U.S. Forest Service · Hiawatha National Forest · MI

Little Bass Lake Campsites

ReservableOut of season, no booking; November 15 opens May 15.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
A night
$8From, per site
Sites
5All of them booked ahead
24 ftLongest rig
750 ftElevation
190 ftWater · Little Bass Lake
15.6 miNW of Manistique, MI
77%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 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 swimming, berry picking, and fishing at these campsites. Licenses are required for fishing in Michigan waters. Little Bass Lake is 84 acres in size and features a carry-in launch site. This lake has a diverse fishery of largemouth bass, bluegills, northern pike, black crappies and perch.

Facilities

There is NO drinking water at this site. There is a primitive toilet located at this site. Lake Name: Little Bass Lake Number of Sites: 5 Maximum Number of People Per Site: 8 (all sites) Toilets: Yes Boat Access: Carry - In Lake Size (acres): 84 Natural Features Little Bass Lake is perfect for those that are looking for an uncrowded, quiet camping experience with few amenities and even fewer neighbors! The lake is 84 acres in size and supports a diverse fishery.

Nearby Attractions

There are a number of horse, bike, and hiking trails within minutes of several of the sites. In over a mile from these campsites, visitors can expect to find: bait shops, general and grocery stores, gas, a pay phone, trailheads, a fishing pier, biking, and kayak/canoe rentals. Gasoline, groceries, fishing and camping supplies, boat rentals, ice, and MDNR licenses are available at Steuben, approximately five miles northeast on County Road 437. Contact Info For local information, please call (906) 474-6442 or call (906) 387-2512 for general information.

What the agency tells you

Rule

Pack-In, Pack-out policy

Rule

There is a 14-day stay limit.

Rule

No drinking water provided.

Everything else this campground posts · 5
Rule

Campsite must be occupied the first night.

Rule

Campsite cannot be left unattended for more than 24 hours.

Rule

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

Rule

Click here for more information on the Hiawatha National Forest

Rule

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.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Tents and rigs

Sites
5
Hookups
None
Longest rig
24 ft
Accessible sites
None listed
Pets
Allowed
Campfires
Allowed, barring fire bans
Shade
Every site
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

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
Boating
Fishing
Night sky · 73rd darkest of 192 in MI
Bortle 2
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

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.

Booking windowOut of seasonOut of season, no booking. On November 15, 2026 at 10 AM ET, availability opens through May 15, 2027.recreation.govAdd to calendar (.ics)
A night$8plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule
A weekend$24DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record
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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
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’ll write once, when the season that starts Sat, May 15 2027 is open for booking.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 12

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
A night$8
Standard Nonelectric$8
Rates for the season the campground is in now, May 15, 2026 to Oct 15, 2026.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Reservation fee, booked online$8
One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.
Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.
What a stay costs
One nightDerived$16
A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$24

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.

If your plans changerecreation.gov
Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10
Cancellation fee$10
Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night
No-show$20 + your first night

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

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

5 sites · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 5 mapped sites
123 ftbetween you and the next site, typically
Least roomLITTLE BASS LAKE CAMPSITE 001 51 ftLITTLE BASS LAKE CAMPSITE 002 51 ftLITTLE BASS LAKE CAMPSITE 004 123 ft

All 5 sites

5 of 5 sites located
Standard5
Aerial · Esri World Imagery
SleepsTakes aUp to

The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 5 of the 5 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.

LITTLE BASS LAKE CAMPSITE001standard nonelectric20 ft51 ft462 ft$8
LITTLE BASS LAKE CAMPSITE002standard nonelectric24 ft51 ft436 ft$8
LITTLE BASS LAKE CAMPSITE003standard nonelectric24 ft259 ft182 ft$8
LITTLE BASS LAKE CAMPSITE004standard nonelectric24 ft123 ft104 ft$8
LITTLE BASS LAKE CAMPSITE005standard nonelectric24 ft123 ft140 ft$8

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Coordinate46.16194, -86.44944
The phone906-474-6442
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Getting there

From Manistique, MI: drive north 22 miles on M-94 to County Road 437.  

- Turn left (west) on CR 437 and drive 1.8 miles to FR 2213.

- Turn left (south) on FR 2213 and drive 1.5 miles to FR 2639.  

- Turn right (west) and follow the road to the campsites.

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Tonight29°Mostly Cloudy then Chance Rain And Snow Showers10% rain
Saturday56°Sunny2% rain
Saturday Night32°Mostly Clear
Sunday60°Sunny

NWS forecast for Manistique, MI

Typical weather

Typical October night 35°F, day 55°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical February night 7°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°0°

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.

Measured at: GARDEN CORNERS, MI (USC00203078), 19 miles away and 163 ft lower

The land, and who answers for it

who answers for it

Who answers for this land

Jack Bergman, official portrait

Little Bass Lake Campsites 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate: the number below is the only way to be sure.
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.