Tom's Lake Cabin
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 27 of the next 30 nights read 16:33 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Tom's Lake Cabin was built in 1991 and will accommodate up to eight people. The cabin is situated on a small knoll overlooking Tom's Lake, a 23 acre lake in the heart of the Hiawatha National Forest. Keep reading
Recreation
There are several hiking, biking, and horseback riding trails within a few miles from the cabin, including the Ironjaw semi-primitive area and the Pine Marten Run trail system offering 26 miles of trail. For the winter enthusiast, snowmobile trails can be found nearby, and the Pine Marten Run trail is frequently used for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing (although the trail is not groomed). Those trying their hand at fishing on the lake should note that boat access is carry-in only.
Facilities
The cabin has a wood stove and firewood is provided in addition to the pedestal grill and fire pit outside. The cabin does not have modern bathroom facilities or electricity. There is a hand pump for drinking water just outside the cabin and a pit toilet behind the cabin. The cabin is furnished with four twin bunk beds with mattresses and seating for eight. You should plan to bring all your own camping equipment including camp stove, dishes, cooking and eating utensils, toilet paper, water containers, lanterns, flashlights, bedding and pillows. There is a gate at the entry road for your use. You can close it if you wish for privacy, but we ask that you don't lock it in the event we need to get in for routine maintenance. We will leave it the way we found it. During the winter months, the 1/4 mile road into the cabin is not plowed. One must park in the parking lot provided along Co. Rd. 440 and walk, ski, or snowmobile in.
Natural Features
Tom's Lake Cabin is nestled adjacent to Tom's Lake and is ideal for swimming and fishing. Anglers will enjoy a day on the lake in search of largemouth bass and bluegill. After a day fishing and swimming, settle in for a wonderful campfire overlooking the lake and relax around the outdoor fire pit lined with a few benches. The Hiawatha National Forest is rich in wildlife, which includes 312 species that live within the Hiawatha National Forest region including whitetail deer, black bear, grey wolves, coyote, eagles, hawks, and rabbits. Over 250 species of birds use the Hiawatha, either when migrating through the area, as summer or winter range, or as permanent residents.
Nearby Attractions
The cabin is within a short commute of the Big Island Lake Wilderness with its 23 small lakes and portages to challenge the canoeist. The nationally-designated Wild and Scenic Indian River is also nearby, and its 51 miles offer outstanding canoeing and fishing opportunities. Groceries, gasoline, fishing, camping supplies, boat rentals, ice, MDNR licenses, deli, and restaurants are available on Highway 13. Contact Info For local information, please call (906) 474-6442 or call (906) 387-2512 for general information.
What the agency tells you
A combination code is needed to access the cabin. Be sure to check your confirmation letter for the combination code. There is a new lock on the wood shed and the combination code is in the cabin.
Check-in time is 2 p.m., check-out time is 12 p.m.
Cabin does not have electricity. You must bring all your own supplies including: camp stove, dishes, cooking and eating utensils, toilet paper, water containers, lanterns, flashlights, bedding and pillows.
Everything else this campground posts · 7
In winter; plan to ski, snowshoe, or snowmobile the quarter mile entry road as it is not plowed.
No trash services; This facility is "Pack it in, Pack it out".
Pets are allowed at this site but must be on a leash. Pets cannot be left alone in the cabin.
Tents, RVs and trailers may not be used in the vicinity of the cabin without prior written approval
Off road use of ATVs or OHVs is prohibited by law. Occupants are expected to clean the cabin and the grounds prior to departure.
Click here to learn more about the Hiawatha National Forest.
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 24 ft
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- “…water just outside the cabin and a pit toilet behind the cabin. The cabin is furnished with four…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…facilities or electricity. There is a hand pump for drinking water just outside the cabin and a pit…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Winter sports
- Night sky · 79th darkest of 192 in MI
- Bortle 2
Full this Saturdayread 16:33 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedClosed
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday, and on the one midweek night after it that the agency has released as well. read 16:33 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:33 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 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. 1 of the 1 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.
| TOM'S LAKE CABIN | TOMS LAKE CABIN | cabin nonelectric | 24 ft | yes | 181 ft | $45 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Swan Lake CampsitesHiawatha National Forest · 0.9 mi
Corner Lake CampgroundHiawatha National Forest · 1.1 mi
Mowe Lake CampsitesHiawatha National Forest · 1.3 mi
Ironjaw Lake CampsiteHiawatha National Forest · 2.1 mi
Lake Nineteen CampsiteHiawatha National Forest · 2.3 mi
Cookson Lake CampsitesHiawatha National Forest · 2.8 miFrom the intersection of U.S. Highway 2 and Forest Highway 13 (25 miles west of Manistique or 14 miles east of Rapid River) , drive north 19 miles on FH13 to County Rad 440. Turn right (east) on CR440 and drive about 3 miles to FR2082. Turn left (north) and drive to cabin.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Munising, MI
Typical weather
Typical October night 38°F, day 52°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 11°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 · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Tom's Lake Cabin 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 →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyJack BergmanU.S. Representative · Michigan’s 1st district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationElissa SlotkinU.S. Senator · Michigan
- Your senator, on the same appropriationGary C. PetersU.S. Senator · Michigan
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Tom's Lake Cabin, Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan
Dear Jack Bergman, I’m a constituent in Michigan’s 1st district. I tried to camp at Tom's Lake Cabin, Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Tom's Lake Cabin are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Tom's Lake Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Tom's Lake Cabin. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Tom's Lake Cabin (Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Tom's Lake Cabin, Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan
Dear Elissa Slotkin, I’m a constituent in Michigan. I tried to camp at Tom's Lake Cabin, Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Tom's Lake Cabin are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Tom's Lake Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Tom's Lake Cabin. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Tom's Lake Cabin (Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Tom's Lake Cabin, Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan
Dear Gary C. Peters, I’m a constituent in Michigan. I tried to camp at Tom's Lake Cabin, Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Tom's Lake Cabin are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Tom's Lake Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Tom's Lake Cabin. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Tom's Lake Cabin (Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan) via campanac.com