Fenske Lake Campground
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $22From, per site
- Sites
- 16All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 5 – October 21Open May 5 through October 21
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Fenske Lake Campground offers visitors an escape to a small, remote campground with large, majestic pine trees and easy access to water. It is a popular base camp for exploring, fishing, hiking, sightseeing and backcountry canoeing in Superior National Forest and the nearby Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The campground lies approximately 10 miles outside of Ely, Minnesota. Keep reading
Recreation
Because of its proximity to access points into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and its status as a Superior National Forest canoe circle route, Fenske Lake is very popular for canoeing and kayaking. Families and children enjoy exploring the short, 1-mile nature trail in the campground, as well as swimming at the grassy beach or waiting for a catch on the accessible fishing pier. Anglers can make use of the boat ramp and try their luck for bass, northern pike, crappie and sunfish. View recreation guides and maps of hiking trails and canoe routes in the national forest.
Facilities
The campground is tent-friendly; most sites do not accommodate large RVs. Sites are spaced widely apart along a large loop. All sites have partial to full shade, and some overlook the lake. A group campsite for 10 to 25 people is situated on a separate parking spur away from the main campground. The site is perched high on a rock ledge overlooking the lake, offering a spectacular view. Families and groups of friends will enjoy the facility's small picnic area. An open log shelter is available for use during inclement weather.
Natural Features
The facility overlooks 130-acre Fenske Lake, a small and scenic body of water surrounded by dense hardwood and pine forests in the northwoods of Minnesota. Birds and wildlife are abundant in the area. 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. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (218) 365-2963.
Nearby Attractions
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. Campers can also explore the nearby Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Over 1-million acres in size, the Boundary Waters extends nearly 150 miles along the United States-Canada border and contains over 1,200 miles of canoe routes, 12 hiking trails and over 2,000 designated campsites. Additional sites of interest
What the agency tells you
Beach and picnic area open from 7 a.m. - 9 p.m. daily; no lifeguards on duty at the beach.
Off-road and all-terrain vehicles not allowed.
During the walk-in season please contact the Superior National Forest for information.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
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.
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
- 16 · 5 walk-in, 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 80 ft
- Accessible sites
- 4
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 40th darkest of 77 in MN
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $22 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
16 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 16 mapped sitesAll 16 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 16 of the 16 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. 16 of the 16 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 001 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 147 ft | 598 ft | 445 ft | $22 | |
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 002 | standard nonelectric | 80 ft | 147 ft | 486 ft | 470 ft | $22 | |
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 003 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 232 ft | 494 ft | 681 ft | $22 | |
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 004 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 173 ft | 446 ft | 986 ft | $22 | |
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 005 | walk to | 93 ft | 308 ft | 1,125 ft | $22 | ||
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 006 | walk to | 52 ft | 247 ft | 1,080 ft | $22 | ||
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 007 | walk to | 52 ft | 246 ft | 1,033 ft | $22 | ||
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 008 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 57 ft | 289 ft | 788 ft | $22 | |
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 009 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | yes | 57 ft | 347 ft | 813 ft | $22 |
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 010 | walk to | 95 ft | 255 ft | 589 ft | $22 | ||
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 011 | walk to | 95 ft | 224 ft | 499 ft | $22 | ||
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 012 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 175 ft | 199 ft | 335 ft | $22 | |
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 013 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 107 ft | 149 ft | 150 ft | $22 | |
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 014 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 42 ft | 170 ft | 254 ft | $22 |
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 015 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | yes | 42 ft | 191 ft | 293 ft | $22 |
| FENSKE LAKE CAMPGROUND | 016 | group standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 716 ft | 263 ft | 913 ft | $65 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Fall LakeSuperior National Forest · 9.6 mi
South Kawishiwi RiverSuperior National Forest · 15 mi
Birch Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 18 mi
Jeanette Lake20 mi
Lake Jeanette Campground & Backcountry Sites20 miDumbell Lake Backcountry Campsites24 miFrom Ely, Minnesota, travel east on State Highway 169 North (toward Winton) for about 1 mile. Turn left onto County Road 88 and travel about 2 miles. Turn right onto Echo Trail and continue about 7 miles to the campground entrance on the right.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ely, 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
Fenske 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 →