Four places to stay sit inside the village boundary and three of them are on water. Every Cascade campground worth knowing is on a lake, which is not an accident. Widen the circle to ten miles and it becomes nine, split between private lakeside resorts on the Cascade side and state campgrounds inside the Kettle Moraine. For a place this size that is a strange abundance, and the reason for it is the forest.
Picking between them is mostly a question of what you want the water to be doing. Crooked Lake and Lake Ellen have the private resorts and the boats. The state sites at Long Lake and Mauthe Lake have beaches, rules and a booking system.
Where can you camp around Cascade?
Hoeft's Resort, Larson's Resort and Four Seasons Resort in the village, Long Lake Recreation Area inside the forest, and five more within ten miles including Mauthe Lake, Mr Ed's, Benson's Century Camping, Tiki Beach and Badger Camp. If canvas is not the plan, The Inn at Three Ponds & a Stream is the only bed and breakfast.
Hoeft's Resort & Campground, on Crooked Lake
Hoeft's has been a family destination on Crooked Lake for generations, which in practice means the same families come back in the same weeks every summer.
Larson's Resort, the one closest in
Larson's sits on Ellen View Road, less than a mile from the village centre, and it is built for people who arrive towing something substantial. The sites are large and powered, and they will take a 38-foot fifth wheel without drama.
Four Seasons Resort, cottages on a quiet lake
Four Seasons rents cottages on a small quiet lake out at W9029 Crooked Lake Drive, 7.5 miles west. Boats are available to guests and there is a bar close by.
The state campgrounds, inside the forest
Long Lake Recreation Area is the biggest beach and campground in the Northern Unit, with a large day-use area and a boat launch, 7.6 miles west on Division Road.
Mauthe Lake, 9.2 miles west-south-west, is the quieter of the two because no motors are allowed on the water. Smaller beach, same DNR booking. The full comparison sits in the beach at Mauthe Lake.
Both keep a firewood vending trailer running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as do Greenbush and the New Prospect horseriders' campground. If you have arrived at a state site after dark with nothing to burn, you will know why that matters.
There are also five three-sided backpack shelters along the Ice Age National Scenic Trail inside the unit, reservable through the DNR. They are how people walk this stretch over two or three days instead of driving between trailheads.
What the state sites give you that the resorts do not
Worth being concrete about the trade, because the two kinds of site suit different trips.
Mauthe Lake campground runs 135 sites, 51 of them with electric hookups, along the shore of an 83-acre no-wake lake. There is one shower building with flush toilets, vault toilets through the other loops, a swimming beach with playground equipment, an accessible fishing pier, and seasonal concessions selling food, camping supplies and kayak and canoe rentals. It is open year-round.
Booking runs through the Wisconsin DNR at wisconsin.goingtocamp.com, from same-day up to eleven months out. Check-in is 3pm, checkout 1pm, and the maximum stay is fourteen nights in any twenty-one day period.
What the state sites give you is the forest on the doorstep and a beach. What the private resorts give you is a lake you can put a motor on, a bar within walking distance, and no fourteen-night ceiling.
If you would rather not camp at all
The Inn at Three Ponds & a Stream is an adults-only bed and breakfast on 300 acres at N3021 Bates Road, with three ponds, hiking trails on the property and free bike rentals for guests.
Further out, within ten miles
On the Campbellsport side there are three more: Mr Ed's Campground and Benson's Century Camping on Highway 67, and Tiki Beach Resort on Kettle Moraine Lane. Badger Camp & Resort is 8.9 miles south-east, out toward the lake at Random Lake, and Sun Retreats Fond Du Lac East is 9.5 miles north near Glenbeulah.
That makes nine within ten miles, which for a village of 722 is the most surprising number in this whole guide.
Booking, seasons and when things fill
The pattern is predictable. The first two weekends of October are the busiest of the year, because the hardwoods turn and everyone within two hours drives out to look at them. Summer weekends fill at the lakes. Midweek in May or September you can more or less turn up.
The private resorts run seasonally and several of them have regulars who book the same week every year, so a first-time booking in July is a different proposition to one in September.
A Wisconsin state park admission sticker is required on the vehicle for the forest sites, separately from the camping fee. The entrances are unstaffed, which leads people to assume otherwise.
What there is no of
Be clear about the gaps before booking. There is no hotel in Cascade. There is no grocery store, no pharmacy and no bank. There are no lifeguards at any beach in the Northern Unit. And a Wisconsin state park admission sticker is required for the forest sites, which the unstaffed entrances do not enforce but the rules still require.
Do the big shop in Plymouth, 6.4 miles north-north-east, or Sheboygan at 16 miles.
Where to eat while you are here
Five rooms in and around the village, from perch dinners to a winery with a band on. Harbor Lights on Lake Ellen is the closest thing to an evening out if you are camping, and all five sit in where the village eats.
The forest you are almost certainly here for is covered in the forest on the doorstep.
And for the other nine things worth an hour once the tent is up, there is things worth doing in the village itself.
Frequently asked questions
Published July 27, 2026
