Sylvania (Clark Lake) Campground
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 20 mi
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $22–$26Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 4847 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 17 – September 30Open May 17 through September 30
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
Sylvania (Clark Lake) Campground is located seven miles southwest of Watersmeet, Michigan, adjacent to the 18,327 acre Sylvania Wilderness Area. This 48-site campground provides a home base for visitors who venture into the wilderness on day outings. Also a great camping area in general or overnight camping just 5 minutes off Highway U.S. 2. Some electrical sites available, pressurized toilet facilities and an RV Dump and Water Station. Some sites are reservable but there are always sites available on a first come first serve basis as well! Keep reading
Recreation
Sylvania's abundant lakes provide plentiful non-motorized boating, canoeing, kayaking and fishing opportunities. Other popular activities include hiking and viewing wildlife.
Facilities
This campground consists of four camping loops with a total of 48 campsites and provides drive-in campsites that can accommodate tents, trailers and motor homes. All sites are spaced with natural vegetation for screening. Each campsite offers a wood table, fire ring, lantern post and parking spur. Drinking water is provided by faucets in loops 2, 3, and 4, while two flush toilet facilities and one accessible vault toilet are evenly spaced throughout the campground. Also located adjacent to the campground is a day use facility that has a picnic area, canoe access landings, trailheads and a swimming beach. Located adjacent to the campground is a water and sewage dump station for RV's. Some sites are reservable on Recreation.gov but other sites are on a first come, first serve basis and typically there is always a site available.
Natural Features
The old-growth forests and pristine lakes in the region provide habitat for a wide range of animal and plant life, including rare orchids, bald eagles, loons and osprey. The wilderness contains 34 named lakes, some with sandy beaches and others surrounded by record-size red and white pines. The Ottawa National Forest is comprised of nearly one million acres and is located in the western reaches of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The forest's rolling, forest covered hills extend from the south shore of Lake Superior to the Wisconsin border. Lakes, rivers and waterfalls are found throughout this beautiful landscape. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (906) 661-8870.
Nearby Attractions
Bond Falls located about 20 minutes North East. Porcupine Mountains located about 1 hour North West. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore located about 2 hours North East. Keweenaw Peninsula is located about 1.5 hours North.
What the agency tells you
Camping in a developed recreation site is allowed for a period not longer than 14 days.
Campers must occupy the site the first night.
Eight people and two motorized vehicles are allowed per campsite with a maximum of one RV or camper trailer and two tents per camping site or three tents per camping site.
Everything else this campground posts · 2
Don't Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
This campground is operated by Camp Host, LLC under a special use permit with the Ottawa National Forest.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 48
- Hookups
- 10 electric, 1 water
- Longest rig
- 88 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets · Vault Toilets
- “…faucets in loops 2, 3, and 4, while two flush toilet facilities and one accessible vault toilet are…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…toilet facilities and an RV Dump and Water Station. Some sites are reservable but there are always…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Lake, River, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 106th darkest of 192 in MI
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 47 of the 48 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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, $22–$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
48 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 23 mapped sitesAll 48 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. 48 of the 48 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| 1 | 001 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | $22 | |||
| 1 | 002 | standard nonelectric | 70 ft | $22 | |||
| 1 | 003 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | $22 | |||
| 1 | 004 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | $22 | |||
| 1 | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $22 | |||
| 1 | 006 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | $22 | |||
| 1 | 007 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | $22 | |||
| 1 | 008 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $22 | |||
| 1 | 009 | standard electric | 43 ft | 30 amp | $26 | ||
| 1 | 010 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $22 | |||
| 1 | 011 | standard nonelectric | 70 ft | $22 | |||
| 1 | 012 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $22 | |||
| 1 | 013 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | $22 | |||
| 2 | 014 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $22 | |||
| 2 | 015 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | $26 | ||
| 2 | 016 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $22 | |||
| 2 | 017 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $22 | |||
| 2 | 018 | standard nonelectric | 80 ft | $22 | |||
| 2 | 019 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $22 | |||
| 2 | 020 | standard electric | 38 ft | 30 amp | $26 | ||
| 2 | 021 | standard electric | 35 ft | 30 amp | $26 | ||
| 2 | 022 | standard electric | 80 ft | 30 amp | 222 ft | 1,269 ftKatherine Lake | $26 |
| 2 | 023 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $22 | |||
| 3 | 024 | standard nonelectric | 63 ft | 189 ft | 1,480 ftKatherine Lake | $22 | |
| 3 | 025 | standard nonelectric | 61 ft | 98 ft | 1,495 ft | $22 | |
| 3 | 026 | standard nonelectric | 71 ft | 98 ft | 1,397 ft | $22 | |
| 3 | 027 | standard electric | 55 ft | 30 amp | 143 ft | 1,306 ft | $26 |
| 3 | 028 | standard nonelectric | 59 ft | 116 ft | 1,273 ft | $22 | |
| 3 | 029 | standard nonelectric | 54 ft | 124 ft | 1,320 ft | $22 | |
| 3 | 030 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 123 ft | 1,436 ft | $22 | |
| 3 | 031 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | 123 ft | 1,340 ftKatherine Lake | $22 | |
| 3 | 032 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | $22 | |||
| 3 | 033 | standard electric | 46 ft | 20 amp | $26 | ||
| 3 | 034 | type not stated | 55 ft | $26 | |||
| 4 | 035 | standard nonelectric | 88 ft | 70 ft | 873 ft | $22 | |
| 4 | 036 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 107 ft | 741 ft | $22 | |
| 4 | 037 | standard nonelectric | 57 ft | 107 ft | 744 ft | $22 | |
| 4 | 038 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 70 ft | 885 ft | $22 | |
| 4 | 039 | standard nonelectric | 53 ft | 102 ft | 803 ft | $22 | |
| 4 | 040 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 102 ft | 802 ft | $22 | |
| 4 | 041 | standard nonelectric | 54 ft | 106 ft | 799 ft | $22 | |
| 4 | 042 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 106 ft | 855 ft | $22 | |
| 4 | 043 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 103 ft | 982 ft | $22 | |
| 4 | 044 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 103 ft | 1,079 ft | $22 | |
| 4 | 045 | standard electric | 53 ft | 20 amp | 115 ft | 1,157 ft | $26 |
| 4 | 046 | standard electric | 31 ft | 30 amp | 96 ft | 1,158 ft | $26 |
| 4 | 047 | standard electric | 70 ft | 30 amp | 96 ft | 1,138 ft | $26 |
| 4 | 048 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | 116 ft | 989 ft | $22 |
25 of 48 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Sylvania Wilderness Backcountry CampingOttawa National Forest · 0.0 mi
Lac Vieux Desert CampgroundNicolet National Forest · 11 mi
Marion Lake Group SiteOttawa National Forest · 11 mi
Imp Lake CampgroundOttawa National Forest · 12 miPomeroy Lake CampOttawa National Forest · 13 miMoosehead Lake CampOttawa National Forest · 14 miFrom Watersmeet, MI, take US 2 west approximately 3.5 miles to County Road 535, turn left onto County Road 535 and travel approximately 3.5 miles to the Sylvania Wilderness Recreation Area entrance on left.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Watersmeet, MI
Typical weather
Typical May night 39°F, day 65°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 39°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
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Sylvania (Clark Lake) Campground 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 →