Best Tent Camping near Summit Lake, WI

This campground is right on the Ice Age Trail and a nice place to stop off during an extended hike.

There are not that many sites available here and most do supply electricity. More people tent camp here rather than RV camping. There are pit toilets but no shower house although there are water spigots for drinking water. The sites are closer together than some campgrounds but it's not like a city block of camps like some KOA's I have camped at. The night time temperatures dipped in the low 30's in the middle of May when I was there. The campground attendants were on site twice a day to sell firewood and collect camping fees. The DNR rangers do patrol the campgrounds on a regular basis. There is places all along the river to fish and I was told the fishing is good, however I did not have very much luck when I was there. The campground firepits with cooking grates were OK and the wooden picnic tables are worn, but there is level ground for pitching tents.

The scenery and hiking along the river and on the Ice Age Trail is great. If you had better luck fishing than I did this would have been a great camping weekend. Bring warm cloths and a great sleeping bag.

Nestled on Lake Tomahawk, this small campground is comprised of drive-in and walk-in sites. Walk-in sites being tent camp only, which is the option we took. There is a small beach on site, and a number of lake front sites to choose from. Oh, can't forget.. The sun sets over the lake! Paved roads made it easy for my children to navigate the grounds on their scooters. There are electric and non electric sites, a water pump, but no showers. Your park pass will give you access to Clear Lake campground (couple miles down the road), which does has showers, another beach, and also firewood sales. We meant to take the boat on multiple lakes, but the fishing on Lake Tomahawk was spectacular! Hiking the trails near our site, you really get a sense of being in the northwoods. We could hear the birds, frogs, found salamanders, seen an otter, musk rat, loons, and more.

The nearest town is Lake Tomahawk, where you can fuel up, get bait, or grab a bite to eat(maybe an ice cream cone for the kids).

As I said in the description, the grounds are simple. However, we booked three nights but felt the need at the end of our trip to book another. We'll be coming back. Safe travels.

Northern Highland American Legion State forest- Plum lake is a long name.

They check in is at Crystal Lake and it's kind of hard to find plum lake if you don't know the area. That is THE ONLY bad thing I have to say.

This is a rustic campground. No electricity or running water. It does have a hand pump if you need water (it was really cool and easy to use). Vault toilets.

Most campsites are "non reservable" but we were able to reserve 1209. Right on the lake and next to the creek. The map makes it look like it is a "hike to" campsite. It is not. There are 4 stairs. You just can't bring a trailer.

I cannot say enough on how great the camp hosts were. Toilet paper replenished every morning. Vault toilets were the cleanest I'd ever seen. It didn't ever smell like a vault toilet! They racked each sites sand after the campers left and stacked left over wood. It was wonderful.

The beach isn't really a typical beach. It's a grassy field that has a set of stairs to the lake and all the sand is under water. But holy moly, the view! See the pictures.

We decided to hit the road on Labor Day Weekend and took a chance on not knowing where we'd stay the night. This first come first served campground with only 7 sites still had some available. The sites are a decent size and it's right on the Ice Age Trail with lots of hiking to be enjoyed right from your camp site. It was a bit tricky to find as its north of the park and not well identified. The water is a bit of a hike down the trail and through the woods so you might want to bring your own. The fire rings are quite large and hold a lot of fire wood. There are no grates for cooking over the fire ring but there are stand alone grills at each site that would require charcoal. The pit toilets are not in the best shape and have no lighting so bring a flashlight. There are no showers but that didn't bother us for the 2 nights we were there. Others we spoke to that stayed there before said its hardly ever full and you can easily get a spot. For $15 a night, it was a decent stay and we would go again if ever in the area.