Lac Vieux Desert Campground
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 20 mi
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $15From, per site
- Sites
- 3231 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 2 – October 15Open May 2 through October 15
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Lac Vieux Desert Campground is located on the western shore of Lac Vieux Desert, the headwaters of the Wisconsin River. Located in the northwest corner of the Nicolet National Forest, just miles from the Michigan Border, Lac Vieux Desert is one of the premier fisheries in the State of Wisconsin. Keep reading
Recreation
With walleye, northern pike, musky, large and smallmouth bass, as well as a variety of panfish, Lac Vieux Desert is an angler's paradise. The campgrounds boat landing provides direct access to the lake for the early morning or late evening bite.
Facilities
With 31 campsites accommodating trailers from 35 to 40 feet in length, drinking water, accessible vault toilets, and garbage dumpsters provided, Lac Vieux Desert Campground may become your new fishing headquarters.
Natural Features
Sitting on the western shore of 4,017-acre Lac Vieux Desert, the campground and its sites are nestled amongst tall pines and maples, creating the perfect setting for a weekend getaway.
Nearby Attractions
The town of Phelps and the Phelps to Conover bicycle trail lie a few miles southeast of the campground. Other lakes in close proximity to the campground are North Twin, Long, Big Sand, and Smokey Lake, all of which are known to have excellent fisheries. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (715) 479-2827.
What the agency tells you
Use is restricted to hardened campsite area.
Generator use is limited to the hours of 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 pm. and only while users are present at the campsite. Unreasonably loud generators which may bother others cannot be used at any time.
Privately owned ATV's, UTV's, and Golf Carts are not allowed to be operated within the campground.
Everything else this campground posts · 3
Single occupancy sites are allowed up to 8 persons and one wheeled camping unit, e.g. camper or RV, as well as three additional vehicles or trailers, so long as they are not wheeled camping units.
Firewood must be purchased or collected from no greater than 25 miles of a National Forest destination or collected directly from National Forest land. Firewood from any distance that has been certified by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is allowed.
There are no electric hook-ups at this facility.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 32
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- 15 of 32
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…in length, drinking water, accessible vault toilets, and garbage dumpsters provided, Lac Vieux Desert…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…trailers from 35 to 40 feet in length, drinking water, accessible vault toilets, and garbage dumpsters…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Birding
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Kayaking
- Night sky · 36th darkest of 70 in WI
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 31 of the 32 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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $15 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 Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
32 sites
All 32 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. 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.
| LVD | 1 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 10 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 11 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 12 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 13 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 14 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 15 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 16 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 17 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 18 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 19 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 2 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 20 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 21 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 22 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 23 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 24 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 25 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 26 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 27 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 28 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 29 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 3 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 30 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 31 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 4 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 5 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 6 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 7 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 8 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | 9 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $15 |
| LVD | S&P Single | type not stated | $15 |
25 of 32 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Imp Lake CampgroundOttawa National Forest · 6.9 mi
Marion Lake Group SiteOttawa National Forest · 9.6 mi
Sylvania (Clark Lake) CampgroundOttawa National Forest · 11 mi
Sylvania Wilderness Backcountry CampingOttawa National Forest · 11 mi
Spectacle Lake Campground (Wisconsin)Nicolet National Forest · 11 miSpectacle Lake Recreation AreaNicolet National Forest · 11 miFrom Conover drive north 5.9 miles on Highway 45/32 to County Road E. Turn right (east) on E and drive 2.8 miles to FR2205 (West Shore Road). Turn left (north) and drive 1.3 miles to the campground entrance on the right.
From Land O'Lakes drive south 2 miles on Highway 45/32 to County Road E. Turn right (east) on E and drive 2.8 miles to FR2205 (West Shore Road). Turn left (north) and drive 1.3 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 Watersmeet, MI
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 53°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
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
Lac Vieux Desert Campground is in Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district. Its representative, Tom Tiffany (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →