Wisconsin State Forest
Kettle Moraine State Forest – Northern Unit
Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Washington County, WI · Near Campbellsport
4 Campgrounds369 Total Sites30,000 Acres
1 modern · 3 rustic · All reservable via wisconsin.goingtocamp.com
| Campground | Type | Sites | Lake | Season | Sentiment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mauthe Lake Campground | Modern | 135 | Mauthe Lake (78 ac) | Year-round (limited winter access) | Good | |
 Long Lake Campground | Rustic | 200 | Long Lake (477 ac) | First weekend in May – mid-October | Great | |
 New Prospect Horseriders' Campground | Rustic | 25 | — | First weekend in May – last weekend in October | Limited Data | |
 Greenbush Group Camp | Rustic | 9 | — | April – November | Good |
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The Northern Unit is built for variety — modern lakeside family camping at one end, primitive and equestrian options at the other. Mauthe Lake and Long Lake are the developed anchors, both with showers, flush toilets, beaches, trails, and playgrounds, and both genuinely family-friendly. The honest tradeoff: their beaches and busy loops get loud and crowded on summer weekends, and campers note occasional maintenance lapses. Greenbush is tent-only group camping — secluded and primitive, with pump water, pit toilets, and a heads-up on raccoons and mosquitoes. New Prospect serves horse campers with electric sites and access to the 33-mile bridle trail. Firewood is sold on-site at all four campgrounds (don't bring your own — Wisconsin restricts moving firewood), and the Ice Age Trail backpack shelters offer a true hike-in, pack-it-out experience.
The Northern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest spans about 30,000 acres across Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, and Washington counties, with four developed campgrounds plus rustic backpack shelters along the Ice Age National Scenic Trail. Camping ranges from the modern, family-busy Mauthe Lake (135 sites, electric, beach, year-round) and large, recreation-rich Long Lake (200 sites) to the primitive Greenbush group camp and the New Prospect Horseriders' equestrian campground. For hike-in campers, five reservable backpack shelters sit along the 31-mile Ice Age Trail. Reservations are required at all campgrounds and can be made up to 11 months ahead.
The Northern Unit’s real divide is amenity level, and it maps cleanly to crowd and noise. Mauthe Lake and Long Lake are the developed, electric, beach-and-playground campgrounds — which is exactly why they draw families and fill on summer weekends, and why their reviews carry the most noise and crowding complaints. If you want the lakeside-camping experience without the peak-weekend crush, the move is a weekday or shoulder-season booking, not a different campground.
Greenbush and New Prospect serve narrower audiences (tent groups and horse campers) and stay quiet largely because casual campers don’t end up there. The thinnest-known options are the five Ice Age Trail backpack shelters — genuinely rustic, reservable hike-in sites that almost no one reviews, so they remain the unit’s best bet for solitude if you’re willing to carry your gear in.
Bottom line: in the Northern Unit, you’re trading amenities for quiet on a sliding scale, and booking timing matters as much as which campground you pick.
Reservations are required at all four campgrounds and open up to 11 months in advance through wisconsin.goingtocamp.com or 1-888-947-2757 — book early for summer weekends, when Mauthe Lake and Long Lake fill fast. For a quieter trip, target weekdays or shoulder season. Backpack shelters are reservable separately, one party per site per night.
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Data sourced from Wisconsin DNR and public campground records. Updated June 07, 2026. Official DNR page ↗