camping in Aug

[lucky]

Any info on good campsites. I'm looking for not very much traffic and good fishing with a dock and a food locker. I have a fiberglass boat and could park the boat on the beach if its in a calm bay. i will need 2 pad sites. maybe i'm asking for to much but i need help! i'm planning for a early aug trip. Thanks.

[reinhard1]

i could give you some ideas but you have to expect some boat traffic in any campground unless you go fairly remote. i dont know of any campsites with docks except in state campgrounds [some] and i dont know of any food lockers [maby you could explain that one to me so i could help you further]. it sounds like you dont have to much experience camping but i would like to help you as much as i can. how long are you going to stay and how far are you willing to drive ect. good luck.

[Voyageur]

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Not sure if reinhard1 understood your question.

Here's my advice. There are quite a few docks in VNP - 15% of the sites maybe? And alot more camp sites that are protected or would work well (dock, soft or sand - not rocks) for a fiberglass boat- maybe 70% of them? Almost every campsite that needs to have a bear locker has one. The park service is in the process of adding a second locker to many sites even.

As for specific sites or which ones see the least traffic due to boating lanes, etc.... you need to get a map (the park service will mail you a current one) - that'll answer most of your questions on that. The maps will help you with which sites have tent pads as well, but I wouldn't worry about that - there's always two good spots for tents.

Other than that keep posting up your questions - there's a a lota guys on here that have camped there ALOT.

Also, here's the camping map(s) that'll get you excited:

http://www.nps.gov/voya/planyourvisit/upload/vnpmap1.pdf

http://www.nps.gov/voya/planyourvisit/upload/vnpmap1.pdf

Welcome to Gods Country!

-Voyageur

P.S. Where are you traveling from lucky?

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[reinhard1]

i have camped most of my life and never heard of a food locker or bear locker at a camp site. maby i am not understanding what goes on in voyageurs park. what exactly are these? as for actual boat docks, are you talking about docks at a landing or some remote docks for a boat at a camp site? i would be interested in this information. thank you and good luck.

[Voyageur]

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I was assuming that lucky was asking questions specific to Voyageurs National Park.

There are bears in the park - as many as 200 I think. Although many sites are on islands - there are bear lockers for food, etc on most camping sites. Yes, there are actual private docks on some individual camping sites at VNP - most only where necessary to avoid rocks, etc.

-Voyageur

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[reinhard1]

thank you. well i learned something i did not know. makes sense to me. i just never heard those terms before. we used to just camp on small islands and never worried about bears. we did for some time place moth balls in nylons bags in trees if we camped on mainland on a lake surrounding our camp site. it seemed to work but in those days we were told that was the thing to do. docks are nice to have, some state parks have them for campers i had no idea they had some at voyageurs, but hey thats good. thanks again. good luck.

[Voyageur]

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Sounds like you've probably forgotten more about camping than I'll likely ever know. Just glad I could help you with what VNP has to currently offer.

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[lucky]

Thanks Voyageur! We are from St. Cloud, MN. You answered a lot of my questions, which is great.

We have camped at a lot of State Parks and now I have persuaded my wife and son to take the next step. Your info was great. We plan on going for a 4 or 5 day trip, up to a week but that might be long.

I went to the library to look at some specific info for Voyageurs, but mostly found stuff on the boundary waters...there looks like there are some quiet bays to camp in, I guess I just need to get a map and pick something specific. Thank you for your map info! One last question: what would be the best lake to stay on that would allow catching a shore lunch of walleyes that time of year?

[blackbear]

Voyageur,

Is there a place to view a map like you posted for Crane/Sandpoint lakes.

We will be at that end of the lake in June and was wanting to see where all the housboat sites were.

Thanks

Brad

[Voyageur]

Voyageur,

Is there a place to view a map like you posted for Crane/Sandpoint lakes.

We will be at that end of the lake in June and was wanting to see where all the housboat sites were.

Thanks

Brad

Yes! Sorry guys, one of the above links was intended to be this one:

http://www.nps.gov/voya/planyourvisit/upload/vnpmap2.pdf

lucky - I'll let other guys post up in regards to best fishing depths/techniques for August... I'm a much better boater/camper than a fisherman,

-Voyageur

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[fatfinger]

lucky, if you want to avoid as much traffic as possible id try browns bay.or one of my favorite campsites is "granite cliff south"-at least i think its south.there is a nice dock & a nice mostly flat area.big nice cliff to help with the weather.ive caught lots of smallies from shore there.that time of year can be nuts with flies & skeeters tho so id suggest something a bit higher up off the water.theres a nice site in swansons bay but no dock.pretty quiet there for most part.browns bay has an 'elevated' site as well.on western side of grassy there is two nice sites (or more)."king pin" is another of my favorite spots.nice big beautiful site with a dock on one side.'norway island' & 'houseboat island' are also ideal places with beaches but no docks.only drawback to those islands is traffic & you must get firewood elsewhere & not much cover from big storms but they are great.if your only goin for 5 days i dont know if id go all the way to namakan bit if you do ive been real fond of blind pig island.good luck.