Echo Lake (Minn)
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $18From, per site
- Sites
- 2522 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Echo Lake is located on the west end of the Echo Trail, a remote country road that traverses through the heart of the Western Superior National Forest. This quiet campground, where the sounds of birds and the wind are often heard, is a peaceful alternative to the hustle and bustle of the area's resort scene. A variety of campsites, activities and amenities offer a comfortable stay for RV, trailer and tent campers. Superior National Forest, located in northeastern Minnesota's arrowhead region, is comprised of three million acres. The forest spans 150 miles along the United States-Canada border. Visitors can find recreation opportunities year-round, including travel in the famous Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Keep reading
Recreation
Echo Lake is a popular fishing spot for walleye, northern pike, panfish, black crappie, white sucker and yellow perch also living in the lake. The surrounding national forest offers a wide variety of recreational opportunities, including hiking in secluded woodlands and canoeing in pristine lakes and rivers. View recreation guides and maps of hiking trails and canoe routes in the national forest.
Facilities
The campground provides 22 sites, with 13 reservable sites (1 group site and 12 standard sites) and 9 first come-first served. The sites are non- electric and amenities include vault toilets, solar powered water, tables, garbage service, campfire rings. A group campsite is available for groups of up to 21 people. Three free First Come First Serve dispersed campsites that can be accessed only by boat are located around the lake as well. Heavy vegetation may limit the lake view from some sites; however, there are numerous trails leading to the water. Young trees and lush ground plants provide privacy between sites. A boat ramp and sandy beach are provided for access to water activities and swimming.
Natural Features
This campground is on the south shore of the 1,222-acre Echo Lake and is surrounded by a mix of aspen, balsam, spruce, maple and pine trees, which provide ample shade.
Nearby Attractions
Possible day trips from the campground include Voyageurs National Park, Crane Lake, Vermillion Falls, Echo Lake Trail (1.5 miles) and Echo Lake Hunters Walking Trail (10 miles). Numerous outdoor recreation opportunities lie within Superior National Forest's 77 lake accesses, 13 fishing piers, 10 swimming beaches and 22 picnic areas. The forest is also home to three scenic byways and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Additional sites of interest
What the agency tells you
Campground will be closed and gates typically locked November 1st through May 1st.
Months of October and November drinking water is turned off, there are no garbage services, and toilet cleaning services are limited.
No fireworks
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Customer must occupy site on first night of reservation and may not leave equipment unattended for more than 24 hours
Click here for more information on Superior National Forest
Don't move firewood: To limit the spread of invasive tree-killing pests, firewood from outside the area is not permitted. 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.
Additional fee for second vehicle (non-towed) is $9.00/per day.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 25 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 45 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…are non- electric and amenities include vault toilets, solar powered water, tables, garbage service,…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Night sky · 38th darkest of 77 in MN
- Bortle 2
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 15:47 UTC
recreation.gov lists 22 of the 25 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 · 14
What you actually pay
“Additional fee for second vehicle (non-towed) is $9.00/per day.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 15:47 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
26 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 20 mapped sitesAll 26 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 22 of the 26 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. 25 of the 26 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Echo | Group S&P | type not stated | $18–$30 | ||||
| Echo | Standard S&P | type not stated | $18–$30 | ||||
| ECHO | 001 | type not stated | 45 ft | 844 ft | 327 ft | $18–$30 | |
| ECHO | 002 Host Site | host pad | 45 ft | 833 ft | 304 ft | $18–$30 | |
| ECHO | 003 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 147 ft | 792 ft | 338 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 004 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 147 ft | 734 ft | 414 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 005 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 95 ft | 538 ft | 263 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 006 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 55 ft | 443 ft | 174 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 007 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 55 ft | 425 ft | 142 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 008 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 64 ft | 372 ft | 105 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 009 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 67 ft | 366 ft | 82 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 010 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 67 ft | 300 ft | 25 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 011 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 95 ft | 286 ft | 294 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 012 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 69 ft | 290 ft | 180 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 013 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 59 ft | 235 ft | 212 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 014 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 59 ft | 219 ft | 269 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 015 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 64 ft | 252 ft | 316 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 016 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 90 ft | 169 ft | 374 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 017 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 98 ft | 208 ft | 368 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 018 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 95 ft | 260 ft | 352 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 019 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 214 ft | 581 ft | 221 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 020 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 118 ft | 405 ft | 180 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 022 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 163 ft | 556 ft | 19 ft | $18 |
| ECHO | 023 | standard nonelectric | $18 | ||||
| ECHO | 024 | standard nonelectric | $18 | ||||
| GRP | 021 | group standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 153 ft | 503 ft | 176 ft | $30 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 26 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Echo Lake Campground & Backcountry SitesSuperior National Forest · 0.0 mi
Lake Jeanette Campground & Backcountry Sites9.4 mi
Jeanette Lake9.4 mi
Pfeiffer LakeSuperior National Forest · 29 mi
Pfeiffer Lake Campground & Backcountry SitesSuperior National Forest · 29 mi
Fenske Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 29 miFrom Orr, Minnesota, take St. Louis County Road 23 for 16 miles to Buyck. At Buyck, County Road 23 turns into County Road 24. Continue on County Road 24 for 4 miles to the Echo Trail. Turn right onto the Echo Trail and continue 0.8 miles to the Echo Lake Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Orr, MN
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 50°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night -8°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
Echo Lake (Minn) 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 →