North Trout Lake Campground — Northern Highland State Forest

Nice campground situated in Northern Wisconsin in the North Highland American Legion State Forest. Over 900 lakes and 225,000 acres.  As you will read from my other reviews of campgrounds in this area, this is the place to be if you love camping, fishing or bicycling.  This is the bicycle trail capital in the State of Wisconsin for sure! There are paved bicycle trails connecting every campground and every town. There are nature trails everywhere that vary in length.  North Trout Lake is a nice lake to swim in an can get pretty wavy with good winds, swim at your own risk, the beach is Sandy but turns to rock the further you go in.  This campground offers some awesome walk-in campsites situated in front of the water near the beach.  There are also numerous standard sites that sit on the water but it can be tough to get one during peak season. This campground also offers  good size camp sites  with plenty of room to set up. . There are no showers or flush toilets at this location but the restrooms were  clean and there are plenty of water pumps for fresh  water.  If you can live with the minimum this campground is nice. This campground is about and 18 min drive. Northeast from the tourist town of Minaqua and 7 minutes drive from Bolder Junction, another tourist town that is located just East. Bicycle trails lead you to either direction. Both towns have convinces of dining, services, and lodging if needed.

Great Location for Biking and Camping 

We arrived on a Thursday and were able to snag one of the much-coveted lakeside sites for a private view of the sunset. Sites were level and clean and it never got busy for the weekend, which is just the way I like it. Although there are tons of other state campgrounds nearby with more amenities, I would gladly trade all of that for the no-electric, vault toilet, water pump solitude of North Trout Lake. The campground has a nature trail and is also located on a paved bike path that runs between nearby towns and connects to the other camping areas.

Amenities: nice/clean vault toilets, water from pump tastes fantastic, swimming beach, firewood for sale onsite, no electric, no showers.

Fewer amenities, but great trade-off

Loved the water view from our campsite, unfortunately on the other side was the main entrance and a highway so vehicular traffic sound was prominent.  Sites are large, with some tree coverage.  Many families with kids and dogs.  Well maintained and great walking and biking trails in the park and surrounding area.

Weekend stay

This large campground stretches out along the lakeshore. Some sites have beautiful lake views(we suggest trying those first). There are also some double sites that would nestle you in closely with your neighbors- perfect for a larger group. A few walk in spots are available too. 

  

The nature trail doesn’t allow pets which was sad. However the paved bike route is nearby and goes for miles. Town is a short bike ride away. This weekend was an organized ride so it was quite a busy path. A couple days later the town had a large garage sale-type fair. The cookies and jam were great! 

  

This was a great discovery. We are adding this to our places to return to. 

  

The lake is beautiful and has a nice picnic area with a place to launch your boat.

Great lakeside sites (the others are nice too)

Had a site right next to the water...it was perfect. Little buggy but not too bad at all. sites are large and have some older trees that are tall so it kept the sun out. Lots of families and lots of noise so this is not a quiet campground by any means. Lots of paths for the bikes which is what a lot of the families were doing. Best to come here if you have a family or when it is a little bit slower. 

  

There were a lot of cut down trees which I am assumed came from a recent storm. So it was a little loud close the highway.