Newaygo State Park Campground

Our reason for choosing this park was that we had rented a Pop-up trailer to see how we'd like it, and this was the nearest campground. That said we found the pop-up to our liking, though it felt huge to us!
Campground was primitive, but that's what we go for anyway. Very little in the way of trails, thought the main one had Frisbee golf along the way, which was unexpected.
Hardy Dam Pond is actually a good-sized man-made lake, and as such, has no beaches to speak of. There's a small swimming area near the boat launch.
  We were there in July of 2020 and the "Trump navy" was out in force. Lots of motorboats overloaded with flags, some inconsiderate boaters almost swamped our little canoe. (This was shortly after a nationwide news story in which Trump boaters swamped and sank *each other* on a lake in Texas). 
Some of the campers partied late, and some boaters got an early start, so noise levels were unpredictable.
 Nearby, a great place to stock up on meats and Jerky in the area  is Galesburg Meats in Kalamazoo.  Also a must see is the Gilmore Auto Museum in Hickory Corners

If you have any watercraft, this is a good weekender spot. The hike trails are easily traversed and if you ask the camp ranger at reception, you can also rent single or tandem kayaks for *quite a reasonable price in varying time blocks if you don't have any watercraft of your own - you just tell them what time that you want to start and they will bring the kayak to the boat launch for you, which is great. Trash dumpsters and firewood are available at the campground entrance (if wood for some reason is unavailable, there's a BP gas station nearby that also sells it for $1 cheaper a bundle). The designated swimming area for the site is not the best unless you have small children, but if you like towed tubing, there's plenty of that happening mid-lake, outside of the other pontoons and boats. Also, despite the features listed here, there are no shower facilities available at this site, so bring bath wipes if you want to stay fresh! The water pump was also inoperable during my stay, but came prepared with plenty of bottled water anyway. The campfire pits also do not have grates for grilling/cooking any hot food, but if you have any cast iron cookware, you can get around this by placing your fire pit logs as evenly as possible so you can set your cookware direct on the flame (or just bring a mini grill if you prefer). Also close enough to Grand Haven so you can spend a few hours there as part of a mini get-away and still get to your site within about an hour or so.

This was such a beautiful location!! And definitely a nice find! The one and biggest downside, which was NOT the parks issue more of a Michigan problem, was the infestation of gypsy moth caterpillars literally raining down on us the entire time…harmless little fuzzy guys but sooo damn annoying!!!! We later broke out in rashes all over due to the hairs from them getting into our pores and making you super itchy….so aside from that slight hiccup. It was a beautiful location and all the neighbors we encountered were awesome and very helpful! One even helped us out taking us to get firewood for an awesome deal!! Only downside is that we thought there would be a walkable beach access but there really wasn’t unless your down for and very steep narrow sandy path to the water and a very tiny “beach” area. And there was no walkable fishing spots either due to the only water access was on a cliff surrounded by trees so we decided against that. The views were incredible tho!!! And every campsite we saw including our own had a ton of tree spots perfect for hammocks!!! Overall I loved this spot with or without the caterpillars and would definitely go back!!

We live in Kalamazoo and wanted a quick trip out in the tent for a long weekend. We chose the park for it's proximity to home and because of nearby kayak/canoe launches. We enjoy rustic camping and were a little let down with the lack of seclusion on each site (that's to be expected when car camping but the photos and website left us hopeful for more space than was offered). The sites are deep but many are close together. Ours had a little extra room but was next to the vault toilet. There are a few trails in the park that are pleasant and the views of the lake are nice. The staff at the time wasn't very helpful when we asked for nearby hikes. They only knew of a paved trail but on our way out of town we met a couple who told us of many river trails and other hikes nearby. Overall it's a decent place to stay. Personally, I don't find it worth it to have vault toilets and no shower if I'm still going to be in a fairly cramped campground. I'd prefer that they have hike-in sites or offer the amenities of car camping.

This site turned out to be a diamond in the rough. Due to our lack of planning and seeking reservations, Newaygo State Park was one of the few campsites with short notice availability. As we entered we were greeted by spacious plots with enough treeline between them to cover up even the loudest of snorers. We took the next few minutes mapping out our perfect hammock setup. With so many options, we settled on our spots and built up the rest of camp. Nestled in and ready to explore, we walked to the edge of our site to the head of the beach trail to check out what we had gotten ourselves into. Less than a mile hike later and we made it to the 'beach front'. It wasn't much. The shallow buoyed off swim area was sandy, yet immediately upon passing the buoys we were met by very thick seaweed. Nonetheless, the view was breathtaking, there are plenty of lookout points over the lake to spend quiet time posted up in a hammock reading or whatever else you do in a hammock. Nighttime came and we were around the fire. We read that quiet hours start at 10:00 so being conscious of the expectations we kept our conversation at a low level and had light music playing from a phone. Around 11:10 a park ranger stopped by asking us to turn off the music, no big. But it seemed to us that no music after quiet hours should also be a part of the rules. All in all, we had an amazing weekend and we're all looking forward to our next weekend spent here. Thanks, Newaygo State Park!