High Cliff State Park is the Niagara Escarpment above Lake Winnebago, limestone underfoot and the Chief Red Bird statue on the overlook. You spend the afternoon on that bluff, looking out over Lake Winnebago from the only state-owned recreational area on the water. The first night out of Appleton is High Cliff, where the campground and the cliff are the same stop.
The marina puts a boat launch onto Winnebago within walking distance of the van, and the beach and trails are in that same walking radius. That is the lake day: launch in the morning, swim, walk the overlook, and sleep without moving the rig.
Appleton is in the Fox Cities on the Fox River, and Neenah and Menasha are the next towns along that river. High Cliff is still the overnight for that stretch of the Fox Valley. The family campground has electric hookups on a partial-hookup pad. Reserve that site before you book the van, and treat summer weekends as worth booking early.
Hartman Creek State Park and the Chain O' Lakes
You paddle the Chain O' Lakes at Hartman Creek State Park in Waupaca, a spring-fed string of water through red pine. Campsites are in that pine forest or in an old apple orchard mixed with hardwoods, and Whispering Pines is the picnic ground along Marl Lake. After the paddle, the night is in those same trees, on the lakes you used all day. From Appleton, this is the public overnight people repeat when the trip is a chain of small lakes.
The family campground is non-electric, with shower and flush-toilet buildings, so a self-contained van can spend the night without a hookup pad. Family and group camping both close from December into spring. If the overnight is the point of the paddle, wait until the campground is open.
EAA AirVenture and Camp Scholler
In late July, Camp Scholler at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh becomes a drive-in campground of vans and RVs parked wingtip to wingtip. The show is the week, and the camping is how you stay inside it. Rows of vans fill the field, and the overnight is part of the event.
The airshow fills the Fox Valley's public campgrounds that week too, so treat them as one crunch. Lock the Camp Scholler night before you book the van. High Cliff's electric pads and Hartman Creek's pine sites are in that same crush, so a state-park backup is still a reservation.
Camp Scholler takes tents and vehicles of all sizes, including large RVs, with a limited number of electric and water hookups and a three-day minimum as of September 2026. If you need more sleeping space than a campervan, look at RV rentals in Wisconsin.
Lambeau Field weekends are a Green Bay trip. Lake Michigan camping is a Milwaukee trip.