Whiteface Reservoir
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $28–$35Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 6834 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 3 – October 1Open May 3 through October 1
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Whiteface Reservoir Campground offers an ideal getaway for anglers, boaters and families. The provided swim beach, playground and five picnic areas offer hours of entertainment, and the scenery provides a relaxing backdrop for the day's activities. 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. Visitors can find recreation opportunities year-round, including travel in the famous Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Keep reading
Recreation
A boat launch located at the campground provides access to the great walleye, panfish and northern fishery in the reservoir. The fish cleaning house next to the boat launch gives anglers the chance to clean their fish in time for lunch at the picnic area. Children will have a great time playing on the playground and on the small, sandy beach. There are also 2.5 miles of hiking trails within the facility.
Facilities
Whiteface Reservoir Campground provides sites for RV and tent camping, along with a few hike-in sites. The opposite shoreline is dotted with private residences. A few sites overlook the reservoir, and all sites offer shade and privacy. The campground also has some long-term sites that have a yearly fee associated with them. Campground hosts are available on-site to assist visitors.
Natural Features
Campsites are in a mixed forest including aspen, birch and maple. The reservoir provides 4,980 acres of calm, clean waters. Numerous species of birds and wildlife inhabit the area. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (218) 453-8650.
Nearby Attractions
There is a store available on-site that provides firewood, bait, bug spray, snacks and other small items. 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. Additional sites of interest.
What the agency tells you
Some campsites are available for long-term occupancy; must be reserved for the entire reservation season; contact the project office for information
Accessible Campsites may be reserved by anyone. Not only for customers who have a disability.
Two pets per site
Everything else this campground posts · 6
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 checkout time (NOON) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of the second 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 for more info about the Superior National Forest
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 68 · 1 group
- Hookups
- 29 electric
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Paved pads
- 16 of 68
- Accessible sites
- 7
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Firewood
- Mentioned
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, Beach
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Night sky · 57th darkest of 77 in MN
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 32 km away
- Patchy color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 34 of the 68 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 · 22
What you actually pay
“Campsite (no electric), Per camping unit, per night $22.00 or $24.00 Campsite (with Electric), Per camping unit, Per night $22.00 or $26.00 +$6 electric attribute fee Extra Vehicle (space permitting), Per Vehicle per…” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $28–$35 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 Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
71 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 32 mapped sitesAll 71 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 50 of the 71 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. 68 of the 71 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| Long Term | 018 | rv nonelectric | $30 | ||||||
| Long Term | 019 | rv nonelectric | $30 | ||||||
| Long Term | 021 | rv electric | $35 | ||||||
| Long Term | 022 | rv electric | $35 | ||||||
| Long Term | 030 | rv nonelectric | $30 | ||||||
| Long Term | 030* | rv nonelectric | 40 ft | 49 ft | 463 ft | 148 ft | $30 | ||
| Long Term | 031 | rv nonelectric | $30 | ||||||
| Long Term | 031* | rv nonelectric | 45 ft | 49 ft | 469 ft | 133 ft | $30 | ||
| Long Term | 044 | rv electric | $35 | ||||||
| Long Term | 045 | rv electric | $35 | ||||||
| Long Term | 045* | type not stated | 35 ft | 30 amp | 454 ft | 215 ft | $24 | ||
| Long Term | 047 | rv electric | $35 | ||||||
| Long Term | 048 | rv electric | $35 | ||||||
| Long Term | 048* | type not stated | 40 ft | 30 amp | 476 ft | 111 ft | $24 | ||
| Long Term | 050 | rv electric | $35 | ||||||
| Long Term | 050* | type not stated | 50 ft | 30 amp | 479 ft | 115 ft | $24 | ||
| Long Term | 051 | rv electric | $35 | ||||||
| Long Term | 051* | type not stated | 50 ft | 30 amp | 582 ft | 155 ft | $24 | ||
| Long Term | Long Term RV Sites Electric | rv electric | 50 amp | $35 | |||||
| Long Term | Long Term RV Sites Non Electric | rv nonelectric | $30 | ||||||
| Loop 1 | 004 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | yes | 99 ft | 271 ft | 122 ft | $35 |
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 003 | type not stated | 271 ft | 143 ft | $24 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 005 | type not stated | 222 ft | 195 ft | $24 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 006 | type not stated | 174 ft | 218 ft | $24 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 007 | type not stated | 141 ft | 254 ft | $24 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 008 | type not stated | 207 ft | 202 ft | $24 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 011 | type not stated | 203 ft | 247 ft | $24 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 012 | type not stated | 250 ft | 166 ft | $24 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 013 | type not stated | 285 ft | 123 ft | $24 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 014 | type not stated | $24 | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 015 | type not stated | 272 ft | 71 ft | $24 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 023 | type not stated | 293 ft | 220 ft | $24 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 025 | type not stated | 193 ft | 332 ft | $24 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 028 | type not stated | $24 | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 042 | type not stated | $24 | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 051 | type not stated | $24 | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | XXX | unnamed record | 45 ft | $24 | |||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | XXX27 | unnamed record | $24 | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | XXXPrem | type not stated | 45 ft | $24 | |||||
| R1LS | 009 | rv nonelectric | 45 ft | 61 ft | 178 ft | 274 ft | $30 | ||
| R2LS | 026 | rv nonelectric | 45 ft | 96 ft | 144 ft | 282 ft | $30 | ||
| R2LS | 027 | rv nonelectric | 45 ft | 124 ft | 182 ft | 177 ft | $30 | ||
| RSV2 | 024 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | 75 ft | 225 ft | 296 ft | $35 | |
| RSV2 | 029 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 56 ft | 419 ft | 77 ft | $28 | ||
| RSV3 | 032 Host Site | host pad | 45 ft | 30 amp | 118 ft | 735 ft | 305 ft | $35 | |
| RSV3 | 033 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 118 ft | 697 ft | 230 ft | $35 | |
| RSV3 | 034 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | yes | 88 ft | 552 ft | 77 ft | $35 |
| RSV3 | 035 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | yes | 76 ft | 466 ft | 11 ft | $35 |
| RSV3 | 036 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 76 ft | 454 ft | 80 ft | $35 | |
| RSV3 | 037 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | yes | 71 ft | 338 ft | 192 ft | $35 |
| RSV3 | 038 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 71 ft | 352 ft | 244 ft | $35 | |
| RSV3 | 039 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | yes | 91 ft | 460 ft | 247 ft | $35 |
| RSV3 | 040 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 91 ft | 549 ft | 251 ft | $35 | |
| RSV3 | 041 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | yes | 105 ft | 654 ft | 319 ft | $35 |
| RSV4 | 043 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | yes | 231 ft | 511 ft | 419 ft | $35 |
| RSV4 | 046 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 198 ft | 521 ft | 187 ft | $35 | |
| RSV4 | 049 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 198 ft | 484 ft | 84 ft | $35 | |
| RSV4 | 052 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 199 ft | 646 ft | 143 ft | $35 | |
| Seasonal Sites | 018* | type not stated | 50 ft | 355 ft | 129 ft | $24 | |||
| Seasonal Sites | 019* | rv electric | 40 ft | 88 ft | 444 ft | 228 ft | $35 | ||
| Seasonal Sites | 021* | rv electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 86 ft | 373 ft | 196 ft | $35 | |
| Seasonal Sites | 022* | rv electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 75 ft | 287 ft | 251 ft | $35 | |
| Seasonal Sites | 044* | type not stated | 45 ft | 30 amp | 503 ft | 272 ft | $24 | ||
| Seasonal Sites | 047* | type not stated | 45 ft | 30 amp | 544 ft | 93 ft | $24 | ||
| WHIT | 001 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 124 ft | 470 ft | 84 ft | $28 | ||
| WHIT | 002 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 99 ft | 361 ft | 66 ft | $28 | ||
| WHIT | 010 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | 61 ft | 237 ft | 247 ft | $35 | |
| WHIT | 016 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 125 ft | 324 ft | 145 ft | $28 | ||
| WHIT | 017 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 88 ft | 511 ft | 317 ft | $28 | ||
| WHIT | 020 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 121 ft | 617 ft | 373 ft | $28 | ||
| WITEFACE RESERVOIR | GS01 | group standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 1405 ft | 250 ft | 47 ft | $145 |
The agency files 3 more records here that aren’t sites for the night: 1 it names a host pad and 2 it types MANAGEMENT rather than a campsite. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
25 of 71 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Cadotte LakeSuperior National Forest · 11 miSand Lake Rustic CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 28 mi
Pfeiffer Lake Campground & Backcountry SitesSuperior National Forest · 33 mi
Pfeiffer LakeSuperior National Forest · 33 mi
Birch Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 34 mi
McDougal Lake CampgroundSuperior National Forest · 36 miFrom Eveleth, Minnesota, take Highway 53 south for 7.8 miles, turn east on County Road 16 and travel 18.5 miles. Turn south on County Road 618 and travel 2.5 miles to Whiteface Reservoir.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Hoyt Lakes, MN
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 50°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 31°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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Whiteface Reservoir 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 →