Cut Foot Horse Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $16From, per site
- Sites
- 3433 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Cut Foot Sioux Horse Camp is located northeast of Lake Winnibigoshish. Over 120 miles of forest roads and recreation trails surround this scenic campground, making it a favorite location of campers with horses. The campground will be first-come, first-served for the entire 2025 season. The Chippewa National Forest and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe work together to co-steward resources - making the Forest a great place to recreate as well as a special place where cultural and traditional resources are protected and preserved and the Band’s treaty rights are respected. Keep reading
Recreation
Many miles of trails pass through or begin at Cut Foot Horse Camp, leading horseback riders, hikers, and mountain bikers through the Cut Foot Experimental Forest. Several trails are also open to off-road vehicles. Research areas are designated by various markers. Please leave the markers as you find them.
Facilities
Unique campgrounds like Cut Foot Horse require certain restrictions to maintain water quality, minimize soil erosion and lessen any impacts on vegetation. Special attention has been paid in designating the site for horse camping. Several single-unit campsites are available, most of which are accessible. Each site is equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. Hitching racks, picket lines and manure pits are located throughout the campground. Vault toilets and a solar-powered drinking water cistern are provided. There is no campground host on site. The campground is patrolled regularly by Forest Service personnel and Itasca County law enforcement officers.
Natural Features
The campground lies within the Cut Foot Experimental Forest, managed in part by the North Central Research Station in Grand Rapids and the Chippewa National Forest. A mature stand of red pine covers the area, with oak and birch trees dotting the forest. The campground has nice shade and good privacy between sites.
Nearby Attractions
Boating, swimming, and fishing are popular activities on Big and Little Cut Foot Sioux Lakes and Lake Winnibigoshish. These lakes and several others are within a few miles of the campground.
What the agency tells you
Fee includes one camping unit per site. Double occupancy is not permitted on single unit sites; on large sites double occupancy is permitted. The second occupant must pay the full nightly amount for each night of stay by using a fee envelope at the entrance kiosk. Please read the fee board upon entering the campground to see what qualifies for single and double occupancy.
Use nose bags to keep feed from landing on the ground and pack out supplemental feed. Certified weed-free hay is strongly recommended. Portable corrals are not permitted.
Some important campground rules: - Quiet hours are from 10pm – 6am. Generators cannot be run during this time. If you have a medical condition that requires powered equipment, please plan accordingly with battery backup. - Pets are welcome but must remain on a leash 6' or shorter in length at all times. Pets are not allowed in beach areas. - Campfires cannot be left unattended. They must be extinguished before the campsite is vacated. - Fireworks, including sparklers, are not allowed. - Cutting/damaging live vegetation is not allowed. You may gather dead and downed wood for campfires if it fits within the fire ring. - The use of power saws, including electric chainsaws, is strictly prohibited. All regulations are found under 36 CFR 261 and are punishable by fines.
Everything else this campground posts · 3
Bundled firewood is no longer available in Chippewa National Forest campgrounds. Firewood may be available for sale at local vendors, or may be brought from home if within 50 miles of the campground. You may also cut dead and downed wood in the forest without a permit as long as it will be used in the campground. Chainsaw use (gas and electric) is not permitted in the campground. 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.
Northern Minnesota is home to black bears. Campers must keep coolers and other bear attractants locked inside hard-sided campers or in vehicles when not attended, including overnight. Black bears are present and active within the campground area. Feeding any wildlife, including hanging bird feeders, is strictly prohibited. NEW FOR 2025: Chippewa National Forest Food Storage Order
Click here for more information on the Chippewa National Forest.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 34 · 33 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- 33
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…are located throughout the campground. Vault toilets and a solar-powered drinking water cistern are…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…Vault toilets and a solar-powered drinking water cistern are provided. There is no campground host…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horse Camping
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 16:20 UTC
recreation.gov lists 33 of the 34 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $16 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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:20 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
34 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 33 mapped sitesAll 34 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. 34 of the 34 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 001 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 124 ft | 1,129 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 002 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 74 ft | 1,095 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 003 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 74 ft | 1,051 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 004 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 79 ft | 979 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 005 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 77 ft | 972 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 006 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 65 ft | 903 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 007 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 65 ft | 851 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 008 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 74 ft | 840 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 009 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 82 ft | 770 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 010 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 59 ft | 793 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 011 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 52 ft | 740 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 012 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 52 ft | 694 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 013 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 149 ft | 563 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 014 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 83 ft | 559 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 015 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 83 ft | 642 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 016 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 79 ft | 629 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 017 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 79 ft | 699 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 018 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 83 ft | 769 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 019 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 83 ft | 775 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 020 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 119 ft | 1,054 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 021 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 110 ft | 1,143 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 022 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 110 ft | 1,087 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 023 | type not stated | 1,128 ftGreeley Lake | $16 | ||
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 024 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 80 ft | 1,172 ftLake Roosevelt | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 025 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 98 ft | 1,207 ftLake Roosevelt | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 026 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 80 ft | 1,119 ftLake Roosevelt | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 027 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 119 ft | 1,097 ftLake Roosevelt | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 028 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 133 ft | 1,098 ftLake Roosevelt | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 029 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 89 ft | 1,283 ftLake Roosevelt | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 030 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 77 ft | 1,356 ftLake Roosevelt | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 031 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 77 ft | 1,425 ftLake Roosevelt | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 032 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 79 ft | 1,383 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 033 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 79 ft | 1,431 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
| CUT FOOT HORSE CAMPGROUND | 034 | equestrian nonelectric | yes | 125 ft | 1,351 ftGreeley Lake | $16 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
25 of 34 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Mosomo PointChippewa National Forest · 2.9 mi
OnegumeChippewa National Forest · 3.4 miOnegume (ah-ni-gah-mig[k])CampgroundChippewa National Forest · 3.4 mi
Deer LakeChippewa National Forest · 3.6 mi
Williams NarrowsChippewa National Forest · 3.8 miFrom Deer River, travel northwest on Highway 46, to Forest Road 2171 (which is just over three miles past the Cut Foot Sioux Visitor Center). Continue approximately two miles on Forest Road 2171 to the campground. The campground entrance is on the west side of the road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Inger, MN
Typical weather
Typical October night 35°F, day 51°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night -5°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
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
Cut Foot Horse Campground is in Minnesota’s 8th congressional district. Its representative, Pete Stauber (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →