Looking for the best tent campgrounds near Nichols? The Dyrt can help you find the best tent campsites for your next trip. Each spot offers quick access to one or more of Nichols, Wisconsin's most popular destinations.
We invite you to set up camp on our quiet shores of the Little Plover River and enjoy a break from the fast paced world. Located on 150 yards of water frontage, Plover River Retreat is situated by an old lumber mill, complete with a dam, which provides bountiful Northern Pike fishing during certain times of the year.
We have a wooded 5 acre homestead, with plenty of areas to set up your tent campsite. Trash bin and fire ring are available. We have one main site at the base of the dam, where the grass is mowed and maintained, with other areas available for additional tents. Can accommodate larger groups, but additional sites are very rustic. Each tent will be an additional charge. You are able to see our homestead from the river bottom, but natural foliage such as large fiddlehead ferns and trees block our view from the home, so there is privacy.
Come wade and splash in our slice of river paradise! Our water frontage is shallow, between 1-3 feet, and mostly sandy/rocky. Highly suggest water shoes for ease of walking and swimming.
If you’re more adventurous, kayaks and a canoe are available for rent and can be put in on either side of the dam. Tubes are also available for rent and can be used for a 45 minute float or a 3 hour float down the Little Plover River. It’s not uncommon to spot Bald Eagles, turtles, otter, and deer on our stretch of the river.
Each site is a short 3-4 minute walk from our main home where we are available to field any questions or address emergencies. Shores are quiet and mostly undeveloped. We are a 15 minute drive to Stevens Point, and a 25 minute drive to Wausau.
Firewood available for purchase on site. Flexible check in/check out policy.
$30 / night
Scout
Nice campground. hiking, fishing, bike trails. Tent sites 19.00 per night electric sites 25.00 no full Hookup.
Traveler
We were tent camping and stayed on a rustic site. Although we were 205 and it was fine, I would choose 212 and that area next time. $22 night for a rustic site; $34 for reserved with hook-ups. Plenty of clean shower and bathroom facilities and nice laundry
Guide
Just off the White River, rafting just down the road. Boulder lake is clear and cold. There’s beach area, tent sites, tv sites with a few electric sites. Miles and miles of trails. We go in October, less bugs, very quiet.
Traveler
The tent sites at this camp ground are in the back of the campground located in the woods! There is a small pond with in the campground which you are able to swim in, kayak in and go frogging in! A play ground is present and the owner is wonderful! Very friendly place!
Traveler
Stayed for the first time at this campground in July and loved it. We stayed on a tent site, it was huge and had electric. I love that the campground is right on the lake and there’s quite a few amenities for people who boat. It is pet friendly and the bathrooms are quite a walk but clean and hot water is available.
RangerGreat tent site on water, near excellent shower bath facilities, swimming and fishing right from site. This is only park that is w host in national forest, many others are available that do not offer discounts for senior and disabled w america beautiful federal pass this one does allow. With all amenities. W in forest there are many parks and dispersed camping as well.
Scout
The park itself is beautiful, and the trails are nice. The tent sites were on the smaller side and kind of close together. The park ranger was good-natured and patient when we accidentally set up on the wrong site.
Make sure to store your food correctly! The two sites beside us were ransacked by raccoons all night long because they left their supplies out. Three raccoons came to smell around our picnic table as soon as we zipped up inside the tents but left quickly after not finding food.
Traveler
Campground is adequate, it has a functioning shower house and private spots. I used a primitive campsite and it cost me $30 ($15 if your from WI). That was on top of the $11 non resident park entrance fee. So $41 for a primitive tent site, $47.50 if you count the bundle of firewood I bought from them. So yeah, keep that in mind if coming here as a non resident. I’m sure there are cheaper places nearby.
Ranger
If you have kids looking for adventure, this is a great place to be. The camp is primarily used for a program similar to Boy Scouts called Royal Rangers. There's primarily tent sites with trails, a lake, an obstacle course and more right nearby. Camp Wilderness is a good place to initiate your kids with the outdoors and teach them fun skills. I last visited in July and look forward to the day when my kids are old enough to fully engage.
GuideThe tent sites are a great size and semi private (you can have a conversation and not be heard at other sites). The bathroom and showers are decent and cleaned daily around 6 am. There are reservable and walk-in sites. The sites also have extra parking across from them.
There is a lot to do for kids a great play area, swimming, fishing, boating etc. There are hiking trails but not a lot.
The couple I went with had issues with the site next to them ( loud inappropriate language and using drugs) the rangers responded quickly and efficiently!
I have been there summer and late spring.
Ranger
This campground recently became a KOA. Our site was wooded and spacious, but difficult to maneuver into. We had a W/E site that had a nice fire pit and well placed hook ups. The best part about this campground is the pool area. There are 3 pools- 2 large full sized pools and one kiddie pool and splash pad. Can’t forget about the big water slide too! We enjoyed hours in the pool followed by dinner at the patio seating poolside. A bar/pub restaurant and a well stocked camp store. There are a lot of seasonal sites here, and I didn’t see the tent sites. If you want Door County nature, head to the state parks. If you want a home base with a pool and really nice bathrooms, this place is great. Lots of bike riding, beaches, towns, etc. within a 30 min drive.
Ranger
A friend and I went on a month long bike tour, and this campground was my favorite! The staff was friendly and helped us pick out the best spot for our tent. The bathrooms were brand new and very clean. Showering only costed a quarter for 6 minutes. It felt like they just charged so that the water wouldn't be left on for too long.
There were brand new laundry facilities too ($4 total to wash and dry -$2 wash, $2 dry) which is just what we needed on the bike tour. Our $25 tent site had an electric hook up. There was wifi and a camp shop. There is also a river to swim in with very cheap kayak, tube, and paddle board rentals. We were also informed that there was a pool and a basketball court near by.
Overall, it was a lovely experience and was well priced. I also noticed that they did an excellent job with ADA access when it came to the bathroom/laundry, camp store, and campsites.
Ranger
Place is filled w activities for kids, heated swimming pool large large pool, water slide, free movies on fri night cartoons sat morning, the tent sites are on a mowed grass area w porta potties, but free showers and restrooms are in park, very crowded on weekends. Many rentals available pass for water slide includes free mini golf, arcade free games for kids to participate in.
Staff does well to keep up with the crowds, holiday weekends usually live music in pavillion. Its a place to have fun and enjoy others, not a quiet place, just depends what you are looking for.
It is on lake partridge for fishing and boating activities, also connected to the Waupaca chain of lakes, fishing pond w in park, canoe rental. They added a newer section for campers a few years ago, there is one trail for walks but along the lake shore swampy and tooo tooo many mosquitoes.
Guide
This campground has been my favorite so far this year! Great customer service and the other campers were the best. The seasonals were all friendly and welcoming. The other weekenders were all friendly and respectful as well. Upon arriving we were checking in and the owner was explaining where our site was. She asked if we ever have been there before, I told her no. She said she had a last minute cancellation and moved us to a different site just down the road from the store/bar/game room. She said its a better site, the site was amazing! Big and spacious, had tree coverage. It was a corner site so it had busy traffic, we were ok with that as we met many new people and it was close to everything for our kids. There were plenty of activities for the kids and adults. Theres a man made swimming pond, filtered and aerated. Like i mentioned before an arcade for the kids and a onsite store with all the basic necessities if you forgot something. Bar served food if you didnt want to cook. Everyone was respectful and quiet at a decent time. They had motion activated street lights to light up the roads at night when needed without staying on all night. They have water/elec sites. As well as rustic tent sites. You wont be disappointed with this place! Definitely will be going here again.
RangerThis is a great campground for families with RVs. We stayed in summer of ‘20 and loved it, came back in ‘21 and enjoyed it. Biggest attraction of 3 pools and a water slide were down to 1 pool and the splash pad, which meant crowded pool. Like many things during COVID, delays or back ordered repair supplies are impacting the campground. That said, this is still a great KOA with some full hookups and some w/e. Showers and laundry $$ facilities available. The full hook up pull through are awesome sites- easy in and out, but there are only 6 so book early. We stayed in site 198 last year, and it was a nice wooded site but right on top of neighbors. This year we had 49, which had more open space and some shade for one big tree. This is a very dog friendly campground with a big fenced in dog run and lots of rooms for walks. There’s a bar and restaurant, but with so many great places to go in Door Co I’d skip eating there and enjoy the area. They have 2 tent sites, but these are in an open field with no privacy. I’d pass on sites 95-98 and 133-136 as they back up to the pavilion and offer no privacy. If you’re looking for wooded sites with privacy stick to the sites north of the pools. If you’re looking for open sites for a group of campers, the south part of the campground should suit you.
Legend
General: There is both a north and a south part to this campground with a total of 178 sites. The sites in the south part are all on a grassy field and there is a small man-made lake with an inflatable play area. The sites in the north part are a mix of full hook-up and tent sites. There are also small cabins (only one of which has a bathroom) and three “condos”. These all had air-conditioners, but I did not see the inside of them. The north unit features a pond, which I was disappointed to discover was algae-filled and completely green.
Site Quality: Some are pull-through and some back-in. Some sites have electric and water hookups, some have picnic tables, and some have fire rings (but not all sites have all of these amenities). Only a handful have concrete pads; the rest are all on grass.
Our impression of Sleepy Hollow was influenced in part by the fact that it poured rain for much of our overnight stay. The roads were all dirt and with the rain, became very muddy along with the campsites as well. When leaving the next day, we had some challenges backing out of our site with the amount of mud. There is no clear delineation between the sites other than where the electric and water hookups are placed.
Bathhouse: Was very clean (in both the north and south units of the campground). Showers are available for a fee (five minutes for$1.00) but we did not use them so cannot comment on how well they worked.
Activities/Amenities: In the south unit, there is a small manmade lake with an inflatable play structure and plenty of life jackets. The color is a beautiful Caribbean blue, but it did not look natural, and I was not sure of the source of the color. We were there on a weekday in September, and no one was using the lake. There is a small bar and grill (in the north section) and a concession (south unit) on-site, but both were closed when we were there. Firewood was available (15 pieces for $10); we asked and were granted permission to use the golf cart to bring the wood to our site. Other than the lake, there really is nothing offered for recreation.
We chose this campground for its location; it is very close to Highway 41 in Oshkosh (you will hear road noise) and we were meeting family there. We checked in online the day before and arrived at 3:30 pm. No one was in the office when we arrived but the family members we were meeting had arranged for us to camp in the site next to them (not the original one we had selected). This campground is VERY close to EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association), and I imagine it would be completely full during the annual EAA convention. For us, it was a convenient location but aside from spending time with our family, the reason we chose this campground.
LegendCampground Review
High Cliff is a generally wooded and shaded campground on a cliff overlooking Lake Winnebago. The sites are average to above average size, with a good mix of electric and non-electric sites. We are tent campers and the ground was pretty flat and there was a good spot for our tents in our site. Our site was nice and spacious with a good fire-ring that had a grate that rotated. Typically I use an adjustable tripod grill, but since was a rainy weekend, it was nice to be able to not have to get that out. The one thing about our site(and the campground in general) in the rain was the mud. Since it is heavily shaded there isn't really any grass, so the ring forest floor soil turns mucky and muddy.
There is one main flush toilet/shower building in the campground, and a bunch of pit toilet buildings. The pit toilet buildings had some issues with the lights in some of them, but the shower/flush building was mostly clean and not too far away. There is also a really nice playground nearby.
Within the park are plenty of hiking/biking trails, a lookout tower, and there is beach access. The beach/water is definitely swimmable, but this isn't the most beautiful beach for swimming. When we were here, it was cool and rainy, so the most we did was put our feet in the water. There isn't much sand, but there are large grassy areas.
The weekend we were there a local theater group happened to be performing a minimal version of Romeo and Juliet. It was awesome.
Product Review
As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time, this time I got to test the Wenzel Ivanhoe 6 tent.
I've owned a bunch of tents throughout the years, but mostly they were small backpacking size tents. We have use a large 8-person Cabella's tent for the past 9 years for car camping, but it is time-consuming to set-up, so we thought the Wenzel Ivanhoe 6 would be a nice complement tent for us.
The Ivanhoe is part of Wenzel's "Tribute" collection, with a retro-inspired design. The Ivanhoe reminds me of my parents' old canvas tent. The Ivanhoe is a single-walled house-shaped tent made of weather-treated polyester and taped seams. It held up really well in the rainy weather we had camping and there was just one small area that the seam tape failed: a"troubleshooting" tag that hangs down inside the tent.
What I like:
The single pole design is simple and quick to setup
There is good airflow with the large screens on the doors and the two side windows; The rear vent is a nice touch
It has a great look and it well made
It actually fits in the bag it came in
What I don't like
The top peak vents don't really work
There was a slight leak by the tag (I'll use some seam-sealer to fix this for the future)
Since it isn't freestanding, there are a lot of guy lines that are easy to trip over in the dark
For a sub-$200 tent, this tent is awesome. It's easy to set up and looks great. It is a simple design that is spacious and comfortable for 3-4 people. It did great in rainy weather. I definitely recommend this tent for for those looking for a car camping tent around this size and want to spend less than $200.
Guide
Bagley Rapids Campground is located in the Lakewood- Laona District of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, which is about as far South as the Forest goes. This makes Bagley Rapids Campground the perfect spot for a quick weekend trip from surrounding larger cities. It's roughly 2.5 hours away from Madison and Milwaukee and just over an hour away from the Green Bay area.
If outdoor recreation is your thing, this is the perfect base camp. The campground entrance is right off the ATV / Snowmobile / Horse Trails which connect to thousands of miles of trail systems all throughout the Northwoods of Wisconsin. I've stayed here 5 times in the last two years and frequent the local logging roads on my Dual Sport motorcycle. I'd say over 1/4 of the spots are actually located on Bagley Rapids, a very clear, crisp refreshing spring fed river that runs around the campground. It's great to wade into and enjoy after a hot day hiking and exploring trails.
A couple miles from the campground is nearby Mountain, WI where you can get basic groceries, gas and a great bar burger. Within 30 minutes you can be in the smaller town of Wabeno, which is home to some of the best ATV trails around and also has a very cool old style downtown.
The sites are a mix of tent and RV with some really great spots with some elevation that back down into the river. It's always been peaceful during my stays and never gets loud and rowdy.
As there isn't a beach, small children should stay out of the river due to it's strong current, so this might not be the best choice if you're going purely for the water.
TravelerThe staff was great to work with finding a campsite on a walk-in. The campsite was very clean and read for us to set up our tent. The hiking and lookouts were breath taking
GuideIt was a bit chilly to enjoy the lake unfortunately, but the hiking is amazing. There are great rock outcrops for bouldering and exploring. All over just beautiful. Definitely one of my favorites in Wisconsin!!
Scout
Very nice place to camp. Quite and friendly. Small but accommodates all types of campers. Has 30 and 50 Amp hookups. Tenting up to cabin, they have two. My second year long term camping here. On the edge of the city and close to everything.
TravelerGreat place to explore with the fam. Hike the trails to see pieces of Wisconsin history throughout. Some trails on the Ridgeline offer vista views and moderate inclines that add to the adventure. There's plenty to do from fishing to hiking mountain biking lookout towers and parks .
Ranger
Right On the bay of Green Bay that you can boat to with really nice large sites and lots of mature trees. Site of the Wisconsin camping Facebook get together.Ideal sites 30, 29 or 9
Guide
Didn't camp just stopped and looked. Small shallow lake soft muddy bottom no beach. Two sites close together not much shade at the two theres a third site down road a little bit. Third site is tent only very uneven has wilderness toilet.
ScoutWe visited Bay beach in Green Bay and then wanted to spend the night near Green Bay in our 35’ class A. Not making reservations in Wisconsin during the summer is risky but fell upon this beautiful 50% first come county campground that is well kept. Both 50 and 30 amp service with hiking, biking, gardens and more.
ScoutThis was my first time camping in a Wisconsin state park and I thought it was great! Our site backed up to a trail along the cliff which was awesome for a family that loves to hike. I felt for a state park most of the sites were spacious, ours was particularly because we had no site behind us. Shower house was clean. Will be back!
TravelerI stayed three nights over Labor day weekend. There was an ATV festival in lakewood that i was unaware of until arriving so there was a lot of dust and noise. ATV riders also frequently walk into your camp to use the toilet. I had to adjust my camp for privacy after the first couple of groups.
Aside from that the camp is the perfect size for vans, small trailers or tents. The ground is not very even but you could probably get one or two tents in there.
No fish in the lake. Don't bother trying.
The worst part was finding the pay station. Its at a campsite on highway T about 3 miles south of 64. It's $5 per night cash or check only. I spoke with a park ranger who was checking in at camps, he said they were going to post maps next year at each site.
There is a small easy to climb path straight down to the lake. It's a fairly soft, muddy bank but I was able to launch my kayak easily from there.
If you are hammock camping this is a fantastic spot.
Nestled in the heart of Wisconsin, tent camping near Nichols offers a blend of adventure and tranquility, perfect for families and outdoor enthusiasts alike.
Frequently Asked Questions
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According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Nichols, WI is Camp Wilderness with a 5-star rating from 1 review.
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