★ Field-verified · Dave's ownUSFS · dispersedFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Hiawatha National Forest
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · Mackinac County, MI · 45.98889, -84.51520
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 →Dave's been here. A spot from Dave's own travels on U.S. Forest Service land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
A small primitive campsite in Hiawatha National Forest on the shore of Lake Huron. There is a fire ring here. Good cell service. Lovely wooded area. Enough room for one or two vehicles. There are other similar spots nearby. Just off of forest road. Four-wheel drive recommended but just for the site entrance. Good spot!
A night on record
Dave slept here on 9 November 2019. No agency publishes a season for this site itself (the road season below is the road's), so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Hiawatha National Forest · U.S. Forest Service · MI
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 3436I (Search Bay Spur I), 130 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 2 – high-clearance vehicles.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 3436I (Search Bay Spur I), 130 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 3436I (Search Bay Spur I): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
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 Hiawatha National Forest
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 585 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Hiawatha National ForestNIFC · 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 Hiawatha National Forest · U.S. Forest Service · MI
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery4 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- FFuel7 mi
- RxPharmacy7 mi
- HHardware7 mi
- WWater10 mi
- MMechanic13 mi
- LLaundry13 mi
- OOutfitter13 mi
- ShShower14 mi
- +Urgent care14 mi
- EVEV fast charger18 mi
- DDump23 mi
- PPropane51 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 4 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 — Hiawatha National Forest
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
585 ft
Ground slope
2.3% · flat
Nearest highway
~9.3 mi · Interstate 75
County
Mackinac County, MI
Coordinates
45.98889, -84.51520
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Hiawatha National Forest · U.S. Forest Service · MI (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLake Huron · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townMackinac Island · ~10.4 mi
- Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
- Nearest highway~9.3 mi · Interstate 75
- Drinking waterWater · ~9.9 mi
- FuelSunoco · ~7.2 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~23.3 mi
- GroceriesNibbleLungen · ~4.4 mi
- PharmacyArfstrom Pharmacy Store 4 · ~7.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicPickford Medical Center · ~13.6 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~7.4 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
Had a signal
Getting there
High clearance / 4×4
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from Hiawatha National Forest · U.S. Forest Service · MI — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger17.7 mi straight-line SW — Mackinaw City, MI (at a public site) · RIVIAN_ADVENTURE · CCS · 6 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach6 within 25 mi · 14 within 50 · 40 within 100 · 89 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)18.1 mi — Mackinaw City, MI - Tesla Supercharger, Mackinaw City
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO18.6 mi — HION NETWORK MACKINAW DC4, Mackinaw City
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)13.6 mi — Straits State Park, St Ignace, 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
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Star Line Mackinac Island Ferry - St. Ignace Dock, St. Ignace, 13.1 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily · AFDC lists it “Free”
Level 2, restricted access — Baymont by Wyndham St. Ignace Lakefront, St. Ignace, 12.3 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 hours daily; for customer use only · AFDC lists it “Free” - 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 391316 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Hiawatha National Forest · U.S. Forest Service · MI — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletMouth Of The Carp-Fish. Site · ~9.0 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletGovernment Island · ~9.9 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCarp River - Cg · ~10.3 mi W · USFS
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 28 · ~13.2 mi SW
Coming out here — Hiawatha National Forest · U.S. Forest Service · MI
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Lake Huron as a perennial lake or pond, 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 2.3% — flat. 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 is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) — abandoned, lifted and out-of-service track excluded, so a rail-trail does not count as one.
- Interstate 75 is mapped ~9.3 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 Hiawatha National Forest elsewhere
Other camps near Hiawatha National Forest
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Search Bay Dispersed Camping Area~0.4 mi
- Government Island~9.9 mi
- Carp River - Cg~10.3 mi · fee
- Round Island Camping Area~11.6 mi
Who holds the land at Hiawatha National Forest
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Hiawatha National Forest, manager on record: Forest Service (federal). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Hiawatha National Forest
Source
Dave's own travels
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
FIELD VERIFIED by Dave Lalande -- he has stood on this site. Coordinates are his own GPX track point, not a geocode. County and state confirmed against the FCC Census Block API (Mackinac County, MI). Everything under 'From the field' is a direct observation; nothing here is inferred from a land record.
A night on record
Dave's own GPS diary, 2017–2020: the date of the waypoint he saved here. The timestamp is UTC, so an entry saved in the evening carries the next morning's date. An observation of one night, never a forecast.
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
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. He camped here on 9 November 2019. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Hiawatha National Forest
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.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- 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 — Hiawatha National Forest
What “dispersed” means here →Cold-weather camping →Stay limits →Camping with a dog →All field notes →