Agency-listedUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Hovey Lake Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MI · 46.29063, -86.70097
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 — Hovey Lake Campground · Hiawatha National Forest · MI
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 2367 (Hovey Lake Campground), 220 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as native material surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 2367 (Hovey Lake Campground), 220 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 2367 (Hovey Lake Campground): “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 →
What the record says about the site — Hovey Lake Campground · Hiawatha National Forest · MI
- Tent camping
- No drinking water — carry your own
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Hovey Lake Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 851 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Hovey Lake CampgroundNIFC · 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 Hovey Lake Campground · Hiawatha National Forest · MI
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel0 mi
- ShShower5 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- EVEV fast charger9 mi
- WWater10 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- DDump10 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- LLaundry31 mi
- HHardware32 mi
- RxPharmacy32 mi
- OOutfitter41 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 0 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
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 — Hovey Lake Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
851 ft
Ground slope
6.3% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~5.8 mi · industrial lead
State
MI
Coordinates
46.29063, -86.70097
Cost
Free · OpenStreetMap fee tag: no
Nearby & resupply — around Hovey Lake Campground · Hiawatha National Forest · MI (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureHovey Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Indian River (river) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townCoalwood · ~3.7 mi
- Nearest rail line~5.8 mi · industrial lead
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~9.9 mi
- FuelFuel · ~0.4 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~10.4 mi
- GroceriesForest Glen General Store · ~6.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicMunsing Memorial Hospital · ~10.0 mi
EV charging — from Hovey Lake Campground · Hiawatha National Forest · MI — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger8.6 mi straight-line N — Munising City Hall · FLO · CHAdeMO, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 11 within 50 · 24 within 100 · 92 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)36.3 mi — Andys Seney Bar, Seney
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)34.0 mi — NCP BACK LOT NORTH COAST PL, Marquette, MI · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- 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 356048 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Hovey Lake Campground · Hiawatha National Forest · MI — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomMF Munising Falls Comfort Station · ~9.9 mi N · NPS
- RestroomCR Learning Shelter Vault Toilet · ~11.2 mi NE · NPS
- RestroomChannel Marker Campsite · ~11.3 mi N · USFS
- RestroomSP Sand Point Beach Vault Toilet · ~11.9 mi N · NPS
Coming out here — Hovey Lake Campground · Hiawatha National Forest · MI
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Hovey Lake 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 6.3% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~5.8 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as an industrial lead. The nearest track the atlas classes as a main line is ~5.9 mi from the pin. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in it.
- 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 Hovey Lake Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Hovey Lake Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Island Lake Campground~2.8 mi · fee
- Halfmoon Lake Camping Area~3.3 mi
- Rock Lake Camping Area~3.4 mi
- Mcneil Lake Camping Area~3.5 mi
The unit that manages Hovey Lake Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Hovey Lake Campground are set by Hiawatha National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Hovey Lake Campground
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
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.
Agency page
fs.usda.gov — the land manager's own page for this site. Fees, seasons and closures are stated there first; if it disagrees with this page, it wins.
How it was placed
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
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 Hovey Lake Campground
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
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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 — Hovey Lake Campground
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Getting unstuck →All field notes →