Agency-listedUSFSFee
Perch Lake
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · WI · 45.93445, -88.49473
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →U.S. Forest Service lists this as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Perch Lake · Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest · WI
No MVUM road within a quarter mile of the pin; the nearest mapped segment is FR 2855 (Silver Dollar Road), 0.8 mi away. Access may be a county road or unmapped.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Perch Lake
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,518 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Perch LakeNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Perch Lake · Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest · WI
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail10 mi
- FFuel11 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- HHardware11 mi
- +Urgent care11 mi
- EVEV fast charger13 mi
- DDump14 mi
- ShShower15 mi
- LLaundry17 mi
- MMechanic21 mi
- RxPharmacy22 mi
- WWater29 mi
- OOutfitter35 mi
- AAir-up56 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 29-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 11 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Perch Lake
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
1,518 ft
Ground slope
15% · steep
State
WI
Coordinates
45.93445, -88.49473
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Perch Lake · Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest · WI (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePerch Lake · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townAlpha · ~9.4 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelNorthland Super Service · ~10.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~14.5 mi
- GroceriesKrist · ~11.1 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~22.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicFlorence Medical Center · ~11.4 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~11.4 mi
EV charging — from Perch Lake · Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest · WI — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger13.1 mi straight-line NE — Crystal Fresh Market and Ace Hardware, Crystal Falls, MI (at a public site) · RED_E · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach3 within 25 mi · 9 within 50 · 44 within 100 · 88 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO13.6 mi — Crystal Falls MI Public Parking, Crystal Falls
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)47.0 mi — Rhinelander Cadillac · EV Connect · J1772, CCS · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 302980 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Perch Lake · Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest · WI — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomBass Lake · ~15.2 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHagerman Lake Boat · ~15.8 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHagerman Lake Picnic · ~16.2 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLake Ottawa Boat · ~16.2 mi NW · USFS
Coming out here — Perch Lake · Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest · WI
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Perch Lake as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 15% — steep. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Perch Lake elsewhere
Other camps near Perch Lake
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Lauterman Lake~0.7 mi · fee
- Chipmunk Rapids~4.2 mi · fee
- Lost Lake~4.7 mi · fee
- Stevens Lake~10.5 mi · fee
The unit that manages Perch Lake
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Perch Lake are set by Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Perch Lake
Source
U.S. Forest Service recreation data
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-30: no rate published by the agency for this specific site. These are the five walk-in campsites on the Perch Lake Trail inside the Lauterman National Recreation Area -- the forest describes them (tent pads, tables, fire rings, wilderness-style toilets) on the Lauterman page 0.72 mi south of this pin but does not price them. That page's own $5-per-night fee line is written for the Lauterman Lake sites and does not say it covers Perch Lake, so it is NOT quoted here as this site's rate. No recreation.gov listing exists within 25 miles. Checked https://www.fs.usda.gov/r09/chequamegon-nicolet/recreation/lauterman-national-recreation-area.
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Perch Lake
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Perch Lake
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Reading the aerial →All field notes →