Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Isle Royale National Park

South Lake Desour was my least favorite campsite on Isle Royale National Park. It felt suffocating with the afternoon heat and the bugs were insane. About 8:00 p.m. you had to dive into your tents to survive the mosquitos. The noise sounded like a jet engine out side the tent. Anyone without a bug net would be miserable.

Even at 7:00 a.m. in the morning when we were trying to pack up, we were bitten like crazy. Lesson learned: spray your clothes with permethrin before you go backpacking in Isle Royale. BUT it is Isle Royale national Park so it still gets three stars.

Grand Portage Lodge and Casino is not what I imagine as a place to pitch a tent, but right next to the marina is an RV park and a bunch of spots for tents. I'm not a gambler so this is not normally a destination for me, but it is the best place to camp to make it to the Ferry by 6:30 a.m. the next morning to be transported to a paradise in Isle Royale National Park.

The nice thing about the campground is that you sit on a hill and look out at lake superior. There is a large gas station next to the marina where you can make phone calls at a pay phone (There is no cell service) and get some last minute treats before you head out on the boat.

This is the place to stay if you are going to Isle Royale National Park from Minnesota.

Washington Creek was an awesome place to end our trip. The campsites were right next to a cove and were awesome! The fox trying to steal our shoes in the middle of the night was annoying, but overall, a great experience.

The frozen pizza was awesome. You have the choice of sausage or cheese. We each ordered our own. The General Store has just the amenities that you want at the end of your journey. Especially a shower!!!

Isle Royale National Park is amazing and I can't wait to go back!!!

This was one of the interior lakes on Isle Royale National Park. It is very pretty, and the water is a perfect temperature for swimming, but the mosquitos are thick in the interior of the island, especially at the interior lakes. All of the campsites at Hatchet Lake are comparable. I don't think there was a bad campsite.

RANGER REVIEW: One of the benefits of being a contributor on theDyrt is you are given the opportunity to test different gear. I had the Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef. It is freeze dried and very light for backpacking. The best part, it tastes great!!! I give the Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef 5/5 stars.

A small group of family and friends left the luxuries of home to backpack thirty miles in Isle Royale National Park. It was an amazing experience and I look forward to taking the rest of my children here as they grow up.

The first leg of our journey was a boat ride from Grand Portage, Minnesota to McCargoe Cove. We did not do much backpacking the first day. We did hike around the area and set up camp to take it easy our first night. We elected to stay in our own tents, but those who wanted more amenities could take advantage of several small shelters built in each camp.

Other than Windigo and Rock Harbor, there are no amenities other than some shelters and latrines.

McCargoe Cove is set in a cove right off Lake superior, so this spot is especially popular with the fishermen since there is a nice dock and ease of access for their boats. This was a nice place to stay but it wasn't my favorite.

I tried some new food at McCargoe Cove that I highly recommend: NOKA - Mango/Coconut was fantastic.

This is a lovely campground on Isle Royale - none of them are terrible (let's face it - you are on a gorgeous island that's basically untouched!), but this one is a little larger than some with more shelters than others.

Shelters - they are first come first served.  If the campground is uber full, the policy and expectation is that you consider sharing with others, especially if you are a party of one or two.   Not a bad policy and courteous, for sure. But this didn't happen when we were here. Each shelter is four sided with the front side "screened in" for bugs. This is lovely in buggy weather! There are also boards all over the inside (parallel to the floor around the walls) that are great for hanging and airing out wet items. Each one had a picnic table and trees and was a very short walk to water and a toilet.

Tent pads - there are separate tent areas that are away from shelters, for the most part. Nothing is "close" here so there is quite a bit of room.

Group - there are three group areas. If using group areas on a normal basis, you must have a group reservation and groups of more than 6 require this in advance. Three group areas all near to each other but with nice green buffers in between and a toilet to share between them.

Toilets - not fancy but offer privacy.  Small wooden shelters with a metal toilet and a pit. **NOTE:  they do not provide TP - you must take your own**  They don't smell like roses (what pit toilet does?) but they allow privacy and no need to dig a cat hole. Bonus win win.

This is one of only a handful of camps on the island that has a fire pit! It's a shared fire (not one for each site) with picnic tables nearby and a lovely view of the water. Only collect downed wood (no bigger than your wrist) to burn. 

As others have mentioned - there is a very nice dock here since a boat comes a few times a week with passengers. This is a "stop" for drop offs from the mainland (you must book this boat in advance to get here). So it's a great place to chill in the breeze, do a bit of yoga stretching, dry your socks, enjoy an evening coffee or fall over after hiking - lol. 

***Be aware - there are leeches in the lake. We attempted to splash off a bit and noticed them.***

Oh yes - the camp fox. He/she is a regular here. We saw the fox many times. Not afraid of people, will steal your stuff (including shoes) so be careful, tie your drying shoes to the picnic table, and do not feed the wildlife. But it it a beautiful specimen of an animal!

We discovered this campground 6 years ago when my nephew wanted to camp as far north in Michigan as we could. Since then we've spent 2 weeks each August tent camping on the shores of Lake Superior. The facilities are well maintained and the owner and camp host are the some of the most down to earth people we have met. There's a camp store that has limited supplies but have the essentials. Everything is based on the honor system

This was a last-minute stop for us because we didn't want to stay at the campground we had originally intended. I found it here on The Dyrt, but bypassed it for another campground option. However, when we drove past the roadside sign, my husband said he wanted to check it out. And we're so glad we did!

When we pulled in, we were told to use the telephone to call the host and they would come and help us out. So when we did, somebody drove up and gave us our choice of spots. The campground was almost empty, so we had anything we wanted, and majority of the options were on the lake!

some of the spots are closer together so there's not a lot of privacy, but the side of the campground we were on had lots of buffers between the sites in the form of pine trees. each site had a gorgeous campfire ring made out of stones pulled off of the beach. It's a red Rock Beach! The bathroom was in a little house, but it had its own shower and looked like something from a log cabin. Not at all like a campground bathroom! there was another shower house at the opposite end of the campground which had similar decor. There was also dump station and fresh water easily available. not to mention the laundry house! Two washers, two dryers, and a sink for scrubbing plus all of the laundry soap and dryer sheets you needed. It was just payment on the honor system to use them. Very reasonable!

there was no electric hook-up at the site we were in, but we didn't need one. However, they were available.

Great little find in Michigan!

Todd Harbor was my favorite place we stayed on the island. The breeze from Lake Superior kept the bugs down and the campsite had awesome views of the lake. We stayed at site number 4, I highly recommend it, but get there early or someone will beat you to it.

RANGER REVIEW: For all of the reviews that I have performed on theDyrt, I was able to receive a lot of Mountain House freeze dried food to sample and review. I had the Mountain House Scrambled Eggs with Ham and Peppers. Honestly, it is a really good breakfast. The two servings is a little much for me by myself, but it is a great portion to share with your camp buddy. I give it 4/5 stars.

We visited in August so the bugs weren't bad, almost non-existent really. These spots were well spaced and while impacted, had a nice pine duff layer on the ground which was nice for sleeping. The view of Todd Harbor was beautiful and we enjoyed sitting on the rocky beach in the evening. The area is well shaded and there was a large group fire pit in the middle of the campground area. Super quiet spot with several tent sites and a cabin type tent, but it was occupied when we arrived. Sites are first come, first serve but permits are issued to insure that there are sites available. I would definitely recommend this spot.

Beautiful views and secluded sites but the air was a bit stagnant. Nice access to the lake for a dip but it seems if you want to fish, this is it. Our neighbor caught 3 pike and a walleye in about 45 minutes.

After getting off the ferry at McCargoe Cove, I hiked a short distance to W Chickenbone Lake. The views along the lake were incredible and you have an awesome view along the lake front campsites. There aren't shelters at this campsite but there is a privy, and the tent sites are really nice with lots of space to set up away from your neighbors. This wasn't my favorite campsite of the ones I stayed at on Isle Royale. The group sites were a little overgrown and there were only a few sites closer to the lake. However, it was a great place to stay, very quiet despite the large crowd, and a short hike away from McCargoe Cove if you're wanting a slow start to your day after the ferry ride over from Grand Portage.

I stayed here one night of a four day trip through Isle Royale NP. There are many tent sites, including a few group sites, and a couple of privys. Not all of the sites are on the lake but all have plenty of tree cover. My partner and I each found a nice spot on either side of our tent site which was pretty close to the water and up a short slope, nestled right in the trees.

Very secluded campground with individual Lake Chickenbone access at each campsite. Very good spot to see wildlife including moose!

We stayed at McCargoe Cove two of our four nights at ISRO and absolutely loved it. The shelters are very secluded from one another so you won't be on top of the group next to you at all. Nice fire ring down by the water - though not much downed wood very close nearby to get a fire going.

This was my favorite spot that we saw on the island, would recommend to anybody. Absolutely gorgeous and peaceful in the morning. Best spot I've had had a cup of coffee.

We had a fox come through our site right outside the door of our shelter too - way cool.

Given that there is a relatively large dock here and a concessionaire ferry comes through here several times a week, there can be a lot of traffic. That being said, there are nice tent sites and some really cool tent/cabin structures. It wasn't super buggy while we were here so being in a tent was just fine. There are some nice open, rocky, sunny spots that are nice for sitting and enjoying the view. Be advised, there are quite a number of waterfowl that frequent the area so treat your water well, in fact the Park Service recommends treating your drinking water in two ways (ie. filter AND boil, chemically treat AND filter, some combination of two). The water is refreshing but there are leaches in addition to abundant bird poop. All part of the experience I suppose!

McCargoe is one of the most beautiful campgrounds on the island. I have heard that it can get busy due to the dock, but when I stayed there it was quite peaceful and solitary. A loon was swimming in the cove and we came across a cow moose just south on the trail.

4.5 stars. We had started out from Daisy Farm that morning, heading to Chickenbone lake due to the fact that Lake Ritchie had an algae bloom warning. By the time we got to Chickenbone (tired, cranky) another hiker told us they spotted algae flakes in the water. We set up anyway, hopeful that maybe they were full of beans, but our resident marine biologist confirmed everyone's fears. Algae. So we hiked a mile back to a stream we had crossed early, got our water, and returned. We also didn't realize until the next morning that someone from the previous night (who probably drank some of the bloom water) had taken a giant sloppy crap under the trees right near our site. Neat. So, I suppose fair warning if you are thinking of camping here during bloom season. (late summer.) BUT, I suppose if we had camped here minus the bloom, we would have had a great experience. The lake is beautiful, and there are plenty of tent sites right on the lake. I would try and go here again if during a different season.

Only a few shelters and we got the last one on Tuesday afternoon we arrived.

The shelters are similar to the other ones on the island.

There are outhouses but no potable water nor cell reception.

There were a few people who docked their fishing boat and ate here.

This campground was very nice -- lots of trees for protection and privacy from the neighbors, plus a shelter for rainy nights (or lazy nights when you don't want to set up your tent!). Tent sites have picnic tables. The water source is just a short walk away to Lake Superior, where there is a long L-shaped pier, a great place to watch the ducks, look for moose, and watch the sun rise and set.

This was by far my favorite campground (that we stayed at.) We got a shelter right on the bay, and it was secluded enough from the other campers to the point where we could walk out to the water and clean ourselves nude without having peeping toms. The nights were cold and clear, and very still, with the occasional loon call. There is a dock a short hike east, connected to the campground, with plenty of places to relax and enjoy nature. We saw beaver, river otters (?), and hares here, as well as plenty of birds, including nesting loons.

Great lakeshore access, plenty of wildlife viewing, great campsite all around!

We could see the water from all shelters, But in 1 the shelter isn't as exposed as there are trees at the shoreline to block the wind.

There are outhouses, but no potable water at the site.

It a loves truck stop.. sign said no camping .. 1 hrs parking.. I got away with it.. but risky.. there are other truck n campers .. vans but no one bothered me. Store speak is loud at store. All night . Every shower bought.

The sites are right on Lake Desor which is lovely. The downside is that they are very impacted and the iron rich soil has a tendency to stain everything, especially if it's damp but oh well. The water, while easy to reach and treat, tastes pretty horrible even mixed with coffee or something else. Totally fine to cook with and didn't make much difference with food but something to be aware of. The sites are kind of close to one another but there is a fair amount of vegetation between the sites. The privy was clean and nice to have access to. Our site was large enough to accommodate two, two-person shelters and have a little kitchen area. Definitely not the best spot we stayed on the island, but beautiful none-the-less!

It’s a very popular and crowded site. Decent vault toilets but the dock and walkouts to the rocky beach make for easy access to the water. After hiking in from West Chickenbone, we were in need of cool swim as the interior of the island can be much warmer than the coast, not to mention the arid conditions throughout making it difficult to find water.

Having a shelter was a nice enough comfort. The place fills up quickly. It beat staying at Chickenbone but I’d prefer Moskey Basin or Three Mile.

Not my favorite campground on Isle Royale due to its size and popularity. There's a good chance you won't get your first-choice site, you can end up quite far from a water source, and some open meadow can make you feel closer to other groups. Still beautiful, has fire rings, has a shelter/pavilion, just not as secluded as others.