Poplar River Rustic Campground
This is how it should work.
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- FreeNo camping fee
- Season
- May 10 – October 1Open May 10 through October 1
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there
In the agency’s own words
Poplar River Rustic Campground is unusual in that it is located on the edge of a river rather than a lake. Several of the sites have access directly to the river, so stream fishing for trout can be done right from your campsite! Trout and salmon fishing does require a trout/salmon stamp in addition to a valid Minnesota fishing license. This campground is also right on one of the roads included in our Fall Color Tours, so it is good spot to stay during the fall color season. The Poplar River is either named after the quaking aspen tree, locally referred to as popple or poplar, or the balsam poplar. Balsam poplar has a distinctive and wonderful smell most noticible during leaf out in the spring.
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
Nothing to book, just show up
One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and it costs nothing at all. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.
recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.
Every line of the receipt · 4
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s own record says there’s no camping fee, and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
How we know this receipt · 5
record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this
Getting there
the map and the coordinate
Where it is
Temperance River CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 4.9 miCrescent Lake Campground & Backcountry SitesSuperior National Forest · 6.5 mi
Crescent Lake (MN)6.8 miBaker Lake Rustic CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 7.6 miThe weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Lutsen, MN
Typical weather
Typical October night 38°F, day 52°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 38°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 Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Poplar River Rustic 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 →