Best Tent Camping near Auburn, IN

Dirty restrooms. Dirty lake. You have to pay extra to use the slide. Camp sites have been cut in half. Only 1 bathhouse/restrooms all the eay in the front at the beach. On the 2nf day we did find a porta potty in the back but it was nasty and everyone refused to use it. Manager was rude when i could not fit my car, tent (10x20), table and fire ring on out site. Told me o had to move my tent 1 foot over after it was already set up and loaded with beds. She left and I pulled it down and restaked just in time for her to vome and look disappointed that i had followed her order to pull it down and said i did not have to do that. The site was mostly dirt very little to no grass. When it rained we had nothing but mud. Hay rides on the weekend were late and the man driving it went way to fast down the back hill making you feel you were about to fall out. Employees childrwn throwing water on the people riding the hay ride. Someone went around fogging for mosquitos and allowed the children to run and play in the fog. Karaoke lady was extremely rude to all the children.

Twin Mills is a really beautiful and quiet RV Campground, with tall trees in Northern Indiana. We frequent this location when getting RV Repairs and visiting Elkhart, the birth place of most RVs.

There are cabins and tent sites and a large lake access point with a beach area. The playgrounds seemed to be in good shape and the dumpsters were centrally located.

The park has a gate entrance for security.

There is a large pool area and basketball court.

There are several sections in the park, some more wooded and narrow sites, some are more spread out.

Cellular: T-Mobile had good signal strength and bandwidth, AT&T was not as good but still doable.

Most of the sites are full hook up, some have 30amp and some have 50amp.

Amenities: Pool Clubhouse Basketball Volleyball Picnic tables Fire rings Trash Playground Lake access Beach area Dock Cabins Tent sites

This park is great for the right kind of trips, we visit here often in the summer to enjoy the river, kayak , and relax. Most sites are on a small elevated bank on maumee river, (you can walk down the path but not put a kayak in)

There are no hookups, only vault toilets, no staff only very nice camp hosts ( there are next to site 11 ). 

Sites 1-6 are misleading on the site, they are not on the river bend, there is a gravel trail/road between them and the river bank. its not a huge deal for access but annoying if your expecting direct access. 

Sites 9 and 10 were not bookable in 2020 an hopefully remain that way, they are basically in front on the camp host site, so the camp host is between you and the river. 

Sites 11-15 are the best in my opinion 

Site 13 has direct access to the river on a small walking path.

Site 15 is our favorite, it has the most room and still has a small path down to the river.

We love camping out here. It’s our favorite place to be in Huntington. It’s super cheap, the sites are well taken care of, plenty of play spots for kids, electric and primitive, the sites come with picnic tables and fire rings with cooktops, some of the spots are out in the open and others are inset back into the trees. Some spots have wonderful views of the lake too! Our only issue is that because there is no one constantly there like a normal campsite, there are people who take the best view spots are stay for weeks on end knowing you can only stay, I think 14days, before moving to a new spot. Went there this past weekend and the people across from us were also BLARING music so loud you could feel the bass in your chest. We kindly asked if they could lower it, not turn it off, just lower it and the man was so kind and did it, however the woman threw a fit and turned the music back up. We ended up moving sites even tho we paid for that specific one and already were set up. There is no number to call so you just have to deal. But it’s totally worth it for the price and the sites. People just need to learn camping rules and take other people into consideration. 🤷🏼‍♀️

When researching our trip, I came upon this state park right on the Maumee River and was very surprised to find it had not been previously reviewed. The website indicated the sites were tent only but when I called, I was told we could park and sleep in our campervan. When I tried to make reservations, there was a two-night minimum on the weekends and we were just passing through so I decided to see if we might be able to snag one night if there were sites available. 

There is a two-mile road to the campsites once you enter the park and along the way, we passed many pull-out day-use picnic areas on nicely manicured grounds. Once we reached the campsites, there seemed to be less attention paid to the area. Turns out that there were only a very few sites that had paved pads that would accommodate our van; the rest were clearly for tents only (but there was no way to tell this from the website). Even though I had seen that about half of the sites were reserved, there was no one there at 4:30 on a Friday. There did not seem to be any staff or rangers on-site and there is self-registration. The rates seemed kind of steep ($19 on weekdays; $20 weekends and $22 on holiday weekends) for sites with no hookups and only porta-potties. We saw some people fishing near the dam and perhaps the campground would be suitable for these folks and/or people boating/kayaking in who portage down the river (there is a marina) but it just did not feel like a place we wanted to camp.

Elkhart County 4-h Fairgrounds: (Scale 1- bad, 5-Very good

(72 yr olds in 27’ trailer.)

Overall Rating: 4 for access to the area, very clean facilities, and not too many campers thus time of year.
Price 2024: $35 for water/electric only. Security: No Usage during visit: Very light Visual Privacy Between Adjacent Sites: none Site Spacing: very close Pad surface: our area was grass Reservations: Yes Campground Noise: Quiet except for one day of motorcycle raises at the nearby track.
Outside Road Noise: Not most sites Through Traffic in campground: Some for activities at the fairground Electric Hookup: Yes Sewer Hookup: some sites Dump Station: yes Potable Water Available: At sites Bathroom: Very nice flush toilets Showers: yes Pull Throughs: Yes Cell Service (AT&T): Varied throughout campground Setting: open grass fields around very well manicured county fairground. Recent Weather: 70s and rain. Insects:None Host: I am not sure.
Rig Size: Large Sites: full hookups and water/electric only

We camped at Way Back campground llc in Michigan for three seasons, initially building strong friendships with the owners and their grandchildren. Our kids would eagerly await our weekly arrivals during the summers, often chatting and playing video games during the off-season. The campground initially offered family-friendly activities like hayrides and crafts.. these dwindled to events that included only our children and the owners' grandchildren, often overshadowed by drunken behavior unsuitable for kids. By the second season, that sense of community soured when the owners' friends/family began uninvited weekend parties on our campsite. Groups would show up, using our firewood and partying late into the night while our kids struggled to sleep, often leaving only after we became assertive and telling them to leave so we could go to bed. This disregard for our family's needs, compounded by other unsettling issues made it clearly evident that Way Back is not a family friendly campground. Our campsite being littered with debris from a previous burned, condemned camper on our lot, promises of cleanup that went unfulfilled for 3 seasons. Obscene drunken adult behaviors in front of children that went unaddressed, only created a growing sense of disappointment. We also faced safety concerns, such as homeless individuals using drugs and living in the campgrounds. Convicted sexual offenders and known drug addicts in the park. Hostile fighting and commotion usually provoked by and instigated by the owners. A lingering presence of inappropriate adults around children at the park. Despite our initial rapport and giving the owners multiple chances to make improvements, issues only escalated, leading us to strongly advise against this campground. (Photos from last day. The glass and Debris has been collected like that every weekend for the last 3 years)