Mel Rieman Rec
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $20–$26Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 27All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 2 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Mel Rieman Campground and Recreation Area is a 70-acre facility on the shoreline of Lake Ashtabula in eastern North Dakota. The campground is known for its spectacular sunset views. It is close to the Baldhill Dam and within walking distance of the Mel Rieman day-use area, where visitors can swim, fish and picnic. Lake Ashtabula was created by the construction of the Baldhill Dam on the Sheyenne River in 1944, and is situated in one of the most scenic river valleys in the region. Visitors can choose from a wide range of recreation opportunities year-round, including ice fishing and cross-country skiing during winter months. Keep reading
Recreation
There is no shortage of recreation opportunities and outdoor fun in and around the lake. The day-use area is adjacent to the campground and has a visitor center, playgrounds, picnic facilities, concessions, fishing spots and a boat ramp. The name "Ashtabula" is a Native American word meaning "Fish River," which suits the lake's fish population; popular species include walleye, northern pike, white bass, yellow perch and black bullhead. With seven boat ramps, two accessible fishing piers and four automated fish cleaning stations, the lake is very convenient for anglers. Nearly 3,000 acres of land around the lake is managed as wildlife habitat by the Corps of Engineers and open to the public for wildlife viewing, birding, hiking and hunting. Hunters and anglers should contact the North Dakota Game and Fish Department for seasons, restrictions and licenses; fishing licenses and bait may be purchased from concessionaires around the lake. Campers can also reach the 63-mile Sheyenne River Valley National Scenic Byway and access nearly 35 miles of the North Country National Scenic Trail within a short drive.
Facilities
Mel Rieman Campground has 27 campsites, 15 of which offer electric hookups. The facility also provides drinking water, showers and flush toilets. The nearest town is Valley City, 10 miles away.
Natural Features
The lake area lies amidst the 'prairie potholes' region of glacially-carved lakes in North Dakota. Bountiful migratory water birds flock to Lake Ashtabula, including the unique white pelican, which can be seen in large quantities during summer. The region also provides habitat for white-tailed deer, sharptail grouse, wild turkey and gray partridge.
What the agency tells you
Firewood restrictions are in place; because of the potential to carry invasive insects, absolutely no outside firewood is allowed
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 27 · 1 tent-only, 6 walk-in
- Hookups
- 20 electric
- Longest rig
- 75 ft
- Paved pads
- 3 of 27
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…provides drinking water, showers and flush toilets. The nearest town is Valley City, 10 miles away.…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…hookups. The facility also provides drinking water, showers and flush toilets. The nearest town is…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Store
- Nearby
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Picnicking
- Swimming
- Night sky · 6th darkest of 27 in ND
- Bortle 3
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 · 15
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $20–$26 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 Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
28 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 28 mapped sitesAll 28 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 27 of the 28 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 01 | standard electric | 36 ft | 30 amp | 52 ft | 485 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 02 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 52 ft | 436 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 03 | standard electric | 49 ft | 30 amp | 54 ft | 421 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 04 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 54 ft | 455 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 05 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30 amp | 68 ft | 523 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 06 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 84 ft | 600 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 07 | standard electric | 70 ft | 30 amp | yes | 67 ft | 676 ft | $26 |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 08 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 67 ft | 641 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 09 | standard electric | 47 ft | 30 amp | 82 ft | 703 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 10 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30 amp | 79 ft | 791 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 11 | standard electric | 75 ft | 30 amp | 99 ft | 775 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 12 | standard electric | 20 ft | 30 amp | 79 ft | 870 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 13 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 114 ft | 866 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 14 | standard electric | 49 ft | 30 amp | 56 ft | 810 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 15 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 56 ft | 779 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 16 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 81 ft | 683 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 17 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 65 ft | 671 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 18 | standard electric | 41 ft | 30 amp | 58 ft | 645 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 19 | standard electric | 55 ft | 30 amp | 58 ft | 642 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 20 | standard electric | 52 ft | 30 amp | 66 ft | 612 ft | $26 | |
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 21 | tent only nonelectric | 129 ft | 604 ft | $20 | |||
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 22 | walk to | 21 ft | 501 ft | $20 | |||
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 23 | walk to | 21 ft | 505 ft | $20 | |||
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 24 | walk to | 22 ft | 511 ft | $20 | |||
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 25 | walk to | 24 ft | 516 ft | $20 | |||
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 26 | walk to | 28 ft | 524 ft | $20 | |||
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 27 | walk to | 35 ft | 537 ft | $20 | |||
| MEL RIEMAN REC AREA | 28 | day use | 30 amp | yes | 366 ft | 211 ft | $40 |
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.
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 28 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Eggerts Landing5.2 mi
West Ashtabula Crossing5.8 mi
East Ashtabula Crossing9.1 mi
Jorgen's Hollow CampgroundSheyenne National Grassland · 54 mi
Hankinson Hills CampgroundSheyenne National Grassland · 82 miThe main route to the park is via Interstate 94 to Valley City exit 292. Follow the signs through Valley City and turn left onto County Road 19. Travel for 10 miles.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Rogers, ND
Typical weather
Typical October night 32°F, day 56°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night -2°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
Mel Rieman Rec is in North Dakota’s at-large congressional district. Its representative, Julie Fedorchak (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →