Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Richardson Lake Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · WI · 45.44178, -88.71412
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 — Richardson Lake Campground · Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest · WI
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 2621A (Tn Rd 29), 110 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 4 – moderate degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 2621A (Tn Rd 29), 110 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 2621A (Tn Rd 29): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
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 →
What the record says about the site — Richardson Lake Campground · Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest · WI
- Reservations accepted, walk-ins too
- Room for 26 parties
- Vault toilet
- Drinking water on site
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Richardson Lake Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,590 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Richardson Lake CampgroundNIFC · 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 Richardson Lake Campground · 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
- @Mail3 mi
- FFuel3 mi
- GGrocery3 mi
- +Urgent care8 mi
- LLaundry8 mi
- RxPharmacy9 mi
- EVEV fast charger11 mi
- ShShower12 mi
- HHardware14 mi
- MMechanic17 mi
- DDump24 mi
- OOutfitter36 mi
- WWater42 mi
- PPropane55 mi
- AAir-up55 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 42-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 3 mi out.
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 — Richardson Lake Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
1,590 ft
Ground slope
4.9% · gentle
State
WI
Coordinates
45.44178, -88.71412
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Richardson Lake Campground · Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest · WI (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureRichardson Lake · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townWabeno · ~2.7 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- Fuelnone within 30 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Groceriesnone within 30 mi
- Mapping is thin out hereAn empty row means nothing is mapped within that radius — not that nothing exists. Small stores, seasonal resorts and single fuel pumps out here often never make it onto the map. Treat these as unconfirmed and ask locally.
EV charging — from Richardson Lake Campground · Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest · WI — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger11.0 mi straight-line NW — Fireside Market Stone Lake, Crandon, WI (at a public site) · RED_E · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 13 within 50 · 62 within 100 · 128 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)37.1 mi — CULVERS KEMP 02, Rhinelander
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO45.7 mi — NORWAY MI DC FAST EV 1, Norway
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)35.7 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
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Holiday Inn Express & Suites Antigo - Tesla Destination, Antigo, 28.3 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 451553 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Richardson Lake Campground · Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest · WI — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletAda Lake · ~5.1 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Richardson Lake Campground · Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest · WI
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Richardson 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 4.9% — gentle. 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 Richardson Lake Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Richardson Lake Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Himley Ca~2.0 mi · fee
- Ada Lake~5.1 mi · fee
- Bear Lake~10.2 mi · fee
- Boot Lake Campground~12.4 mi · fee
The unit that manages Richardson Lake Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Richardson Lake Campground are set by Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Richardson Lake Campground
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
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.
Agency page
fs.usda.gov — the land manager's own page for this site. Fees, seasons and closures are stated there first; if it disagrees with this page, it wins.
How it was placed
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
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 Richardson Lake Campground
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.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- Whether that tap is running today, and whether any stream or lake here is drinkable — the record covers the supply the site provides, nothing else
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Current fire restrictions
- 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 — Richardson Lake Campground
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Off-grid communication →All field notes →