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/buy-and-apply/rec-pp

Young State Park Campground

We stayed for a week at Young State Park in September of 2020. Our site was at the end of a row and we enjoyed a decent amount of space for a truck and trailer, 30 amp service, and AT&amp;t cell service. (I ended up needing to use Teledoc :( and my husband was able to turn on the hotspot and laptop and use the web.) The site is dirt but was level.

Some sites were not in use because of high lake levels and park water problems. Leaking pipe? The small dune area leading up to Lake Charlevoix makes you feel like you are at Lake Michigan. We saw some beautiful sunsets from the edge of the water. There are a walkway and observation platform. There is some hiking, a place to walk your dog, swimming, and bathhouses. We used the campground as a base to explore surrounding towns like Boyne City and Charlevoix, but mostly for kayaking. It was very quiet during the week and was packed on Friday and Saturday nights. The fall color was building toward a peak and the scattered maple trees mixed with cedar made it very pretty. We would stay again in the offseason.

Camping on Lake Charlevoix

Here’s what we really liked about this park … it sits on beautiful Lake Charlevoix, is just a few miles away from the super cute town of Boyne City, some campsites with access to water right out of their back door, and the park has lots of beach to enjoy. Young State Park has a typical rustic campground feel. The park covers 560 acres which encompasses a campground, hiking trails, a large beach area with concessions, boat launch (located in the Terrace Campground loop), picnic area, playground, baseball diamond, basketball courts, and fishing pier. 

Reservations can be made on-line via the Michigan DNR site. The advantage of making reservations online is that you get a really good description of the site which includes length, width, hook-ups, amount of shade, length of site, distance to restrooms, and best of all - pictures.  We visited Young State Park in the summer but in talking to locals this place is wonderful in the winter and great for cross-country skiing with trails that wind through wooded areas. The price ranges from $20 to $33 per night depending on the season and electric hook-ups.  

There are three camping loops – Terrace, Spruce, and Oak.  Campsites in the Spruce loop don’t have a designated “pad” so you can arrange your RV or tent any way you like. This was the case with groups of friends who had two or three sites and arranged them so they faced each other with a common area in the center. The Terrace and Oak loops have less sites and seem a little quieter. The other plus of these loops is the easy access to water (some of which have great water views). All campsites are a mix of 20/30/50 amp or 20/30 amp with water spigots scattered throughout the loop. Each site has a picnic table and fire pit (firewood is for sale in the campground on the honor system with the nice thing being that you have access any time of day to purchase it).

The pros about this park are the easy access to Lake Charlevoix and being just a few miles from Boyne City (which has a great weekly farmers market, delicious food and beer at 7 Monks Tap Room, and a weekly Friday “Stroll the Streets” with live music). The park has a large beach area with a camp store/concession stand that has food and items for rent. It is really convenient that you can rent beach chairs/umbrellas/watercraft instead of having to bring them. Behind the concession stand is a fishing pier that was really popular with the kids. 

The cons are that the roads in the campground are pretty narrow and when someone was backing into their site it caused a traffic jam.  Sites are close together and the park has a very crowded feel. The bath/showers are not large enough for the amount of campers in the park and despite being cleaned daily they got lots of use and were always busy and by the end of the day, they were pretty dirty.  

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-NzcOOzCSk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-NzcOOzCSk)

Young State Park.

my family goes camping here in the summer. very nice beach and not far drive from charleviox. very nice campground books up fast!


very nice!

The neat thing about Young State Park is its site on Lake Charlevoix. Three miles away is the lovely and cute town of Boyne City.

This is a typical state park campground designed to pack in the numbers. Sites are close to one another, no to little vegetation between the sites. Not much comfort for tent camping. The shower houses are not large for the number of campers and despite daily cleaning, there's a lot of use. By the end of the day, early evening, it's a bit dirty. There are lots of other things going for it that includes hiking trails, boating, beach area with concessions, picnic areas and playgrounds.

Location, location, location. In addition to easy access to Lake Charlevoix, there's traveling through the other quaint towns that include East Jordan (where the manhole covers were cast), Ironton (where you cross the South Arm of Lake Charlevoix on a ferry) and of course, Charlevoix.

Nearby, Boyne City has developed nicely over the past few years. The town's supporters are doing a great job of sustaining this village. Seven years ago, it was a fine little town that seemed to "get along" with its harbor and a couple restaurants. Now, its center has many nice and newer restaurants and pubs, a great weekly farmers market and weekly summer events with a really nice, spacious town park on the lakeside. A grocery store is also located here, with a Starbucks inside for those who have to have it.

Location, location, location

very nice lake and beach

bathrooms and amenities are excellent

sites are close to each other, you can hear the other campers talking next to you

overall really enjoyed our stay

Nice place to stay

This campground has so much to offer, some of those things include a nice Beach, small store, fishing, paths, great location with a nice bike ride to downtown Boyne city. My only concern was the condition of the hiking trails. This park actually covers a ton of land and they advertise all the hiking trails that they have, but last summer we tried to hike it and it was hardly marked and so overgrown the trail just disappeared in the tall marsh grass, it hadn't been managed in a very long time, luckily we had GPS. The sites can be very close to your neighbor, so must be a people person and know that kids will be noisy, all night. There's a more rustic secluded section for camping where the sites aren't as close and there's actually trees. Despite those things, this campground is super nice and convenient for all needs and activities.

Busy but lots to offer

Huge park with three sections. Terrace is the best but hard to get. Lake side sites. Nice facilities and camp store. Lake Charlevoix sunests revival the Carribean. Breathtaking.

Best beach in Michigan

My family and I have been coming here for years- I will always recommend this place!

Beautiful

For being a modern campground this place is surrounded by trees and shade. Being close to the water is fantastic. Lovely paved walkway to the beach. The restroom was decent, met all the needs for camping. Staff was friendly and helpful. Sites were a good size. I happened to be at site #99 and it worked out just fine. Yes, this park is popular and it’s a family friendly place so you are bound to have some noise and deal with not much privacy. If you want that type of trip go backpacking. For car camping this was fantastic. I will for sure go back. Swimming at the beach area was also very nice. 

Postcard worthy

Totally worth the drive! For car camping, this place is a gem. Near the water, updated bathrooms and showers. Though the sites are close together but anytime you car camp that’s part of the charm. The beach area is gorgeous. Wonderful walkway that allows anyone in a wheelchair or anything to stool up the beach to check it out. Shallow enough to play i the water and the water is sandy. Staff were cheerful and easy to check in. So glad I made the choice to go there. 

Beautiful place!!

Young State Park was a quiet gem of a campground for us. The facilities were clean and the grounds themselves were a pleasure to walk around. The camp store was the best stocked one I’ve seen yet. All the sites were well sized with the exception of the waterside sites which were flooded due to the high lake levels lately. Other than that the campground has a lot to offer, especially being so close to Charlevoix and Petoskey.

No kids getaway!

Very friendly staff and clean park. Family friendly and pet friendly, beach was close by and clean. Reservations were very easy to make online and allows you to pick your site.

Young State Park

We had a view of the water when we sat by our firepit.  Nice park, great beach. Campground store was closed as it was in mid-Sept. Clean and nice bathrooms and showers.  Found other sites we would choose next year.