites share one published coordinate and are left out of the rankings.
All 32 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 32 of the 32 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 32 of the 32 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 001 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 143 ft | 322 ft | 225 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 003 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 62 ft | 161 ft | 288 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 004 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 62 ft | 173 ft | 231 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 005 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 63 ft | 123 ft | 237 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 006 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 100 ft | 322 ft | 22 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 007 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 94 ft | 400 ft | 94 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 008 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 80 ft | 452 ft | 110 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 009 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 80 ft | 471 ft | 165 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 010 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 93 ft | 479 ft | 238 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 011 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 106 ft | 439 ft | 274 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 012 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 86 ft | 399 ft | 166 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 014 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 86 ft | 383 ft | 81 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 015 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 105 ft | 254 ft | 70 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 016 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 105 ft | 231 ft | 122 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 017 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 178 ft | 130 ft | 299 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 018 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 124 ft | 169 ft | 272 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 019 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 90 ft | 207 ft | 172 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 021 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 54 ft | 176 ft | 300 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 022 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 54 ft | 125 ft | 343 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 023 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 84 ft | 132 ft | 268 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 024 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 151 ft | 261 ft | 80 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 025 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 105 ft | 180 ft | 201 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 026 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 212 ft | 113 ft | $24 | ||
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 027 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 212 ft | 113 ft | $24 | ||
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 029 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 63 ft | 288 ft | 156 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 030 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 64 ft | 354 ft | 212 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 031 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 62 ft | 332 ft | 260 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | 032 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 62 ft | 394 ft | 284 ft | $24 | |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | Alder Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 143 ft | 265 ft | 310 ft | $86 |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | Aspen Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 90 ft | 126 ft | 250 ft | $86 |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | Jack Pine Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 110 ft | 248 ft | 81 ft | $86 |
| EAST BEARSKIN LAKE CAMPGROUND | Tamarac Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 63 ft | 337 ft | 119 ft | $86 |
25 of 32 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Flour Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 1.3 mi
Iron LakeSuperior National Forest · 10 miTwo Island Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 11 miKimball Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 14 miDevil Track Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 15 mi
Crescent Lake (MN)22 miEast Bearskin Lake Campground is located 26 miles from Grand Marais, on the historic Gunflint Trail. From Duluth, take Highway 61 north to Grand Marais. Turn left (north) on Gunflint Trail and proceed about 26 miles to East Bearskin Road. Turn right and follow the signs 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 Grand Marais, MN
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 49°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
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
East Bearskin Lake Campground is in Minnesota’s 8th congressional district. Its representative, Pete Stauber (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyPete StauberU.S. Representative · Minnesota’s 8th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAmy KlobucharU.S. Senator · Minnesota
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTina SmithU.S. Senator · Minnesota
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at East Bearskin Lake Campground, Superior National Forest, Minnesota
Dear Pete Stauber, I’m a constituent in Minnesota’s 8th district. I tried to camp at East Bearskin Lake Campground, Superior National Forest, Minnesota, and couldn’t. All 32 sites at East Bearskin Lake Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 15 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. East Bearskin Lake Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run East Bearskin Lake Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about East Bearskin Lake Campground (Superior National Forest, Minnesota) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at East Bearskin Lake Campground, Superior National Forest, Minnesota
Dear Amy Klobuchar, I’m a constituent in Minnesota. I tried to camp at East Bearskin Lake Campground, Superior National Forest, Minnesota, and couldn’t. All 32 sites at East Bearskin Lake Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 15 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. East Bearskin Lake Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run East Bearskin Lake Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about East Bearskin Lake Campground (Superior National Forest, Minnesota) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at East Bearskin Lake Campground, Superior National Forest, Minnesota
Dear Tina Smith, I’m a constituent in Minnesota. I tried to camp at East Bearskin Lake Campground, Superior National Forest, Minnesota, and couldn’t. All 32 sites at East Bearskin Lake Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 15 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. East Bearskin Lake Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run East Bearskin Lake Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about East Bearskin Lake Campground (Superior National Forest, Minnesota) via campanac.com