Marion Lake Campground

Spacious sites in this national forest campground and many sites situated right on the lake. We had wooden stairs to the lake with a platform we could set our chairs on to enjoy the view with our morning coffee. We were also able to launch and tie up our canoe at the base of the stairs. We had no neighbors on our weekday visit. I would imagine it might get busier on weekends. We will definitely be back.

If you’re there in July, bring bug spray

We were hoping to make it to the Bond Falls area to camp but decided to check out Marion Lake since it was getting to be late afternoon (weekday I might add). I am so glad we did! Very peaceful if not idyllic national forest camping on a lake. The campground has 3 loops - when you get to the campground map, the first single loop is to the right. The remaining 2 loops and boat ramp are to the left but the road curves back around and past first campground. There are clean vault toilets and water spigots. It turned out our site had one of those neat little stairs down to the lake. The site was large, reasonably level, and very roomy. The sites vary in size and layout so some are much more suited for car/tent camping than RV camping. But there were a few good-sized trailers so it's just a matter of luck to get one on the lake side vs. the woods side. Quiet, lots of trees, nice sunset, and mosquitoes...all that one needs for an evening in the woods.

The USFS apparently had to lay the mosquitos off as of August 2020, not a flying biter in sight. Which left just us, a few frolicking red squirrels gathering white pine cones with the coming slow change of the leaves, and a site directly on this stunning body of work known as Marion Lake.

I thought there might be a resort with a bar on the lake somewhere, but around 9:45 the campground host came around apologizing (to every single site, even though I heard his appeal when he gave it to our neighbors about 20 yards away) because “the people in the big site were having a loud party, I told them to keep it down but they wouldn’t listen. By 10pm they legally have to be quiet.”

They never did keep much of anything down, but the rager of a Saturday night get together they were having was muffled and distant and the campground host’s apology was louder than the party itself.

None of this prevented this from being one of the most beautiful, serene spots we’ve ever camped and certainly a highlight of the many places we’ve called home for the night in the UP. 90% or more of the sites in the first loop have immediate access to the lake.

Cell service hopped around from 2 bars of 1x to the occasional sliver of LTE, but it was barely usable, making it all the easier to turn the orange airplane into a lovely night around the fire.

For those of you who enjoy doing a campground loop with the family, the dirt road here is smooth enough to push a stroller around without rearranging your baby’s insides, too.

Update: union strike is over, mosquitos showed up a few at a time come morning.

One of my favorites. Many spots are large enough for a 30 footer or even a little bigger. Some spots will not accommodate that size of unit. They have water, but not really for filling up your tanks. We had two and it was a bit of a pain. No dump station. No electricity. The sites were fairly private and many of them look out over the lake. A nice lake for kayaking. Although motor boats are common as well. At our site we walk down stairs to the lake. You do have to access the campground on a gravel road. We had no problem on the road. Campsites are first come first serve. Some AT&T service, but we had to be outside of the camper. Tough to find a sunny spot for solar panels. But we managed. Most people have generators but they were very respectful about using them.

Early June and it’s cold and wet. The mosquitoes are out in force but it looks like a nice place to enjoy the lake during hot weather.