Black River Harbor Pavilion
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 8 mi
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- Season
- May 24 – October 15Open May 24 through October 15
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 19 notices
In the agency’s own words
Planning a visit to the Black River Harbor Pavilion? Watch for Alerts at the top of the page for any Alerts regarding this facility. The Black River Harbor Pavilion is located within the Black Harbor Recreation Area on Lake Superior in Michigans Upper Peninsula. The historic stone and wood pavilion was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Keep reading
Recreation
Lake Superior offers great opportunities for boating, fishing, and swimming. The North Country National Scenic Trail, which traverses through the recreation area, offers access to all five waterfalls and a scenic 12 mile hike to the Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park in Michigan. The Black River Harbor Boating Club sponsors an annual fishing derby over Labor Day weekend.
Facilities
The recreation area offers an enclosed pavilion with a fireplace and flush toilet facilities. A campground with first-come, first-served sites is also available. Facilities include vault toilets and a pressurized water system. A sandy beach is located on-site.
Natural Features
Visitors enjoy boating, fishing, hiking, swimming, and viewing waterfalls. The Black River Harbor Recreation Area has docking and fuel services for day and transient boaters, a boat launch, a large picnic area with a swing set, a campground with 39 campsites, beach access to Lake Superior, and five scenic waterfalls along the wild and scenic Black River. The day-use picnic area has a suspension bridge over the Black River with a hiking trail to a beautiful sand and pebble beach on Lake Superior. The campground is situated among hemlock and pine trees at an elevation of 840 feet, on a bluff overlooking Lake Superior and offers a scenic overlook of Lake Superior's Apostle Islands. The Ottawa National Forest encompasses nearly one million acres on the west side of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The forest extends from the south shore of Lake Superior to the Wisconsin border. It is distinguished by rolling hills dotted with lakes, rivers and waterfalls. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (906) 661-8870.
Nearby Attractions
For a panoramic view of the area, visit Copper Peak International Ski Flying Hill, a 17-story steel ski jump. Visitors can take an elevator up to the top. The attraction is a short drive from the campground. The Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park in Michigan can be seen in the distance from the beach and is less than a one-hour drive from the Harbor.
Charges & Cancellations
Cancellations If you cancel reservation at least 14 days prior to check in date, all recreation fees, minus a $10 cancellation fee and the reservation fee ($8 if made online or $9 if made through the call center) will be refunded. If you cancel reservation less than 14 days prior to check in date, you forfeit the entire total paid. No Show Staff will hold facility until check-in time on the arrival date. For more information about rules and reservation policies, visit the Recreaiton.gov Rules and Reservations Policy page .
What the agency tells you
The restrooms inside the pavilion are open to the public. No water will be available for the 2026 season. Please plan your trip accordingly.
No electrical hookups available at the campground.
Click here to learn more about the Ottawa National Forest
Everything else this campground posts · 16
A request does not grant an individual or group exclusive rights to the occupancy and use of the day use building. For the safety and convenience of others, please do not block, restrict or interfere with the public use of the day use building. Please designate one person as the group leader and have that person sign and return the enclosed form to our office. That person will be responsible for the conduct of the group and will be the Forest Service contact.
Groups over 75 individuals must complete an application for a non-commercial group use special use permit. For a permit, please contact Brian Hinch, (906) 358-4020.
The Pavillion reservation fee cover the day use fee for all guests of the reservation holder Guests do not have to pay the $5 day use fee it is included in the reservation fee Parking: No vehicles are allowed on the grass. Please use the parking lot.
All pets must be restrained or on a leash.
Portable grills must be used in a safe manner. Grills are not to be used inside the building. Hot coals can be left in the fireplace. Do not discard used charcoal on the grass.
Extension cords must be used in a safe manner. Electrical outlets are available inside the building.
Decorating the day use building is not permitted.
Loud music is not allowed.
No overnight camping in the pavilion or day-use area. This is a day use area only, open from 6 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. Camping is only allowed in the adjacent campground.
Remove all personal property when leaving daily.
Gambling or gambling machines or devices are not permitted.
The sale of liquor or other intoxicating beverages is prohibited. Also charging admission for picnics on public land is prohibited.
Please pack out all garbage and litter with you. There are dumpsters available near the parking lot and boat landing
Please do not use the restroom sinks for washing dishes.
Be courteous to your fellow visitors.
Don't move firewood: To limit the spread of invasive tree-killing pests, firewood from outside the area is not permitted. Some states have quarantines and may confiscate your firewood. Please help protect our forests from invasive species by obtaining your firewood at or near your camping destination and burning it on-site. Visit dontmovefirewood.org for more information.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets · Vault Toilets
- “…enclosed pavilion with a fireplace and flush toilet facilities. A campground with first-come,… / …is also available. Facilities include vault toilets and a pressurized water system. A sandy beach is…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Lake, River, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
Nothing here to sleep in
The agency files 1 record here and marks it day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 15
What you actually pay
“Cancellations - If you cancel reservation at least 14 days prior to check in date, all recreation fees, minus a $10 cancellation fee and the reservation fee ($8 if made online or $9 if made through the call center) will be refunded. - If you cancel reservation less than 14 days prior to check in date, you forfeit th…” · this campground’s own no-show terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 records · the site map
All 1 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| BLACK RIVER HARBOR PAVILION | BLACK RIVER HARBOR PAVILION | day use | 335 ftBlack River | 20 ft | $100 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Black River Harbor Campground0.0 miHenry Lake CampOttawa National Forest · 27 miBobcat Lake CampOttawa National Forest · 28 mi
Bobcat Lake CampgroundOttawa National Forest · 28 miPomeroy Lake CampOttawa National Forest · 35 miMoosehead Lake CampOttawa National Forest · 36 miBlack River Harbor is located in Gogebic County, Michigan, approximately 15 miles north of the city of Bessemer. Turn off of U.S. Highway 2 and travel north on County Road 513. The pavilion is located in the harbor day use area.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Bessemer, MI
Typical weather
Typical October night 35°F, day 53°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 35°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Black River Harbor Pavilion is in Michigan’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Jack Bergman (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- The member who votes the moneyJack BergmanU.S. Representative · Michigan’s 1st district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationElissa SlotkinU.S. Senator · Michigan
- Your senator, on the same appropriationGary C. PetersU.S. Senator · Michigan
Read the draft, or change the wording
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Black River Harbor Pavilion has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Jack Bergman, I’m a constituent in Michigan’s 1st district. Black River Harbor Pavilion, Michigan carries 1 record on the U.S. Forest Service’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Black River Harbor Pavilion (Michigan) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Black River Harbor Pavilion has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Elissa Slotkin, I’m a constituent in Michigan. Black River Harbor Pavilion, Michigan carries 1 record on the U.S. Forest Service’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Black River Harbor Pavilion (Michigan) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Black River Harbor Pavilion has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Gary C. Peters, I’m a constituent in Michigan. Black River Harbor Pavilion, Michigan carries 1 record on the U.S. Forest Service’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Black River Harbor Pavilion (Michigan) via campanac.com