Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFree
Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MI · 44.65412, -84.00192
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →U.S. Forest Service lists this site. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI
No MVUM road within a quarter mile of the pin; the nearest mapped segment is FR 4350, 0.4 mi away. Access may be a county road or unmapped.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 898 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group CampsiteNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- +Urgent care5 mi
- MMechanic5 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- RxPharmacy6 mi
- HHardware6 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- WWater6 mi
- LLaundry6 mi
- ShShower12 mi
- EVEV fast charger15 mi
- DDump16 mi
- PPropane22 mi
- OOutfitter24 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 6 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
898 ft
Ground slope
5.8% · gentle
State
MI
Coordinates
44.65412, -84.00192
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureAu Sable River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Also mapped (OSM)Glennie Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townMcKinley · ~3.2 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~6.2 mi
- FuelFuel · ~5.5 mi
- Propane / LPGBlue Flame Propane · ~27.9 mi
- Dump station~16.5 mi
- GroceriesFairview Food Market · ~5.5 mi
- PharmacyFairview Pharmacy · ~5.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicHale Saint Joseph Medical Clinic · ~21.5 mi
- HardwareLuzerne Hardware · ~13.5 mi
EV charging — from Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger15.1 mi straight-line SE — Rogers Family Foods Glennie MI (at a public site) · RED_E · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 20 within 50 · 111 within 100 · 278 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)34.8 mi — Grayling, MI, Grayling
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO35.1 mi — Harbor Ln Harrisville MI, Harrisville
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)21.3 mi — Washington St Hale MI (at a public site) · RED_E · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 351315 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletCathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletDavis Rest Stop · ~0.6 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletEast Bull Gap Orv Th · ~1.5 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMckinley Horse Trail Campground · ~1.7 mi SE · USFS
Coming out here — Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Au Sable River as a perennial river, under 0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 5.8% — gentle. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite elsewhere
Other camps near Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Cathedral Pines Campground~0.2 mi
- Mckinley Horse Trail Campground~1.7 mi
- Meadow Springs Campground~3.6 mi
- Meadow Springs Backcountry Campsites~3.7 mi
The unit that manages Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite are set by Huron-Manistee National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite
Source
U.S. Forest Service recreation data
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
USFS/BLM authoritative: free & dispersed. Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up).
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Cathedral Pines Backcountry Group Campsite
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →How to read this page →All field notes →