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Crescent Lake is an undeveloped lake surrounded entirely by the remote Superior National Forest. This quiet campground has waterfront campsites with easy access to fishing, exploring the nearby wilderness and simply enjoying the beauty of the natural area.
Superior National Forest, located in northeastern Minnesota's arrowhead region, is comprised of 3 million acres. The forest spans 150 miles along the United States-Canada border.
Visitors can find recreation opportunities year-round, including travel in the famous Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
The fishing is good for walleye, northern pike and muskie. Crescent Lake allows motorized boat use without limit on horsepower, but is most appropriate for small fishing or similar type boats.
The surrounding national forest offers a wide variety of recreational opportunities, including hiking in secluded woodlands and canoeing in pristine lakes and rivers.
View [recreation guides and maps](http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/superior/maps-pubs/?cid=stelprdb5202373) of hiking trails and canoe routes in the national forest.
The campground has 32 sites situated on a peninsula that juts out into the lake, providing many sites with nice views of the water and some sites with access to the water.
A few sites are first-come, first-served, including one primitive backcountry camping site that campers can boat into; access is a boat ramp on the northwest side of the lake.
Picnic tables, campfire grates, water pumps and vault toilets are provided. A fishing pier is located within the campground.
Superior National Forest is known for its boreal forest ecosystem, numerous clean lakes and diversity of plants and animals. The entire campground is heavily wooded with white pines, red pines, spruce, balsam, birch and aspen. Birds and wildlife are abundant, from moose and bear to bald eagles and loons.
The concessionaire Sawbill Canoe Outfitters maintains a store with showers, laundry, fishing licenses, fishing bait and tackle, ice, grocery and convenience items, canoe and camping gear rental and a pay telephone. It is 13 miles from the campground.
Numerous outdoor recreation opportunities lie within Superior National Forest, including the nearby Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Over one million acres in size, the Boundary Waters extend nearly 150 miles along the United States-Canada border and contain over 1,200 miles of canoe routes, 12 hiking trails and over 2,000 designated campsites.
[Additional sites of interest](http://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/superior/home/?cid=fsm91_049663&width=full).
Travel Highway 61 along Lake Superior's north shore to Tofte, Minnesota. In Tofte, turn north (away from Lake Superior) on Sawbill Trail (CCHS 2). Follow the Sawbill Trail for 16 miles to The Grade (Forest Road 170). Turn right onto the The Grade and proceed east for 7 miles. The campground is on your right and is marked by a large sign.
We loved this campground! If you are looking to get away from everything, this is the place to go, and it is dog friendly! Sites 1-5 are walk up on the lake, 6-9 are drive up on the lake. Those sites seem to be a bit bigger than the rest. We could put our kayaks in right from our site and had the best views!
Things to be aware of
-there are HUGE gardener snakes 🤣
-you can purchase firewood at the campground and there is potable water, but for everything else the closest store is Sawbill outfitters or Tofte.
Great little campground in Superior National Forest. Quite a bit of gravel road to get here, but the drive was worth it. We only stayed one night as this was a stopover before we went to Grand Marais, but me wife said she would gladly spend a week here.
Camped here for a long weekend of September 24th, 2023. Though all of the pre-bookable sites were already taken, I decided to make the drive up on Thursday Eve after work to beat the weekenders on the FCFS sites, getting there at sunset. Pleasantly surprised to find so many beautiful options, I snatched up this lakeside site
