Fall Lake
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $30–$40Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 6462 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 1 – October 1Open May 1 through October 1
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Fall Lake Campground is located on the shores of Fall Lake and provides direct access into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). The campground opens in early May in time for walleye fishing season, making it a popular place for anglers. Others are drawn to Fall Lake for its birding, swimming, hiking and boating opportunities. Superior National Forest, located in northeastern Minnesota's arrowhead region, is comprised of 3 million acres. The forest spans 150 miles along the United States-Canada border. Keep reading
Recreation
Part of Fall Lake lies within the BWCAW, while the rest of the lake is open to unrestricted boating, permits are required to enter the BWCAW. View recreation guides and maps of hiking trails and canoe routes in the national forest. Kids love the campground's swimming beach, playground and picnic area. A 1.5 mile hiking trail is also a favorite pastime for families. Anglers can try their luck for smallmouth bass, walleye, northern pike, crappie, perch and bluegill. Some campers might be interested in the unique opportunity to view the visitor center's display of replica artifacts found during archaeological digs within the campground and surrounding areas. There's no shortage of popular local events to attend, including the City of Ely's July 4th fireworks, the Blueberry Festival (the last full weekend in July) and the Harvest Moon Festival-mid September.
Facilities
This lake has some sites that can be reserved and some that are first-come, first-served. Many sites at Fall Lake are made to accommodate RVs including pull-through sites. Trees provide privacy between most campsites. The facility is very accessible. A store, canoe rentals, firewood and ice are available at the facility, and a campground host is on-site during the season.
Natural Features
The campground is nestled among majestic pine and abundant aspen and fir trees, providing the ultimate northwoods setting. Average summer temperatures are a pleasant 60-75 degrees. Birds and wildlife are abundant.
Nearby Attractions
Guests may want to take a day trip to the Dorothy Molter Museum, International Wolf Center, North American Bear Center, Ely-Winton History Museum or Soudan Mine. By far the most popular nearby attraction is the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness . Over one million acres in size, the Boundary Waters contain over 1,200 miles of canoe routes, 12 hiking trails and over 2,000 designated campsites. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (218) 365-2963.
What the agency tells you
The northern portion of Fall Lake near the campground is within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wildreness, Visitors to the Wilderness are required to be in possession of a valid BWCAW permit, For questions about the specific BWCAW regulations contact the US Forest Service at (218) 365-7600.
All reservable sites, except 26, 33 and 41 (tent-only) have electric hookups; sites 5, 10, 15, 16, 18 and 62 have 20, 30 and 50 amp service available
Please Note: One RV with tow vehicle per single site or one vehicle per tent site. Most sites can accommodate 1 extra vehicle that is not included with the reservation fee. Extra vehicle will be charged a per night fee and collected at the campground if you did not pay for the Extra Vehicle Add On.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (NOON) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests. Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).
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.
Click here to learn more about Superior National Forest Superior National Forest
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 64 · 10 tent-only, 2 group
- Hookups
- 53 electric
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- 25
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Playground
- Yes
- Firewood
- Mentioned
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Picnicking
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 41st darkest of 77 in MN
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 62 of the 64 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 · 17
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $30–$40 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 Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
66 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 62 mapped sitesAll 66 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 66 of the 66 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. 64 of the 66 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| BASS | 001 HOST | host pad | 40 ft | 30 amp | 345 ft | 89 ft | $37 | ||
| BASS | 002 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | yes | 71 ft | 358 ft | 121 ft | $38–$40 |
| BASS | 003 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | yes | 68 ft | 305 ft | 133 ft | $38–$40 |
| BASS | 004 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | yes | 68 ft | 356 ft | 193 ft | $38–$40 |
| BASS | 005 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | yes | 57 ft | 351 ft | 282 ft | $38–$40 |
| BASS | 006 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 57 ft | 304 ft | 233 ft | $38–$40 | |
| BASS | 007 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | yes | 53 ft | 367 ft | 378 ft | $38–$40 |
| BASS | 008 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 53 ft | 315 ft | 362 ft | $38–$40 | |
| BASS | 009 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | yes | 93 ft | 356 ft | 311 ft | $38–$40 |
| BASS | 010 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | yes | 58 ft | 369 ft | 232 ft | $38–$40 |
| BASS | 011 | standard electric | 28 ft | 30 amp | yes | 58 ft | 311 ft | 219 ft | $38–$40 |
| BASS | 012 | standard electric | 28 ft | 30 amp | yes | 98 ft | 335 ft | 134 ft | $38–$40 |
| BASS | 013 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | yes | 84 ft | 322 ft | 133 ft | $38–$40 |
| BASS | 014 | standard electric | 24 ft | 30 amp | yes | 34 ft | 282 ft | 174 ft | $38–$40 |
| BASS | 015 | standard electric | 36 ft | 50 amp | yes | 34 ft | 287 ft | 207 ft | $38–$40 |
| BASS | 016 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | yes | 78 ft | 263 ft | 268 ft | $38–$40 |
| BASS | 017 | standard electric | 28 ft | 30 amp | yes | 63 ft | 224 ft | 193 ft | $38–$40 |
| BASS | 018 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 96 ft | 264 ft | 357 ft | $38–$40 | |
| BASS | 019 HOST | host pad | 40 ft | 30 amp | yes | 215 ft | 289 ft | $37 | |
| LAKE | 020 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 91 ft | 110 ft | 408 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 021 | tent only electric | 30 amp | 91 ft | 80 ft | 475 ft | $38 | ||
| LAKE | 022 | standard electric | 28 ft | 30 amp | 58 ft | 13 ft | 333 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 023 | standard electric | 32 ft | 30 amp | 58 ft | 58 ft | 283 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 024 | standard electric | 32 ft | 30 amp | 86 ft | 24 ft | 245 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 025 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 56 ft | 71 ft | 172 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 026 | tent only nonelectric | 56 ft | 29 ft | 218 ft | $30 | |||
| LAKE | 027 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 76 ft | 90 ft | 211 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 028 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | yes | 76 ft | 122 ft | 142 ft | $38–$40 |
| LAKE | 029 | standard electric | 26 ft | 30 amp | 113 ft | 110 ft | 154 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 030 | standard electric | 35 ft | 15 amp | yes | 113 ft | 197 ft | 153 ft | $38–$40 |
| LAKE | 031 | type not stated | 40 ft | 30 amp | yes | 189 ft | 213 ft | $37 | |
| LAKE | 032 | standard electric | 28 ft | 30 amp | 108 ft | 84 ft | 311 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 033 | tent only nonelectric | 38 ft | 94 ft | 219 ft | $30 | |||
| LAKE | 034 | standard electric | 17 ft | 30 amp | 38 ft | 130 ft | 197 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 035 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | yes | 99 ft | 161 ft | 101 ft | $38–$40 |
| LAKE | 036 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 31 ft | 146 ft | 139 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 037 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 31 ft | 174 ft | 128 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 038 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 36 ft | 133 ft | 218 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 039 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 36 ft | 167 ft | 192 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 040 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 58 ft | 182 ft | 242 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 041 | tent only nonelectric | 62 ft | 163 ft | 301 ft | $30 | |||
| LAKE | 042 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | 111 ft | 341 ft | 356 ft | $38–$40 | |
| LAKE | 043 | standard electric | 24 ft | 30 amp | yes | 70 ft | 362 ft | 302 ft | $38–$40 |
| LAKE | 044 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | 70 ft | 293 ft | 257 ft | $38–$40 | |
| NORL | 045 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | yes | 66 ft | 151 ft | 108 ft | $38–$40 |
| NORL | 046 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30 amp | 66 ft | 149 ft | 124 ft | $38–$40 | |
| NORL | 047 | tent only nonelectric | 47 ft | 86 ft | 230 ft | $30 | |||
| NORL | 048 | standard electric | 24 ft | 30 amp | 47 ft | 128 ft | 187 ft | $38–$40 | |
| NORL | 049 | standard electric | 32 ft | 30 amp | 51 ft | 40 ft | 275 ft | $38–$40 | |
| NORL | 050 | tent only nonelectric | 51 ft | 77 ft | 246 ft | $30 | |||
| NORL | 051 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 50 ft | 55 ft | 142 ft | $38–$40 | |
| NORL | 052 | standard electric | 24 ft | 30 amp | 50 ft | 11 ft | 161 ft | $38–$40 | |
| NORL | 053 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | 49 ft | 76 ft | 82 ft | $38–$40 | |
| NORL | 054 | standard electric | 26 ft | 30 amp | 49 ft | 59 ft | 92 ft | $38–$40 | |
| NORL | 055 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 75 ft | 97 ft | 97 ft | $30 | ||
| NORL | 056 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | yes | 67 ft | 134 ft | 140 ft | $38–$40 |
| NORL | 057 | tent only nonelectric | 66 ft | 66 ft | 199 ft | $30 | |||
| NORL | 058 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | yes | 66 ft | 120 ft | 203 ft | $38–$40 |
| NORL | 059 | tent only nonelectric | 76 ft | 57 ft | 270 ft | $30 | |||
| NORL | 060 | tent only nonelectric | 56 ft | 110 ft | 329 ft | $30 | |||
| NORL | 061 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | yes | 56 ft | 151 ft | 300 ft | $38–$40 |
| NORL | 062 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | yes | 68 ft | 158 ft | 384 ft | $38–$40 |
| NORL | 063 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | yes | 101 ft | 196 ft | 420 ft | $38–$40 |
| NORL | 064 MANAGER | type not stated | 30 amp | 252 ft | 352 ft | $37 | |||
| Voyageurs | GS1 | group standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 370 ft | 269 ft | 1,485 ft | $110–$130 | |
| Woodlands | GS2 | group standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 370 ft | 214 ft | 1,172 ft | $110–$130 |
The agency files 2 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It names them host pads. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
25 of 66 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
South Kawishiwi RiverSuperior National Forest · 9.5 mi
Fenske Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 9.6 mi
Birch Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 14 miDumbell Lake Backcountry Campsites14 miT-Lake Backcountry Campsite14 mi
McDougal Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 23 miFall Lake is located in Northeast MN, 100 miles North of Duluth MN. From Duluth, MN, take Highway 53 north for 50 miles to Virginia, MN. Take Highway 169 northeast for 50 miles to Ely, Minnesota, travel an addition 6.5 miles to County Road 182 (Fall Lake Road). Travel north on County Road 182 for 2 miles.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Winton, MN
Typical weather
Typical October night 32°F, day 52°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 32°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 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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Fall Lake 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 →