Agency-listedUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
River Road Horse Trail Camp
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MI · 44.44291, -83.53912
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 — River Road Horse Trail Camp · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 2246 (River Horse Camp), 20 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 2246 (River Horse Camp), 20 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 2246 (River Horse Camp): “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 River Road Horse Trail Camp
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 762 ft.
Fire & smoke — around River Road Horse Trail CampNIFC · 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 River Road Horse Trail Camp · 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
- DDump3 mi
- ShShower3 mi
- FFuel5 mi
- GGrocery5 mi
- +Urgent care9 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- @Mail10 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- OOutfitter18 mi
- LLaundry28 mi
- WWater29 mi
- PPropane30 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 29-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 5 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 — River Road Horse Trail Camp
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
762 ft
Ground slope
1% · flat
Nearest rail line
~8.8 mi · other track
State
MI
Coordinates
44.44291, -83.53912
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around River Road Horse Trail Camp · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureIndian Creek · ~0.8 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Wildcat Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townSid Town · ~3.4 mi
- Nearest rail line~8.8 mi · other track
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.2 mi
- FuelFuel · ~4.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~2.8 mi
- GroceriesThe Dam Store · ~4.7 mi
- PharmacyWalmart Pharmacy · ~11.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicAlcona Health Center · ~9.2 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~10.4 mi
EV charging — from River Road Horse Trail Camp · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.4 mi straight-line E — Oscoda Ace Hardware (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 reach7 within 25 mi · 12 within 50 · 93 within 100 · 387 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)50.2 mi — Bad Axe, MI - Tesla Supercharger, Bad Axe
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO10.5 mi — Office Lounge and Grill Oscoda MI, Oscoda
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)10.5 mi — Office Lounge and Grill Oscoda MI (at a public site) · RED_E · CHAdeMO, 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 314477 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around River Road Horse Trail Camp · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletRiver Road Orv Trailhead · ~2.4 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSawmill Point Access · ~3.6 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMonument Campground · ~4.0 mi W · USFS
- Flush restroomLumberman'S Monument Visitor Center · ~4.1 mi W · USFS
Coming out here — River Road Horse Trail Camp · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Indian Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.8 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 1% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~8.8 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as other track. No track the atlas classes as a main line is mapped within 10 mi. 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 River Road Horse Trail Camp elsewhere
Other camps near River Road Horse Trail Camp
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Monument Campground~4.0 mi · fee
- Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites~4.1 mi · fee
- Van Etten Lake State Forest Campground~8.5 mi · fee
- Pine River Campground~8.8 mi
The unit that manages River Road Horse Trail Camp
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at River Road Horse Trail Camp are set by Huron-Manistee National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — River Road Horse Trail Camp
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
Free but developed (not dispersed) - review
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 River Road Horse Trail Camp
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 — River Road Horse Trail Camp
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →How to read this page →All field notes →