Peterson Bridge
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $35From, per site
- Sites
- 30All of them booked ahead
- Season
- April 23 – October 10Open April 23 through October 10
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Peterson Bridge Campground is located on the Pine River in Michigan’s Manistee National Forest. The location on the river makes it ideal for canoeists and those looking to experience the adventure of this swift moving river. Keep reading
Recreation
With access to the river so close, floating the Pine River is a popular activity at Peterson Bridge. Several locations near the campground offer canoe rentals. Supporting outstanding trout fishing, the Pine River is also a “Blue Ribbon” cold-water fishery. For State Fishing Regulations consult the Michigan Department of Natural Resources website, website http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/.
Facilities
The facility offers several tent sites which are walk-in only. Those tent sites on the river bank can also be accessed from the river. In addition, the facility offers RV sites with many of the sites at this facility offering shade and seclusion.
Natural Features
The Pine River is well known as one of the most outstanding canoeing and trout fishing rivers in the Midwest. The river gradient is 7% and, depending upon the season, offers the fasted average flow of any river in lower Michigan. The lower 26 miles of the Pine River have been designated a National Wild and Scenic River. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (801) 226-3564.
What the agency tells you
The Pine River is under a watercraft permit system with permits required May 15 - Labor Day. Click here for reservations for Pine National Scenic River Watercraft Permits.
Some sites are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
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!
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Limit two vehicle per site; a fee will be charged for additional vehicles and have to be parked in the overflow area.
All equipment must fit on the site pad. Vehicles park in developed areas only.
This is a National Wild and Scenic River; because of this status special regulations apply at this facility.
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
- 30 · 13 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 64 ft
- Paved pads
- 19 of 30
- Accessible sites
- 19
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 16 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Accessible Swimming
- River Trips
- Night sky · 155th darkest of 192 in MI
- 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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $35 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
31 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 31 mapped sitesAll 31 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 31 of the 31 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 30 of the 31 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| CS | 01 | standard nonelectric | 53 ft | yes | 54 ft | 417 ft | 728 ft | $35 |
| CS | 02 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | yes | 91 ft | 270 ft | 610 ft | $35 |
| CS | 03 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | yes | 53 ft | 197 ft | 546 ft | $35 |
| CS | 04 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | yes | 53 ft | 144 ft | 493 ft | $35 |
| CS | 05 | tent only nonelectric | 62 ft | 225 ft | 546 ft | $35 | ||
| CS | 06 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 62 ft | 163 ft | 489 ft | $35 |
| CS | 07 | tent only nonelectric | 95 ft | 300 ft | 602 ft | $35 | ||
| CS | 08 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 124 ft | 331 ft | 643 ft | $35 |
| CS | 09 | standard nonelectric | 64 ft | yes | 132 ft | 427 ft | 743 ft | $35 |
| CS | 10 | standard nonelectric | 61 ft | yes | 43 ft | 580 ft | 899 ft | $35 |
| CS | 11 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | yes | 43 ft | 584 ft | 907 ft | $35 |
| CS | 12 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | yes | 57 ft | 757 ft | 1,082 ft | $35 |
| CS | 13 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | yes | 57 ft | 813 ft | 1,137 ft | $35 |
| CS | 14 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | yes | 79 ft | 616 ft | 930 ft | $35 |
| CS | 15 | standard nonelectric | 61 ft | yes | 96 ft | 542 ft | 854 ft | $35 |
| CS | 16 - HOST | host pad | 47 ft | yes | 70 ft | 427 ft | 733 ft | $35 |
| CS | 17 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | yes | 54 ft | 389 ft | 692 ft | $35 |
| CS | 18 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | yes | 56 ft | 497 ft | 803 ft | $35 |
| CS | 19 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | yes | 52 ft | 553 ft | 859 ft | $35 |
| CS | 20 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | yes | 52 ft | 604 ft | 909 ft | $35 |
| RS | 21 | tent only nonelectric | 153 ft | 768 ft | 1,078 ft | $35 | ||
| RS | 22 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 786 ft | 1,099 ft | $35 | ||
| RS | 23 | tent only nonelectric | yes | 20 ft | 779 ft | 1,093 ft | $35 | |
| RS | 24 | tent only nonelectric | 43 ft | 984 ft | 1,307 ft | $35 | ||
| RS | 25 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft | 1,041 ft | 1,365 ft | $35 | ||
| RS | 26 | tent only nonelectric | 41 ft | 1,112 ft | 1,438 ft | $35 | ||
| RS | 27 | tent only nonelectric | 37 ft | 1,037 ft | 1,362 ft | $35 | ||
| RS | 28 | tent only nonelectric | 43 ft | 974 ft | 1,298 ft | $35 | ||
| RS | 29 | tent only nonelectric | 37 ft | 1,042 ft | 1,368 ft | $35 | ||
| RS | 30 | tent only nonelectric | 61 ft | 977 ft | 1,303 ft | $35 | ||
| RS | 31 | tent only nonelectric | yes | 41 ft | 1,090 ft | 1,418 ft | $35 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 31 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Upper Manistee River Backcountry CampsitesManistee National Forest · 6.4 mi
Sand Lake Campground7.1 miSand Lake Recreation AreaManistee National Forest · 7.4 miOld Grade CampgroundManistee National Forest · 10 miPine Lake CampgroundManistee National Forest · 11 mi
Seaton Creek CampgroundManistee National Forest · 11 miPlease note: Peterson Bridge Campground is located on Highway 3T at Pine River Bridge, South of Highway 55.
From Baldwin, MI: Take State Rt. 37 north about 21 miles to campground sign (just before Pine River bridge). Turn right into campground.
From the north: follow M-37 south 1.5 miles from its junction with M-55. Turn left into the area after crossing the bridge over the Pine River.
From the south: follow M-37 north 21.5 miles from Baldwin. Turn right into the area prior to crossing the bridge over the Pine River.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Caberfae, MI
Typical weather
Typical October night 36°F, day 57°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical April night 29°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 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
Peterson Bridge 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 →