Buddy and I changed our plans on Sunday morning on Labor Day weekend on where we where fishing. Decided to head to Ely to fish for crappies. We didn't have anywhere to stay and called there. They had some open spots. We drove two hours to get there. The staff got us a spot in the motel. They gave us a good deal on the room. The person working the desk made us feel like we where part of the family. It was great!! They grilled up some burgers while we got the boat in the water and settle our gear in the room.

We plan on going back again this fall and winter!!

We traveled to Ely for one day and one night at the end of a week long North Shore vacation with another family. We stayed in the Junior Suite in the motel, the other family stayed in the Deluxe Suite in the motel. Our room was very scary. It was in the basement of the motel and the odor was difficult to deal with and then there was the filth. I did not want to put anything on the floor, the carpet was disgusting. There were worm like creatures in the bathroom drains. The beds were dirty and very uncomfortable. All in all I could have dealt with the uncleanliness for one night but it was the odor that I found the most difficult to ignore. I was considering sleeping in the car because of it. There is only one window that opens so we could not air it out. The other family's room was located on the upper level. They had the same filthy carpet but the odor was not as bad. They had a patio door they could open for a breeze but the screen was torn at the bottom so it had to be closed once the bugs came out in the evening. The advertised sandy beach is tiny and right next to the highway. We tried playing volleyball to pass the time and stay out of the smelly room until we had to go in for bed but the sand court was hard as a rock and the ball went into the channel! I am so glad we only had to stay there one night. I woke up earlier than normal so I could sit outside and get some fresh air. I wanted some coffee and found out they had some in the bar area. I asked for a cup, was given a small styrofoam cup of weak coffee and then told it was $1.00. I paid the dollar and got in the car and drove away as quickly as possible. There have to be better options in Ely for the price, don't stay here.

We arrived and went to our campsite along the Lake Shore, the site was very small. We have a pop-up camper and the bed was right up to the rocks where it drops down to the lake and the other was within feet of the road. When we were going to have a camp-fire we had to be careful to keep the fire small as the neighboring camper was within a few feet of the fire-pit. Each campsite has a slab of concrete with a picnic table on it, the sites do not have grass, our site (L8) had a little bit of grass but 95% of the site was gravel. Across the road where cars were parked there was grass. The two restrooms that are in the lakeside camping area were out-houses I'm assuming, they were small buildings, I didn't use those restrooms so I'm not sure about the cleanliness. In order to get to the flush-toilets and showers you had to walk up two flights of stairs (near the middle of the lakeside campsites L8, L9, L10 are closest) and then you get to a two laned highway, while this road was typically not busy with only a car coming here and there, there were curves on both sides so you couldn't see if anyone was coming, you could see about 50 feet one way and about 20 feet the other way, you must listen for vehicles before crossing the road. Signs say you should go 25mph around the curves but most went at least 40mph.

Our site was nice, the lake was beautiful. It really is Lake Shore. Your camper/tent is right by about a 3 foot drop down to the lake shore, in order to get to the shore you had to climb down a few large rocks, it wasn't very hard to get down to the water. The water had a lot of rocks in it and there were a number of crayfish which were fun to try and catch! (Pick them up with two fingers behind their claws) The kids pushed the rocks around to make sort of a circle around our beach area, kids at other campsites did this to their campsites as well. We initially were worried about bears in the area but we didn't see or hear of any.

Friday night we ate at the lodge because they were having an All-You-Can-Eat Fish-Fry, it should have been called an All-You-Can-Stomach Fish-Fry! The fish was small and coated in a thick layer of batter, it was very greasy. Three of us had the fish and two had the chilli. In the middle of the night we woke up with 2 violently ill another with severe stomach ache and another with a minor stomach ache. Needless to say we didn't eat there again! The waitresses were nice when serving us, but they talked loud in the kitchen and they started singing loudly when a song they liked came on the radio, it wasn't that big of a deal though. One thing I found tacky was when we were leaving a waitress was sitting out on the front deck smoking with her feet up, I wouldn't have noticed her if she hadn't said "Have a nice night" to us. The next night we went to the lodge to use their bathroom and check the score of the football and baseball games and one of the servers was outside with her friends I'm assuming, while she was working or on break.

We rented a canoe which was nice ($12 for half a day), the lake was beautiful and we saw two loons and heard others flying over.

Just got back from this place. Went with plans to camp 3 nights. After two nights - we left. The pictures on the website are misleading to say the very least. The campsites are packed in side by side like sardines in a can. The large street light across from our tent stayed on ALL NIGHT, and ruins at least 6 of the campsites in the middle. The restaurant in the lodge is not great. After a long day of boating, we went for a pizza and beer. They burnt, yes - burnt, two pizzas, apologized and gave us a free bowl of chicken noodle soup - honestly! And the live rock concert in the main lodge (obviously for locals) went until 1:00 in the morning - so loud it kept the entire campground up most of the night. The main highway into the area is about 75 feet between the lakefront and the main Highway - and you're in the middle of it. DON'T GO TO SILVER RAPIDS LODGE. It is the worst Ely has to offer.