Silver Creek State Forest Campground

Cool small campground next to the pine river. About 20 spots to pull in and camp. Also areas along the hiking trail to camp. Lots of wildlife and good views along the trials. $15 a night. First come first serve.

Careful of the locals. They have tricks to snagging spots and not being there for the weekend. They like to fill out the slips and put “unknown” for leaving dates. We had a local argue to us that we stole their spot. We had our whole camp set up and just getting comfy until a local comes up with their slip saying it’s their spot and they were here an hour ago. (because we didn’t want to start a war) we packed up our shit and moved, we watched the cracked out lady park there one night and then not returning the rest of the weekend. Pretty much wasted space as many family’s drove by as they couldn’t even use the spot.

Besides that, it’s a lovely area and we cant wait to be back.

It's a small rustic campground along the national scenic Pine River.

It gets  busy on the weekends with hikers and kayaks,  but quits down during the week. I was here 5 days for the Indian Summer and it was fantastic to witness here. Beautiful hiking trail and river.

Loved it.

I stayed here for two nights recently.  The campground is not too large with 18 or 19 sites if I remember correctly.  Most of the sites are pretty private and a few are along the river that runs along the campground.  The water is very peaceful to listen to while falling asleep.

There are ample vault toilets and enough parking for one or two vehicles on most sites.  The sites are not that large, so large RVs will not fit.

Plenty of space for a tent or two per site.  Each site has a fire ring and a picnic table.  Finding firewood in the campground is near impossible, so plan to bring some or buy some before you arrive.

So many trails and beautiful camp sites on the river.

Nice, clean, quiet campground. The drive-in sites are a little loud because it’s mostly RV’s, but the walk-in sites were secluded and amazing! Limited cell service in the parking lot, no service at my site. Firewood available down the road a bit. Walk-in sites are right on the river: you could see kayakers passing and I took a dip in the river in the morning. We came in mid-August and the weather was amazing. Best campground I have been to yet!

Cute little campground with basic amenities. The best part is how close you are to the Pine River. Nice bridges to cast a line (though I didn’t catch anything during the one day we spent there!) and access to an EXCELLENT hike. Take the time to hike up to the Lincoln Bridge State forest campground with awesome views high above the river and hike back along the water on the other side. Next time, we’ll drop our canoe at one end, drive back to our site, hike back to the canoe, the paddle our way home.

A few great sites on the river, sites are close together. No ranger so expect noise.

I hesitate to write a review for this campground, because I don't want people to find it! But when I was looking for it, I was grateful for those who had reported on it. It's a lovely, quiet, private, in-the-middle-of-nowhere-in-the-middle-of-Michigan place on the beautiful Pine River. We listened to it burble past us all night long and it was heavenly.

Early June brought few campers yet; I don't know how busy it gets in the height of summer. It was just the quiet I needed to start the summer season. The Silver Creek Pathway is a great hike around the river -- other than that, we just enjoyed reading at the campfire and swimming in the super cold river.

This is an amazing discovery! This small (under 30 sites) simple campground has decent sites with many along the creek. There are 3 sets of m/f vault toilets that are very clean. Weekend kayakers camp here as they take a 2 day trip down Silver Creek. During the week the campground was almost empty. The 8 mile hiking loop follows the river and intersects with some off road trails. I drove 40 minutes to the start of the Manistee River Trail which is a magnificent hiking and backpacking destination. There are only small towns around here so bring all your supplies. If you have a group and get in early enough, the walk in sites are grouped together in a loop of the creek. I saw a group happily doing daily kayaking while gathering at night to enjoy company around the campfire under the stars. Don't miss this gem!