Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into state parks and recreation areas, state boat launches, state forest campgrounds and state trail parking lots. The Michigan Recreation Passport does not cover local, county, municipal, or metropolitan parks or recreation areas. Learn more: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79134_79210---,00.html

Newaygo State Park Campground

My husband and I have been going to Newaygo State Park for over 20 years. We started out tent camping and now have a pop camper. The thing we love most about this campground is the spacious site and that it is truly rustic with vault toilets and hand pumped water. Our kids also love this campground. They get to explore by themselves and there is plenty for them to do and keep busy. There is a playground, hiking trails, swimming area, geocaching, fishing, kayaking but the best part is the disc golf course. We spend a lot of time playing on the disc golf course. Have fun and just enjoy the outdoors.

If you like rustic, this is the place for you!

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!

Hamocker's Paradise

Beautiful Park! We loved every second of our trip here last Fall, can't wait to go back.

It doesn't get any better!

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.

Nice views, somewhat rustic sites

I love the campsites at this state park, they're decently big and each site is surrounded by trees. The sites are a little close together but all in all we really enjoyed our stay. Keep in mind there are only pit toilets and a water pump in the way of utilities. We also did have to drive to a gas station anytime we needed extra supplies. But there's plenty to do with the lake, beach area, volleyball court and the river close by. If you are prepared and know what you're getting into, you can have a wonderful camping trip at Newaygo State Park. 

Good experience

We stayed in the Poplar campground. Sites are bigger than the other side and more private with more trees. Rez was easy online. Not many campers this weekend.

Close getaway to Grand Rapids

We camp here 2-3 times a summer.....Space and trees between sights, clean outhouses, hand pump for water, swim area not far from boat launch, trails and friendly rangers. Sometimes boats are a little loud on the river.

Family time

Very wooded and spread out among the campsites! Close to the water, and there’s a trail along the perimeter of the campground with amazing views. Great stargazing as well. 

A perfect spot

As I am entering the old fart stage in my life I really enjoyed how private the sites are and how incredibly quiet it was there. Definitely my favorite place to camp near my home.

Great quiet place

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.

Good summer weekend destination

I stayed here for a couple nights while I was on a business trip up that way, because camping is way cooler than staying at hotels. It’s all rustic sites, but the campground is nice. There’s good hiking, an awesome disc golf course, and the lake right there with boat launches for fishing. If you’re not into fishing or disc golf, you might be happier elsewhere, but I love those two things, so I want to go back and visit again. I did manage to get an enjoyable little hike the morning I packed to leave before work, and it was enjoyable.

Disc golf/fisherman’s campground 

The campground is slightly rustic with no water or electric hookups. There is, however, a fresh water fill station when you first arrive where you can fill tanks or containers. The outhouses were very clean and in good condition. The sites are fairly spread out to give nice wooded privacy.

Great scenic getaway

I'd like to begin by stating that we have stayed here in a tent and in a camper.  Both times we enjoyed it very much.

We had a great time fishing, walking the trails, playing at the playground, and playing the disc golf course.  

This is a great campground. The only criticism I have is not that it is a primitive camp ground, I can handle that no problem, but when visiting a primitive campground I've come to expect quiet and some degree of tranquility. The lake is a great part of the area but it is quite loud early morning and sometimes late into the night.  

All that being said.  I'll be going back again. 

Pretty good primitive spot

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