Camp Cook Campsite
- Right now
- OpenInside the published season, our reading
- A night
- $8From, per site
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 15Opens May 15. No closing date published.
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Munising and Rapid River/Manistique Ranger Districts of the Hiawatha National Forest offer a variety of camping experiences. Many are located on inland lakes in a rustic forest environment with no drinking water. The rustic environment offers a wonderfully serene and peaceful setting for your next camping experience. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors will be able to enjoy berry picking and fishing at these dispersed campsites. Licenses are required for fishing in Michigan waters. This site is located adjacent to the Fishdam River, which provides a great fishing opportunity for brook trout. This site does NOT offer swimming. However, there is an excellent beach area located at Camp 7 Lake Campground that is only two miles away.
Facilities
There is a toilet available. Lake Name : None Number of Sites : 1 Maximum Number of People Per Site : 24 Toilets : Yes Boat Access : None Lake Size (acres) : None Natural Features Once the site of a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp, Camp Cook offers a campsite that can be reserved singly or as a group. This site is situated on a large grassy opening, which makes it particulary well suited for large gatherings. It is close in proximity to the Fishdam River, which makes it popular among anglers.
Nearby Attractions
There are a number of horse, bike, and hiking trails within minutes of several of the sites. In a 15 mile area from this campsite, visitors can expect to find: bait shops, general and grocery stores, gas, a pay phone, trailheads, a fishing pier, biking, and kayak/canoe rentals. Groceries, gasoline, fishing and camping supplies, ice and deli are available nine miles Northeast on County Road 437 in the Thunder Lake Area. Contact Info For local information, please call (906) 474-6442 or call (906) 387-2512 for general information.
What the agency tells you
Pack-In, Pack-out policy
There is a 14-day stay limit.
Campsite must be occupied the first night.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Campsite cannot be left unattended for more than 24 hours.
You are welcome to collect firewood from the area surrounding your campsite. Just remember that any firewood that you collect must be DEAD AND DOWN
Click here for more information on the Hiawatha National Forest
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
- “Toilets : Yes”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…in a rustic forest environment with no drinking water. The rustic environment offers a wonderfully serene…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Fishing
- Hunting
- Night sky · 88th darkest of 192 in MI
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $8 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
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 · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| CAMP COOK CAMPSITE | 001 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 509 ft | $8 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Chicago Lake CampsitesHiawatha National Forest · 0.8 mi
Camp Seven Lake CampgroundHiawatha National Forest · 2.0 mi
Gooseneck Lake CampsitesHiawatha National Forest · 2.4 mi
Lyman Lake CampsitesHiawatha National Forest · 3.2 mi
Jackpine Lake CampsitesHiawatha National Forest · 4.0 mi
Carr Lake CampsiteHiawatha National Forest · 4.4 miFrom the Intersection of US-2 and Forest Highway 13 (about 14 miles east of Rapid River or 22 miles west of Manistique), drive north 8.4 miles on Highway 13 to CR 442.
- Turn right (east) and drive 5.8 miles to FR 2052B.
- Turn right (southeast) and follow it to the campsite.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Manistique, MI
Typical weather
Typical May night 40°F, day 62°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 40°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
Who answers for this land

Camp Cook Campsite 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 →