Lake Medora
Photos coming soon!
What's cooler than camping? If you were thinking "camping on an island", you are correct. Southwest of Copper Harbor sits Lake Medora, the fourth largest lake in the Keweenaw. Besides being a beautiful and easily accessible lake for boating, fishing and kayaking, Lake Medora also contains four islands, three of which are great for camping.
The southernmost island is the smallest, and due to it's rockiness and rounded topography, you can maybe only fit one or two small tents here, and even then you won't be level. There are trees for hammocks though. The easternmost island is the largest, though it is the most densely vegetated of the campable islands. There is room for a few tents along the southern edge of the island, as well as some smaller spots elsewhere that you could camp if the island was filled up for some reason. By far the best island for camping is the central island. While only being slightly larger than the southern island, it is significantly flatter and there is a huge clearing in the middle of it, complete with fire pit. I'd guess that with 4-person tents pitched moderately close to each other, there's enough room here for 16-24 people to camp comfortably. The last island is to the north and is posted as private property. The landowners have built a bridge of sorts from the mainland to the island and while you can climb around on the west side of the island without much notice, I wouldn't recommend trying to camp here.
I've also seen a decent amount of fishing happening here. From what I gather, this is a decent lake to catch walleye, pike and smallmouth bass. I've heard it's also stocked with splake.
To get here, take US-41 north across the bridge until you reach Mandan. Continue another 2.6 miles and you'll see the Lake Medora public access/boat launch site on your left. Park here and put in your boats/canoes/kayaks. There's also a vault toilet here if you need one. The southernmost island is just under a half mile to the northwest, with the other islands nearby to the north.
