Red Cliff Camping by the Marina or at Point Detour?

Two campgrounds serve the Red Cliff Reservation, and they could hardly be more different. Red Cliff camping means either a lakefront site with hookups and hot showers next to the casino at Buffalo Bay, or a wooded tent site at Point Detour, out near the tip of the peninsula where the nights are dark and quiet. The Band runs both through Legendary Waters, so the same front desk handles each.

Pick by what you want from the night, not by the map. Here is how they compare, what to expect at each, and where to go if both are full.

Which Red Cliff campground should you pick?

Pick Buffalo Bay if you have an RV, want electric and water hookups, or like a shower and a restaurant within a short walk. Pick Point Detour if you are tenting, want trees around you, and can live with pit toilets and no reservations.

Buffalo Bay is a busy, practical base right in the community, 3.7 miles from the Frog Bay trailhead and 3.3 miles from Bayfield. Point Detour sits 8.2 miles north of the casino on an overlook of Lake Superior, the kind of place where you hear the water more than the road.

Buffalo Bay Campground and Marina

Bathrooms and showers are inside the hotel, through a side entrance, which campers tend to like because they are clean and not coin-operated. Some RV sites need a 50-amp connection and the rest run on 30-amp, so say which you need when you book. Check-in is at noon at the hotel front desk and check-out is at 11am.

The campground is open from mid-May to mid-October. It shares the bay with the Band's marina, boat launch and slips, and there is a small swimming beach where kayaks and canoes launch.

Be clear about what it is. Sites are on grass and close together near the water, and the feel is casual rather than tucked away. One camper on their third stay put it plainly: they keep coming back because it sits right on the bay and is easy to reach, not because it is secluded.

Point Detour Campground

There is no swimming beach at the campground itself. A steep path with a rope for support leads down to the water for anyone who wants to get their feet wet. Firewood is not sold on site, so buy it in Bayfield or Herbster on the way in.

Every site is different, which is part of the appeal and part of the gamble on a busy weekend. It is dark at night with no lights beyond your own, so bring a headlamp, and expect little or no phone signal.

Sources disagree on whether dogs are welcome here, so ask the Legendary Waters front desk before you bring one.

Reservations, fees and check-in

Buffalo Bay takes reservations through Legendary Waters. Point Detour does not: it is no-reservation, and you pay the site fee at the Legendary Waters hotel front desk.

Because Point Detour does not take bookings, summer weekends reward an early arrival. Come midweek or before noon on a Friday in July and August if you can, and have a fallback in mind.

Rates change by season and site type, so check current prices with the resort rather than relying on old campground listings. Legendary Waters has offered a seventh night free when you stay six, which makes a week at Point Detour unusually cheap if the deal is still running.

If both are full: Little Sand Bay

The Town of Russell's Little Sand Bay campground is 1.1 miles from Point Detour and 7.9 miles from Red Cliff's center. It is a municipal campground, not part of the reservation, with about 47 sites for RVs, trailers, tents and groups.

It sits next to a small marina, a swimming beach and a National Park Service visitor center, with a commercial fishing museum nearby and a good launch for sea kayaks. The park visitor center has had closures, so check its status before you plan a day around it.

Getting there and stocking up

Buffalo Bay is right on Highway 13 in Red Cliff: from the junction of County J and Highway 13, it is about 3 miles north on Highway 13, and the campground sits behind the casino. Point Detour is further along the same road, then out on Point Detour Road toward the tip of the peninsula.

There is a gas station and convenience store close to Buffalo Bay for ice, snacks and fuel. For a proper grocery run, Bayfield is 3.3 miles south, and it is worth doing before you head out to Point Detour, where there is nothing to buy.

Pack for a Lake Superior campground rather than an inland one: a warm layer for the evening, rain gear, insect repellent for June and July, and drinking water for the day if you are at Point Detour. A tarp over the picnic table earns its place when the wind comes off the lake.

A rainy day at camp

Rain on the bay is a good excuse to head indoors at Legendary Waters, where the pool, the grill and the heritage wall telling the Band's history are a short walk from any Buffalo Bay site. In the afternoon, the Copper Crow tasting room, 0.3 miles up Highway 13, pours flights of whey vodka, gin and apple brandy in a tasting room with a patio for when the clouds clear.

What to do from camp

From Buffalo Bay you can launch your own kayak off the beach or book a guided paddle with Rustic Makwa Den, whose base is 0.2 miles from the campground. Stock the cooler with smoked whitefish from Red Cliff Fish Company on Dock Road.

From either campground, the Frog Bay beach trail is the obvious morning walk: 3.7 miles north of Buffalo Bay and 5.4 miles south of Point Detour, ending at a sand beach that faces five of the Apostle Islands. Coffee comes from the Ike’s Place truck when it is out.

Between the casino grill, the distillery and the trails, everything else within a few miles of the casino fills a long weekend without moving camp.

Best time to camp in Red Cliff

July and August are the warmest months for camping here, and by then the black flies of early summer have usually eased. June brings mosquitoes and cool nights, and September is quieter, with the campgrounds still open until mid-October.

Lake Superior keeps nights cool even in summer, so pack a warm layer, and check Red Cliff’s camping season by month for what each part of the year brings.