Birch Lake Campground, Ely, MN

@HerbBE5A46C200 · Camped on Sep 23, 2024 at Campsite #TAM

Campground and the cabin were extremely clean and we enjoyed every minute of our stay. Tony, the camp host, is both kind and attentive. Thank you.

@DanaB7254836 · Camped on Aug 23, 2024 at Campsite #20

Very clean; well managed by the Camp Hosts. Nicely spaced sites; private. A+++The only complaint is the gravel road you must drive, to get to the campground: This is one of the WORST roads in the region. Grading the road seems of little concern, and gives the,Washboard, term, NEW MEANING!!! Ive driven in twice, this Summer and towed a Travel Trailer in, once; in these three visits, it has been BAD, BAD, BAD! Get Lake County, or the Forest Service, to do their JOB! (Whomever is tasked with the roadwork!!!) You are damaging business for this campsite! FIX IT!

@EmmaC93B383F58 · Camped on Aug 20, 2024 at Campsite #29

Great campground

@StephanieK6294 · Camped on Aug 12, 2024 at Campsite #25

Nice campground about 15 minutes from Ely. Be prepared for 4.5 miles of gravel road to get there. Some sites with nice lake views.

@MaryPatG876565 · Camped on Jul 11, 2024 at Campsite #TAM

Nancy and her husband are great camp hosts. The campground is maintained to the highest of excellence

@MarkL5886645 · Camped on Jun 13, 2024 at Campsite #27

Fishing fair. Mosquitos terrible.

@AMYS5542485 · Camped on Sep 22, 2023 at Campsite #15

Well-kept facilities, secluded sites, beautiful area!

@WilliamC221307 · Camped on Sep 18, 2023 at Campsite #27

Individual camping spots are close to the lake. They're also secluded by trees and brush, so you get a lot of privacy. Nice spot is a very scenic area.

@DavidA3218244 · Camped on Jul 5, 2023 at Campsite #TAM

We rented Tamarac cabin in July 2023. The campground was in very good condition. It has a small dock and boat ramp for small motor or un-motored craft and a couple of canoe's one can rent. The cabin was clean and tidy with sleeping for 4 in bunks and a futon sofa if one has small children. The cabin was clean and well kept. There was a nice picnic table and fire pit with plenty of space for camp chairs outside with parking for 2 vehicles is needed. The vault toilets were clean and well vented. The road into the campground is about 4 miles of washboard gravel which could use a regrade and resurface. We enjoyed the local, biked on the Masabi trail, hiked the area and visited Ely a close vacation community. We will return.

@RanishSF92A407 · Camped on Jul 1, 2023 at Campsite #TAM

Excellent Cabin in the National Forest. It could be better to have SOLAR LIght or Outlet to have 100% Satisfaction. Please note, There is No Attached Rest room. you need to walk 100 meters , its very nice and clean.

@MeganB7687345 · Camped on Jul 1, 2023 at Campsite #24

Well spaced wooded sites. Clean vault toilets. We were able to take a short path to birch lake from our site for swimming and fishing. Beautiful and relaxing.

@DaleC5331739 · Camped on Jun 19, 2023 at Campsite #18

Sites have very nice privacy and are very well kept by the hosts! Can't wait to get back!

@JanaeJDA1626B1 · Camped on May 25, 2023 at Campsite #29

This was a lovely and well kept campground. Our site was in the South Loop (#29) with lake access about 15 feet away - perfect for canoeing and day trips on the water. There was generous space between campsites with lots of tree coverage for privacy. Just like every other campground in northern MN in mid/late Spring, it was extremely buggy with mosquitos and gnats. Bug head nets, bug spray, and screen shelters recommended! The site host was attentive and had firewood for sale for $8/bundle. We enjoyed a day trip to downtown Ely, which was about a 30 min drive. If headed into town, I definitely recommend checking out the Bass Lake Trailhead waterfall, Dorothy Molter Museum (with a cold root beer), and the International Wolf Center.

@StevenT9884610 · Camped on May 18, 2023 at Campsite #15

This site is ideal for multi-vehicle trips. Level sites , and a nice open area for activities, and is on its own gravel loop in the campground, so no one walking/driving through. Vault toilet was clean, and there was running water from solar pump well, but it had a taste to it so bring your own drinking water. Birch Lake water is stained, so filtering is probably not an option for most either. No good spot on adjacent shoreline to park a boat due to huge boulder field, but can overnight a boat by the boat launch, which is on far end of campgrounds. A bit of a hike but we just drove down and back, there was plenty of parking by the launch, even on a Saturday. Will definitely be back.

@AaronI0F29D352 · Camped on May 17, 2023 at Campsite #29

Very clean

@JohnH2789214 · Camped on Sep 22, 2022 at Campsite #20

Camp was clean, nice boat landing,restrooms very clean

@MichaelC616917 · Camped on Sep 9, 2022 at Campsite #32

Camped at Birch Lake several times over the years. Never a bad stay.

@DavidV5073563 · Camped on Sep 1, 2022 at Campsite #25

Beautiful site - waterfront on a clean lake.

@DaleriB1849857 · Camped on Aug 26, 2022 at Campsite #27

We had a great site with access to the lake, which was really nice for putting in our kayaks. The campground was really quiet until our second day when new campers arrived at the site across from us and ran their generator for hours on end. There were mostly tent campers in our loop, so it sort of wrecked the ambiance. They did turn it off at dusk, thankfully. The vault toilet bathrooms were the cleanest I have ever seen at a campground. It’s a well-maintained campground, and we’d consider camping there again someday.

@KathleenK3312F · Camped on Aug 12, 2022 at Campsite #15

We stayed in the group site. It was very spacious and private - in a separate loop away from all other campers. The site has it's own handicap accessible bathroom. This is the cleanest outhouse I have ever been in! There is running water powered by solar panels so you even have clean water and do not have to pack a bunch with you. The site is on a hill side so you do have to take a path down to the lake. It is not too steep though. The cons of this site are: The fire ring is off to the far side of the sites and there is only one fire ring to use. A couple more fire rings would give more options depending on which spur you are set up in. The lake access is blocked by big rocks - if you were to launch a boat, you would have no where to land on shore. We maneuvered a canoe around the rocks and had to climb over huge rocks to get to and from shore. No swimming or fishing from the site's shore due to rocks and weeds. Some of the other sites looked like they had better access. The only swimming area is the boat access. All in all, we really liked the group site and would recommend it for it's privacy and cleanliness.

@KathleenK3B2B7 · Camped on Aug 12, 2022 at Campsite #15

We stayed in the group site. It was very spacious and private - in a separate loop away from all other campers. The site has it's own handicap accessible bathroom. This is the cleanest outhouse I have ever been in! There is running water powered by solar panels so you even have clean water and do not have to pack a bunch with you. The site is on a hill side so you do have to take a path down to the lake. It is not too steep though. The cons of this site are: The fire ring is off to the far side of the sites and there is only one fire ring to use. A couple more fire rings would give more options depending on which spur you are set up in. The lake access is blocked by big rocks - if you were to launch a boat, you would have no where to land on shore. We maneuvered a canoe around the rocks and had to climb over huge rocks to get to and from shore. No swimming or fishing from the site's shore due to rocks and weeds. Some of the other sites looked like they had better access. The only swimming area is the boat access. All in all, we really liked the group site and would recommend it for it's privacy and cleanliness.

@KathleenK1D79B · Camped on Aug 12, 2022 at Campsite #15

We stayed in the group site. It was very spacious and private - in a separate loop away from all other campers. The site has it's own handicap accessible bathroom. This is the cleanest outhouse I have ever been in! There is running water powered by solar panels so you even have clean water and do not have to pack a bunch with you. The site is on a hill side so you do have to take a path down to the lake. It is not too steep though. The cons of this site are: The fire ring is off to the far side of the sites and there is only one fire ring to use. A couple more fire rings would give more options depending on which spur you are set up in. The lake access is blocked by big rocks - if you were to launch a boat, you would have no where to land on shore. We maneuvered a canoe around the rocks and had to climb over huge rocks to get to and from shore. No swimming or fishing from the site's shore due to rocks and weeds. Some of the other sites looked like they had better access. The only swimming area is the boat access. All in all, we really liked the group site and would recommend it for it's privacy and cleanliness.

@KathleenK9AFA7 · Camped on Aug 12, 2022 at Campsite #15

We stayed in the group site. It was very spacious and private - in a separate loop away from all other campers. The site has it's own handicap accessible bathroom. This is the cleanest outhouse I have ever been in! There is running water powered by solar panels so you even have clean water and do not have to pack a bunch with you. The site is on a hill side so you do have to take a path down to the lake. It is not too steep though. The cons of this site are: The fire ring is off to the far side of the sites and there is only one fire ring to use. A couple more fire rings would give more options depending on which spur you are set up in. The lake access is blocked by big rocks - if you were to launch a boat, you would have no where to land on shore. We maneuvered a canoe around the rocks and had to climb over huge rocks to get to and from shore. No swimming or fishing from the site's shore due to rocks and weeds. Some of the other sites looked like they had better access. The only swimming area is the boat access. All in all, we really liked the group site and would recommend it for it's privacy and cleanliness.

@KathleenK9DC1D · Camped on Aug 12, 2022 at Campsite #15

We stayed in the group site. It was very spacious and private - in a separate loop away from all other campers. The site has it's own handicap accessible bathroom. This is the cleanest outhouse I have ever been in! There is running water powered by solar panels so you even have clean water and do not have to pack a bunch with you. The site is on a hill side so you do have to take a path down to the lake. It is not too steep though. The cons of this site are: The fire ring is off to the far side of the sites and there is only one fire ring to use. A couple more fire rings would give more options depending on which spur you are set up in. The lake access is blocked by big rocks - if you were to launch a boat, you would have no where to land on shore. We maneuvered a canoe around the rocks and had to climb over huge rocks to get to and from shore. No swimming or fishing from the site's shore due to rocks and weeds. Some of the other sites looked like they had better access. The only swimming area is the boat access. All in all, we really liked the group site and would recommend it for it's privacy and cleanliness.

@KathleenKD6A2F · Camped on Aug 12, 2022 at Campsite #15

We stayed in the group site. It was very spacious and private - in a separate loop away from all other campers. The site has it's own handicap accessible bathroom. This is the cleanest outhouse I have ever been in! There is running water powered by solar panels so you even have clean water and do not have to pack a bunch with you. The site is on a hill side so you do have to take a path down to the lake. It is not too steep though. The cons of this site are: The fire ring is off to the far side of the sites and there is only one fire ring to use. A couple more fire rings would give more options depending on which spur you are set up in. The lake access is blocked by big rocks - if you were to launch a boat, you would have no where to land on shore. We maneuvered a canoe around the rocks and had to climb over huge rocks to get to and from shore. No swimming or fishing from the site's shore due to rocks and weeds. Some of the other sites looked like they had better access. The only swimming area is the boat access. All in all, we really liked the group site and would recommend it for it's privacy and cleanliness.