Wakeley Lake Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $10From, per site
- Sites
- 65 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there
In the agency’s own words
Wakeley Lake Campground is comprised of 5 walk-in sites. Wakeley Lake Campground is set in the Wakeley Lake semi-primitivie nonmotorized area. Visitors to the area will be treated to a forested setting that varies from tag alder and conifer swamps to upland jack and white pine mixed with oak. Wakeley Lake is set relatively close to the parking location in the semi-primitive nonmotorized area. The lake tapers out into a swampy marsh area along the shoreline in some areas. A moderatly sized area to take a hike or view wildlife, this area also offers canoeing opportunities.The 2,100 acres area is habitat for loons and eagles and visitors may view loons nesting from March 1 to July 15. Please respect wildlife and view from a distance.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 6 · 5 walk-in
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
- Fall color · reported 13 days ago, 22 km away
- Near peak
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 14:23 UTC
recreation.gov lists 5 of the 6 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
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, $10 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
recreation.gov availability, read 14:23 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
6 sites
All 6 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. 6 of the 6 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the phone number
Where it is
Kneff Lake CampgroundHuron National Forest · 3.5 mi
Meadows ORV CampgroundHuron National Forest · 11 mi
Chimney Loop CampgroundHuron National Forest · 18 mi
Wagner Lake (MI)Huron National Forest · 19 mi
Island lake (MI)Huron National Forest · 20 mi
Ausable River CampingHuron National Forest · 20 miThe weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Grayling, MI
Typical weather
Typical October night 35°F, day 57°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 9°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
Wakeley 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 →