Bear Lake Campsite
October 2026
About
Overview
The Munising and Rapid River/Manistique Ranger Districts of the Hiawatha National Forest offer a variety of camping experiences. Many are located on inland lakes in a rustic forest environment with no drinking water. The rustic environment offers a wonderfully serene and peaceful setting for your next camping experience.
Recreation
Visitors will be able to enjoy swimming, berry picking, and fishing at the designated campsites located on the Hiawatha National Forest. Licenses are required for fishing in Michigan waters.
There is a carry - in boat launch at the day use area on the south end of the lake. This is intended to prevent the overfishing of this excellent brook trout fishery, which is maintained by annual stocking.
Swimming is marginal with a thin layer of sand covering a mucky bottom.
Facilities
There is NO drinking water available at these sites.
There are NO toilets.
Lake Name: Bear Lake
Number of Sites: 1
Maximum Number of People per Sites: 8
Toilets: No
Boat Access: Carry in ONLY Boat Access to the South of the site. There is a Boat Launch on the East side of the lake down FR 2633.
Lake Size (acres): 21
Natural Features
The Bear Lake campsite is situated on the gorgeous 21- acre Bear Lake, high upon a hill overlooking the lake. The site is surrounded by spectacular paper birch, aspen and oak tree species.
Nearby Attractions
There are a number of horse, bike, and hiking trails within minutes of several of the sites. In over a mile from these campsites, visitors can expect to find: bait shops, general and grocery stores, gas, a pay phone, trailheads, a fishing pier, biking, and kayak/canoe rentals.
Groceries, gasoline, fishing and camping supplies, ice and deli are available five miles northeast on County Road 437 in the Thunder Lake Area.
Contact Info
For local information, please call (906) 474-6442 or call (906) 387-2512 for general information.
Amenities
Phone: 906-474-6442 OR 906-387-2512
Is Bear Lake Campsite fully booked?
A campground showing no availability is almost never full for good. People cancel — plans change, weather turns, someone books three weekends and keeps one — and the site goes straight back into the booking system, usually without warning and often at odd hours. The reason sold-out campgrounds feel impossible is not that sites never free up; it is that nobody is watching at the moment they do.
CampHawk watches Bear Lake Campsite in Rapid River, MI for you. We recheck it every 15 seconds, around the clock, and the moment a site opens we send a text, an email and a push notification — and on Recreation.gov we can put the site straight into your cart, so it is held while you get to your phone.
Searching is free and needs no account — the calendar above is live right now. Watching Bear Lake Campsite for cancellations is the paid part.