Nichols Lake South Campground
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $30From, per site
- Sites
- 28All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 13 – September 5Open May 13 through September 5
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Located on the south side of Nichols Lake, the campground and surrounding area offer excellent opportunities for fishing, swimming, picnicking, hiking, camping, or just relaxing. Keep reading
Recreation
Fishing and boating are popular activities at Nichols Lake. There is a paved boat launch at the campground. This site is one of the locations on the National Forest's for Kids Fishing Day Events for Michigan's Free Fishing Day in early June. Ice fishing is also popular in the winter. Swimming areas are marked with buoys, but there are no lifeguards. The North Country National Scenic Trail goes through the site near the boat ramp, providing good hiking opportunities.
Facilities
Nichols Lake has 29 family sites on paved spurs. Drinking water, flush toilets, and showers are provided. Each site has a fire pit and picnic table. A wood ramp and stairs lead down to the lake from the campground. A short path along the lake provides access for fishing.
Natural Features
At 160 acres, Nichols Lake offers shore, pier, and boat fishing. Typical fish species available include bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, black crappie, and northern pike. There is a swimming beach and accessible fishing pier available. Those wishing to enjoy the day at Nichols Lake will find a day use area located on the north side of the lake.
Nearby Attractions
The North Country Trail covers 4,600 miles from Crown Point, NY, to Lake Sakakawea State Park, ND. The segment that includes Nichols Lake has beautiful sections for both the advanced and weekend hikers. The nearest towns are Woodland, Bitely, and Brohman, about two miles to the south. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (801) 226-3564.
What the agency tells you
An extra vehicle fee applies after the 2nd vehicle on single sites.
Some single sites may be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
All equipment must fit on the site. Vehicles should only park in developed areas.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Site capacities are: 2 vehicles, 2 camping units, only one can be wheeled (e.g., two tents or a camper and a tent) All tires need to fit on the spurs!
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.
Any accepted senior passes must be entered for the discount at the time of booking for single sites only.
Check in time is 2:00pm and Check out time is 11:00am It is imperative that you are clear from the site at 11:00am on your check out day so the host can come prepare the site for the next event. Please don't be the group that makes the incoming group have to wait.
Customer Service Contact 801-226-3564 or Help.Huron.Manistee@AmericanLL.com
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 28
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 65 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…sites on paved spurs. Drinking water, flush toilets, and showers are provided. Each site has a fire pit…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Drinking water, flush toilets, and showers are provided.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…Lake has 29 family sites on paved spurs. Drinking water, flush toilets, and showers are provided. Each site…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
- Backpacking
- Biking
- Birding
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Ice Fishing
- Kayaking
- Sailing
- Stargazing
- Swimming
- Water Skiing
- Water sports
- Night sky · 178th darkest of 192 in MI
- Bortle 4
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, $30 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 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 28 mapped sitesAll 28 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. 28 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.
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 01 | standard nonelectric | 77 ft | 449 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 02 | standard nonelectric | 77 ft | 408 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 03 | standard nonelectric | 59 ft | 515 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 04 | standard nonelectric | 59 ft | 494 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 05 | standard nonelectric | 117 ft | 452 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 06 | standard nonelectric | 70 ft | 310 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 07 | standard nonelectric | 70 ft | 258 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 08 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | 229 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 09 | standard nonelectric | 64 ft | 279 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 10 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | 218 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 11 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 277 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 12 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 225 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 13 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 233 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 14 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 315 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 15 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 338 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 16 | standard nonelectric | 83 ft | 319 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 17 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 54 ft | 314 ft | $30 |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 18 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 54 ft | 362 ft | $30 |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 19 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 110 ft | 292 ft | $30 |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 20 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 72 ft | 356 ft | $30 |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 21 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 61 ft | 285 ft | $30 |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 22 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 59 ft | 328 ft | $30 |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 23 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 59 ft | 275 ft | $30 |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 24 | standard nonelectric | 49 ft | 46 ft | 241 ft | $30 |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 25 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 46 ft | 277 ft | $30 |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 26 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 63 ft | 274 ft | $30 |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 27 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 237 ft | $30 | |
| NICHOLS LAKE SOUTH CAMPGROUND | 28 | standard nonelectric | 70 ft | 306 ft | $30 |
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
Where it is
From Baldwin, take M-37 south for 13.5 miles to 11 Mile Road. Turn right. Go west approximately 4.5 miles to the campground entrance. From White Cloud, take M-37 north for 13 miles to 11 Mile Road. Turn west for 4.5 miles to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Walkerville, MI
Typical weather
Typical May night 42°F, day 68°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 42°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
Nichols Lake South Campground is in Michigan’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, John Moolenaar (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →