Bobcat Lake Campground
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 10 mi
This is how it should work.
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- Season
- May 24 – September 3Open May 24 through September 3
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there
In the agency’s own words
Located in Gogebic County just 3 miles southeast of Marenisco, Mi., on the Bessemer Ranger District in the southern half of the Ottawa National Forest. Bobcat Lake campground features one loop with 11 campsites. Campsites are bordered by vegetation providing privacy between sites. These drive in sites offer a tent pad, wood table, fire ring, lantern post and gravel parking spur. Two accessible vault toilets are located in the campground and water is provided by a centrally located hand pump in the loop. A sandy beach and day use area, complete with vault toilets, tables, grills and changing house is located 1/2 mile east of the campground. Also adjacent to the campground is a boat ramp which provides access to a variety of game fish.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…and gravel parking spur. Two accessible vault toilets are located in the campground and water is provided…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…water is provided by a centrally located hand pump in the loop. A sandy beach and day use area,…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Picnicking
- Swimming
Nothing to book, just show up
One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.
recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.
Every line of the receipt · 3
What you actually pay
How we know this receipt · 4
rules read Sep 7, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this
Getting there
the map and the coordinate
Where it is
Sylvania Wilderness Backcountry CampingOttawa National Forest · 19 mi
Sylvania (Clark Lake) CampgroundOttawa National Forest · 19 miThe agency publishes this point for 2 campgrounds; it’s likely a district office, not the campground. Use the agency’s own page for directions.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Marenisco, MI
Typical weather
Typical May night 38°F, day 64°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 38°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
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Bobcat Lake Campground 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 →