Iron Lake
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $24From, per site
- Sites
- 7All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 6 – October 21Open May 6 through October 21
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
Iron Lake Campground is located in a dense forest along the banks of Iron Lake in far northern Minnesota. The campground is unique due to its remoteness and small size. Fishing and canoeing are its biggest draws, as the lake provides access to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The Ham Lake Fire passed through the campground in 2007. Visitors may be surprised at how the burned area has grown back up. Keep reading
Recreation
Iron Lake provides many boating opportunities. The campground offers plenty of canoeing and fishing opportunities. Walleye and northern pike fishing are usually good. Canoes, kayaks and small boats must be carried down to access the lake. When portaging or paddling out of this lake and into another, visitors should find out if they will be entering the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Entry requires a permit (self-issued for day use) and visitors must follow wilderness regulations including group size. **View recreation guides and maps of hiking trails and canoe routes in the national forest. View recreation guides and maps of hiking trails and canoe routes in the national forest.
Facilities
This campground is small and simple. Sites are organized into one loop near the water. There are no electric hookups. Campsite #1 is a first-come, first-served site. Effective January 24, 2025, Campsite #6 has been added to the list of reservable campsites. It is now currently available for reservation during the same reservation season as the other reservable sites. Vault toilets, drinking water, and a garbage canister are provided. Conveniences are available at area lodges and resorts. A campground host from the concessionaire visits here every other day, and the facility is routinely patrolled by the County Sheriff and the concessionaire.
Natural Features
Iron Lake is in a burn area, and visitors can see post-fire ecology including uncommon black-backed woodpeckers. Moose, bear, loons and other wildlife live in the area. Blueberries grow abundantly in the area and can be picked in mid to late summer.
Nearby Attractions
The BWCAW is by far the most popular nearby attraction. Over 1 million acres in size, the Boundary Waters extend 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. Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Additional sites of interest Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (218) 387-1750.
What the agency tells you
One vehicle is included in the regular fee; second vehicle must pay an extra vehicle fee of $12/night upon arrival.
Carry-down boat access to lake.
Be bear aware; keep all food out of site in approved containers or locked inside a hard-sided vehicle and remove all food from area after eating.
Everything else this campground posts · 2
Click here for more information on the Superior National Forest
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
- 7
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…season as the other reservable sites. Vault toilets, drinking water, and a garbage canister are…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…other reservable sites. Vault toilets, drinking water, and a garbage canister are provided. Conveniences…”
- Store
- Nearby
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Night sky · 2nd darkest of 77 in MN
- Bortle 1
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
“second vehicle must pay an extra vehicle fee of $12/night upon arrival.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
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 · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
7 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 7 mapped sitesAll 7 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 7 of the 7 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| IRON | 001 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 245 ft | 360 ft | $24 |
| IRON | 002 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 236 ft | 174 ft | $24 |
| IRON | 003 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 107 ft | 119 ftIron Lake | $24 |
| IRON | 004 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 107 ft | 126 ftIron Lake | $24 |
| IRON | 005 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 148 ft | 202 ftIron Lake | $24 |
| IRON | 006 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 143 ft | 231 ftIron Lake | $24 |
| IRON | 007 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 143 ft | 151 ftIron Lake | $24 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Flour Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 9.6 mi
East Bearskin Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 10 mi
Trails End CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 14 miTwo Island Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 15 mi
Crescent Lake (MN)18 miDevil Track Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 18 miFrom Grand Marais, Minnesota, take Gunflint Trail (County Road 12) 36 miles north, turn left on County Road 92 and travel 2 miles on a narrow gravel road to Iron Lake 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
Who answers for this land
Iron 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 →