Twelvemile Beach Campground and Cabin
1Heads uppark alert
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 3736 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Twelvemile Beach Campground is a beautiful campground along Lake Superior located within the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, just 15 miles (24 km) west of Grand Marais. There are 36 sites total, including 2 universally accessible sites. Twelvemile Beach has water, pit toilets, picnic tables, fire rings, and an interpretive amphitheater. The campground has access to the North Country Trail and the two mile (3.2 km) long self-guided White Birch Interpretive Trail. The turning radius and some of the parking at sites are limited, so the Park recommends that camper, or vehicle/trailer length should NOT exceed 42 feet (13 m). Keep reading
Recreation
There are three sets of stairs to the beach as well as a day-use picnic area and parking. The two-mile (3.2 km) long White Birch Trail begins and ends at the campground. The North Country Trail treks through the campground. The entrance road winds through a picturesque stand of white birch.
Facilities
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore drive-in campsites are rustic and do not have electric, water, or sewer hookups. Campsites provide a picnic table, fire ring with grill grate, and tent pad. The campground has vault toilets, well water and an interpretive amphitheater. Typically there is no cell phone reception. There are 36 sites total, including 2 universally accessible sites. The campground has access to the North Country Trail and the two mile (3.2 km) long self-guided White Birch Interpretive Trail. The turning radius and some of the parking at sites are limited, so the Park recommends that camper, or vehicle/trailer length should NOT exceed 42 feet (13 m).
Natural Features
Sandstone cliffs, beaches, sand dunes, waterfalls, inland lakes, deep forest, and wild shoreline beckon you to visit Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The power of Lake Superior shapes the park's coastal features and affects every ecosystem, creating a unique landscape to explore. Hiking, camping, sightseeing, and four-season outdoor opportunities abound.
Nearby Attractions
Kayak and Other Guided Tours and Pictured Rocks Boat Cruises within the national lakeshore are offered by authorized private companies. Pontoon boat and other rentals for use on Lake Superior are available in nearby communities. Charges & Cancellations
What the agency tells you
Conditions for all camping: Camping is limited to 14 days per calendar year within the Lakeshore. Permits are required for all camping. Camping is only allowed at designated locations. Overflow camping is prohibited. A campsite must be occupied by the person in possession of the permit for the campsite on the date(s) of occupancy. The campsite must be vacated by 11:00 am of the following day. Campers must have the appropriate camping permit in their possession. Campers must pay required fees for the site they are occupying.
Drive-in Camping Regulations: Only one screened porch/tent may be placed over the picnic table per site. A screened tent does not count towards the four tents per site limit. No more than eight persons per site. There is not a vehicle limit per site. Vehicles must fit within the parking space provided. This is strictly enforced; there are plenty of day use parking spaces nearby for extra vehicles. All tents must be placed on or within 6 feet of the existing tent pad. A maximum combination of 4 tents or sleeping hammocks are allowed on the campsite. Generator use is not allowed at any time of day in the west-end loop (#17 - #37) of Twelvemile Beach Campground nor in sites designated as generator free at Hurricane River Campground.
Important times: Checkout time is 11:00 am. Upon arrival, you can occupy your site any time after 11:00 am. Campground quiet hours are 10 pm to 6 am. There are generator-free areas at Twelvemile Beach and Hurricane River Campgrounds. Music should be for private listening only.
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Please print your reservation and have it with you or attached to campsite post.
Fire Regulations: The lighting or maintaining of open fires is generally prohibited, except in government provided metal fire rings and fire grills at the locations they are provided, or in personal self-contained charcoal grills in a parking lot or paved sidewalk. Campfires are permitted in fire rings only. Fires or hot coals cannot be left unattended. Beach fires are not allowed. Fire must be extinguished entirely using water and not buried. Purchase wood locally. No collecting of wood. No cutting of standing trees or limbs. Ash firewood is prohibited.
Pets / The following areas are closed to dogs, cats or any other domesticated animal: The North Country Trail and Sand Point Marsh Trail. The Grand Sable Dunes Natural Area and adjacent Log Slide dune field. All winter ski trails which are maintained by grooming. All park areas east of Miners Beach to the western edge of 12 Mile Beach Campground is closed to pets including: Little Beaver Lake Campground Beaver Basin Overlook Parking Area Pets must always be on leash. Please dispose of all pet waste in the appropriate receptacles. This closure does not affect legal hunting as defined in 36 CFR 7.32.
Food Storage / The following conditions for the storage of food are in effect in the entirety of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore: All food items, lawfully taken fish and wildlife, garbage and equipment used to cook or store food must be kept sealed in a vehicle, or in a camping unit that is constructed of solid, non-pliable material, in government provided receptacles or suspended at least 10 feet above the ground and 4 feet horizontally from a post, tree trunk or other object. This is bear country! Proper storage ensures safety for you and members of your party when enjoying the natural resource. Violations of food storage rules may result in fines.
Conditions for the disposal, containerization, or carryout of human body waste have been established as follows: Where toilet facilities are not provided, human wastes will be disposed at least 200 feet from a trail, campsite, or water source; in a hole at least six inches deep; and covered with earth or packed out of the park. Where toilet facilities are provided (park campgrounds), human waste shall not be disposed of in park trash cans. Portable toilet facilities may be used (such as in a camper) if graywater and sewage remain contained within the vehicle. Tent style enclosures for campsite portable toilets and/or showers are prohibited.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore drive-in campsites are rustic and do not have electric, water, or sewer hookups. Campsites provide a picnic table, fire ring with grill grate, and tent pad. The campgrounds have vault toilets and well water. Tent-style enclosures for campsite portable toilets and/or showers are strictly prohibited. Typically there is no cell phone reception. All camping at Pictured Rocks is by reservation only. Same-day reservation are accepted.
Other: Resale or auction of advance reservations is prohibited. Campsites 4, 26, and 35 can be reserved two weeks before your intended arrival date while Campsites 8, 15, and 33 can be reserved four days before your intended arrival date.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 37 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 36 ft
- Accessible sites
- 2
- Pets
- Allowed at 36 of 37 sites
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Lake, Beach
- Accessible Swimming
- Backpacking
- Beachcombing
- Hiking
- Night sky · 7th darkest of 192 in MI
- Bortle 2
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Park Service says
- None
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 36 of the 37 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 rate for this season, $25 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 Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
37 sites
All 37 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. 36 of the 37 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| East | 01 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $25 | |
| East | 02 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | yes | $25 |
| East | 03 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $25 | |
| East | 04 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $25 | |
| East | 05 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $25 | |
| East | 06 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | yes | $25 |
| East | 07 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $25 | |
| East | 08 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $25 | |
| East | 09 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $25 | |
| East | 10 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $25 | |
| East | 12 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $25 | |
| East | 13 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $25 | |
| East | 14 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $25 | |
| East | 15 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $25 | |
| East | 16 | type not stated | 30 ft | ||
| West | 17 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $25 | |
| West | 18 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $25 | |
| West | 19 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $25 | |
| West | 20 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $25 | |
| West | 21 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $25 | |
| West | 22 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $25 | |
| West | 23 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $25 | |
| West | 24 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $25 | |
| West | 25 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $25 | |
| West | 26 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $25 | |
| West | 27 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $25 | |
| West | 28 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $25 | |
| West | 29 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $25 | |
| West | 30 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $25 | |
| West | 31 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $25 | |
| West | 32 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $25 | |
| West | 33 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | $25 | |
| West | 34 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $25 | |
| West | 35 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | $25 | |
| West | 36 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $25 | |
| West | 37 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $25 | |
| West | Twelvemile Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 18 ft | $35 |
25 of 37 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Benchmark Individual Backpacking SitesPictured Rocks National Lakeshore · 1.0 mi
Sevenmile Creek Group Backpacking SitePictured Rocks National Lakeshore · 2.4 mi
Sevenmile Creek Individual Backpacking SitesPictured Rocks National Lakeshore · 2.4 mi
Hurricane River CampgroundPictured Rocks National Lakeshore · 3.0 mi
Au Sable East Group Backpacking SitePictured Rocks National Lakeshore · 4.4 mi
Au Sable East Individual Backpacking SitesPictured Rocks National Lakeshore · 4.4 miTwelvemile Beach Campground is located 15 miles (24 km) west of Grand Marais off Alger County Road H-58 (34 miles/55 km east of Munising).
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Grand Marais, MI
Typical weather
Typical October night 39°F, day 55°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 12°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

Twelvemile Beach Campground and 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 →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…an interpretive amphitheater. Typically there is no cell phone reception. There are 36 sites total, including 2 universally accessible…”