Cabin camping is an amazing way to experience Alger, while still enjoying a little rustic luxury. The Dyrt can help you find the best cabin camping destinations for your next trip. Each cabin rental offers quick access to one or more of Alger's most popular destinations.
Rifle River Campground & Canoe Livery, LLC is located in Sterling, MI along the beautiful Rifle River. We offer camping both modern and rustic camping with over 25 campsites directly on the river. Whether you prefer to enjoy to serenity of the river in one of our canoes, tubes or kayaks or simply want to explore nature, we have what you need to enjoy your camping experience.
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
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
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
$20 - $50 / night
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
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
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
Scout
Went later September on a Saturday and it was perfect. Good mix of tents and rv’s. Everyone was respectful and the whole campground was pretty quiet despite being essentially full. Bathrooms were clean, stocked, with plenty of hot water. Didn’t shower there but there is a ton of showers. Beach was a crazy close walk and really impressive. Even a pet friendly beach too. Camp host had fun activities for the kids (my kids claim this was the best time of the trip) as well as tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. Staff was incredibly friendly
Traveler
Alright camp ground, it’s a members only. Few grouchy people that seem more miserable than into relaxing. It’s definitely an interesting atmosphere compared to other campgrounds. Staff are hit or miss, seems like the pleasant ones take layoff and move on. Small improvements are made year over year, which is nice.
Scout
We really enjoyed our stay. We brought our travel trailer and my brother and his family stayed in a cabin. Very well run campground with plenty for all of our kids to do. We were extremely impressed with the owners and all of their assistance and personal touches. We were told they just took over ownership of the campground last year and this is their 1st season as owners. We will definitely be back!
Guide
nice campground with plenty of woods and water. rustic sites could be a little more leveled off but not awfully bad. they have full, semi and rustic sites. camped here 4 times and enjoyed my time. PRO'S- great fishing, playgrounds for kids, great for riding bikes, sites are clean and many have good space for larger campers, staff is friendly and reliable. CONS- showers need more pressure, roads can get extremely dusty when it's dry, "beach" is small and rocky and on a slop which is difficult to walk on due to too many rocks in what little sand there is however the whole lakeshore is rocks so wear water shoes, while it didn't bother me, it can get a little loud at nite, after 10pm "quite time" but nothing really serious, some rustic sites could use some dirt to level them up but manageable, rustic sites, IMO, are a little expensive at $20 a night but I've camped at others that were $40! summing my review up, I enjoyed every time I camped here! caught lots of fish from walleye to crappie, even a 6.3lb small mouth bass!! very nice campground that I will continue to camp at and recommend!!
GuideMy Family and Friends had a great time here. Very nice and quite if you like that. Good spacious spots. Many sites are wide so they lend themselves to good group camping so you can pull sideways and open up to all in your group. We had great spots with the others we were with.
Traveler
This place was fantastic. We stayed in the Lakeside cabins. Amazing views! We went kayaking, mountain biking, hiking and fishing. The wildlife is plentiful and the lake is full of fish. The staff are fantastic. If we needed anything, they were there in minutes. Always courteous and friendly. Will definitely be back
Traveler
Beach, trails and children's solace pad, just an easy walk across the road. Newer bathhouse. Shady sandy campsite. Be sure and visit downtown Bay City, lots of great restaurants, a Riverwalk on both sides of the river, concerts in the park. Great atmosphere.
GuideMost sites are good, though some have slopes to them. Choose carefully. Great newer playscape and splash pad (!) for the kids, across State Park Rd from the main campground. Nice newly opened visitor/nature center. Campground usually clean and patrolled. Showers/restrooms are good, cleaned twice a day. Friendly staff.
Some of the best campground hosts are here.
Groceries, restaurants & laundromats are a short drive away.
TV reception was ok, and T-Mobile worked well enough.
Guide
Nice park. Can feel a little tight on some spaces, especially if your neighbor sprawls over the lines. Restrooms could use a little improvement (like replacing the crappy doors leading into the building) and some maintenance, but are clean. Being on a point between Lake Huron & Tawas Bay, there's almost always some breeze. There's beaches on both sides of the point. Staff friendly. Like most MI State Park sites, it's electric only. Tawas has no (as of this review) FHU sites. There's the Tawas Point Lighthouse here, which you can climb for a few bucks. Nice little gift shop next to it. It can get really packed here on weekends, and the day use gets closed because of being too full.
Big rigs, note that the roads can be tight, especially when inconsiderate campers crowd the road, cause you know... It's all about them.
All in all, it's one of our favorite state parks.
Hit Klenow's Market in town. They do great sandwiches!
Legend
The ONLY issue I had with this campground was that it's on a busy road. The campground is beautiful and very clean with a great swim area, cute playground, and newer shower houses.
Guide
Well, the campground is old. Everything works very well. The sites are decent size. They’re plenty of small playgrounds throughout the campground. The beach is amazing the views awesome however when it comes to booking, it’s impossible to get a spot somehow they’re already booked before they even allowed to be booked and it’s every good spot
Traveler
The only complaint about the week I spent was they didn’t cut the grass, other than that I had an amazing birthday week at Rifle River Campground, we found amazing flowers blooming like yellow and pink lady slippers I even found Agates, fossils if you’re a rock hunter and when you climb up the tower there’s a extremely large eagles nest.
The fishing wasn’t very successful I only caught a small one but the water was warm and clear you could see the sand doons.
Guide
Excellent owners! Super friendly that work hard to keep the place really clean. Its been in business since 1941 I believe.
They have 20 sites. The ones by the river are where we stayed. (sites 4&5). They also have some little cabins. They also do kyak rentals, with drop off and you boat back to their own landing. Super convenient.
We stayed the weekend and fully enjoyed it. We stayed in site 5 and had the river as our front yard. Electric is provided at each site, and they do have a dump station.
The ONLY downside I had, and I knew full well going into this and it didn't bother me, it is on M115, a fairly busy road. I know that might be a deal breaker for some, but was easily overlooked for the view we had, the kindness of the owners, and the cleanliness of the facilities and grounds. Most folks wont care, but some purists (Just know that I'm usually a boondock, REAL desolate camping kind of guy), wont like the traffic aspect. I didn't let it bother me.
I give 5 stars because they cant do anything a bout the location, obviously, so I rated on our experience. We had an excellent time, and will come back again.
ScoutI think jewel lake is pretty good because they have good campsites. I like the dog, they have an island, you can go on can't sleep on there, but you can go on it. They have a beach, they have a bridge, so you can fish on good water to go swimming, you can drive a boat, you can go on a kayaking on a jet ski, any type of water boats the camp site it's pet friendly perfect for campers or pull behinds tense, they're ok, for motorhome\ RV's but it's pretty good.
Guide
The campsites were nice and level and reasonably large. I chose a site near the bathrooms, which were quite annoyingly closed. The campground was located right next to a busy road. So, there was road noise through the night.
I was happy I got to charge my batteries, though.
I met a squirrel that was so spoiled by previous humans that when I accidentally dropped a bit of food on the ground, he ran right up, over my foot grabbed it and then ran about 10 feet away and ate it.
ScoutShowers and Rest Rooms have been updated and were well taken care of. The park rangers were extremely friendly and helpful. We are newbies, but if this is what rving is like, we will definitely be enjoying it.
Traveler
We left Tawas Point campground and went here. The day use beach bathroom was our first stop...not the cleanest. But the beach was nice as were the trails. Once in the camp itself, we loved how much better it was than Tawas. It's more spread out and I didn't feel like people were staring at me. Our site was perfect. We had some shade, perfect to park under as we car camped. Spacious lot and a trail connected us to a grassy area, boathouse, and beach. PERFECT spot if you are a paddleboarder/kayaker/etc. No wake lake is awesome for paddle sports! Our bathhouse was very clean. We will DEFINITELY be coming back!
TravelerIt is very nice and extremely clean. However it is kind of cramped. Sites feel close and everyone was very nosey. Pet beach is nice. Water is beautiful. Convenient location. People didn't listen to rules such as quiet hour and let their badly behaved dogs run loose. Bath house is extremely nice! All in all, I would camp here on an off day/season.
RangerSorry, I hate writing negative reviews, but this place deserves it.
Pros- the beach is fantastic, staff is excellent.
Cons- looks like they tried to cram in as many sites as possible, even on unlevel terrain. I can't imagine how ugly it would get during rainstorms with the mud.
$34/night is way too high. I've seen way better dry camping spots. This was our 3rd Michigan SP on our long trip, & we are really disappointed in this one.
TravelerCampground maintenance. Electrical hookups are too far away from the site. They jam a lot of campers in here. The beach is across the street and caseville is next door which helps up the reviews. I would prefer to stay at the caseville county park instead.
TravelerCampground was beautiful and had many trails to walk & bike. We had a nice time walking down to the beach and walking the trails. Beach was very nice and had kayaks and paddle boards available to rent. Campground was pretty quiet at night (we did stay during the week though) & bathrooms were clean. The lake is amazing and would definitely go back!
RangerFirst time there. Compared to other state parks in other states this was very packed with mainly RV’s. The lake is pretty but goes from waist high to bottomless blue with lots of boats speeding past. So expect to swim with eyes in the back of your head. Despite this, it had a chill and relaxing vibe. No bugs when we were there. Nice shop near the day use area with rentals. For what it was and the number of people, it’s nice. It’s not wilderness but it is rural.
GuideCampground is one of Outdoor Adventures membership campgrounds, way overpriced, check FB Marketplace for resellers.
Campground is rustic, but clean, sites are relatively cramped, but lots of trees. Staff seemed nice.
GuideUnfortunately, it's bordered on 2 sides by 2 major roads, Old 27 and Townline Lake Rd, and Harrison is loaded with people who think "no exhaust" equals "cool car", and are happy to show you just how big a POS they have while driving by the campground, several times a day...For no apparent reason....
Fair week will suck. Loud, crowded, just not fun in my mind. I avoid town on holidays and fair week, you should too.
Yes, some spots are smaller than others, so be honest about your rig length when booking. Many sites are rather large, like 97, but severely sloped, also like 97... Others are flat, small, and your camper is right near the road (I forget the site numbers, but on the circle drive across from 97).
Power at sites, water at posts in the area. Clean place for the most part. Paved roads. A few are full hookup. Those are in a row by the playground. All in all, typical state park...
Varying topography. Very low sites on the West edge, side nearest Old 27, far South end it is higher, sloped, can be cramped to get into for newbs. One spot in the corner, the very Northeast corner camp spot, is low, and flood prone during rain.
Didn't use the facilities. That's why I bought a camper, and I use it. GF says they were decent.
Beach is ok. Can tie up a few boats to trees nearby. Bathrooms at beach as well.
Not my number one go to spot, unless I'm looking to just get out of the house for the weekend and not leave town. It's $62 total for 2 nights, so it's cheap. Plus it's 6 minutes from home. Still kinda feels like we're flatlanders, but no traffic worries on the trip home🤣.
We had no issues with traffic in the park. Everyone drove slow when we were there. No loud parties, either.
FOOD TIP: Walk over to Steve's county market, just a 5 min walk North, and get the fried chicken. Get there before 5:30 or 6:00, I forget when they stop frying. Lots of other lip smacking grub there as well.
Guide
We stayed on site 78. It's slightly sloped but leveling is easy. Biiiig sites here. The first 3 areas you pass on the way in are in sun all day, more or less. (Near the cabins) The rest are in pine stands and really is a nice place to be. As per the normal, pines bring sap, so expect that.
Day use is across the street. Playground, beach, etc. One pond near the camping area. Would like to see a big playground near the camping sites, vs a swing set behind the bathroom house. Probably yell less at the kids if they had one near your campers
One septic station, enter it from the pines side as the hole is on the East side.
We enjoyed our stay, except the inconsiderate, yelling people at site 67. They should have been booted out in my opinion. CONSTANTLY yelling.. seriously... Dog yapping while they just sit there, letting him. Once they piled into that old Winnie, it was a much more pleasant experience. I'm sure everyone in that pod was glad when they stopped the constant yelling.
Wish we had a canoe or kayaks to fart around on the ponds. In lieu of that, we fed the fish some bread. Not exciting, but relaxing.
Staff was great. They make rounds every hour or so, but the loud site clammed up when they heard the Gator coming down the road. Didn't bother us in the least.
They sell wood, $5/bundle on our visit, with delivery. Pretty standard price for this area, with the exception of the gas station nearby, which asks $10+ for the same size bundle (they don't sell much).
Overall, we liked it. Nice, small, fairly quiet campground. Power at the sites and a centrally located water spigot.
For the price ($80 for 3 nights) it's great. Slightly cheaper than Wilson State Park, at $67 (I think, total) for 2 nights. It's a happy mix between boondocking and full on state park.
Guide
As far as the park itself is concerned, it's clean, VERY large spots, power at most spots, communal water in the center of the "pods" of sites.
Staff was great. They come around 3 or 4 times a day, if you need wood, just flag them down and they will deliver it ($5/bundle). We brought our own wood but it was still a bit green, and bought 2 bundles from them, and mixed it in.
Ponds are just that, ponds. Not gonna catch record breaking fish here, but you can kyak around a bit. Electric motors only here.
The first 3 areas you roll thru on the North side of the drive, along the lake, are in almost full sun, take that into account, but easy pond access. The ones beyond that are in a beautiful pine stand, lots of space, and all around comfy area. We were on site 78. It's not level. Many around it aren't, but it's not a real big deal, really. But site 73 should be avoided if rain is forecasted for your time there. 73 sits at the low side of that pod, and gets washed out.
Our time there was RUDELY interrupted by some inconsiderate folks, yelling at their kids non stop, literally every 30 seconds, letting the dogs just bark and bark while they sit there. Zero respect for anyone else there. Constant yelling. Once they retired for the evening, the rest of the campground was VERY considerate and peaceful.
I can't complain about the park itself. Maybe put a bigger playground near the camping sites, so your kids can play and be within eyesight.
Traveler
After following this campground's FB page for years we finally got to visit this summer. It sits along the Rifle River next to Rifle River Campground and Whites Campground.
The campground is huge and offers so much! The store up front had everything you probably forgot at home, plus more.
The bathrooms were always clean when we needed them. The showers were clean, some lacked hanging hooks on the walls. The water was warm immediately, but the push button timer for the shower water made showers kind of annoying (small issue though).
Everyone seemed to abide by the noise curfews around 11 pm and it seemed rather quiet through the night given the amount of campers around. The rustic sites along the river in section "N" were very large and spacious spots. Sections L and M seemed to be tightly packed in.
The Group camping side is considered the "Adult/Party" area. Nobody was crazy out of hand or anything to that nature, just louder music, drinking, etc.
There were numerous playground areas, volleyball, horseshoes, and even an arcade area. Although we didn't stay in the Family area it looked very nice.
We had a great time at the campground and would 100% stay again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular cabin campsite near Alger, MI?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular cabin campground near Alger, MI is Rifle River Campground with a 4.1-star rating from 8 reviews.
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