Best Tent Camping near Ann Arbor, MI

I took a cross country road trip and kept to the southern part of Michigan. Though there is not a ton of camping in southern Michigan there are a few good spots including the Waterloo State Rec Area. I wanted to spend a couple days in Ann Arbor, but didn't want to shell out a bunch of cash for a hotel, and was over sleeping in my car, so I did some quick research and found this campsite. I stayed in theGreen lake rustic site. It was good for a couple nights and had some good hike trails to do on down time. If you are on the road and looking for close camping near Ann Arbor than I highly suggest this site. I unfortunately didn't have a lot of time to do the trails, but walked the Waterloo-Pickney trail for a few miles early my last morning at the site, and found it be very enjoyable. For it's proximity to bigger metropolitan areas this site is great!

I loved this quiet little campground! I stayed at #6 and had a beautiful view of the lake. There is muddy lake access on that site and I paddled from there in my kayak. There is an official boat launch nearby. Bathrooms were clean and had plenty of toilet paper. Water pump takes a while, but it works! There is a hiking trailhead, Border to Border bike trail, and DTE mountain bike trail nearby. You can bike a few miles in to Chelsea, a very cute town with shops, restaurants, brewery and distillery. This was a nice quick getaway from Ann Arbor. The only downside is you can hear highway traffic from the campground, but otherwise it was a pleasant experience.

Just a quick overnight tent camp with my son. Tent sites are relatively well spaced out and clean. Fire rings and picnic tables at each site.

Modern bathrooms and shower rooms are available.

Many playgrounds, horseshoe pits, and a basketball court available.

Firewood and ice available at the front gate.

RV spaces are well spaced out and give a sense of privacy. Electrical hook ups.

Cabins available for rent as well.

I had fond memories of this place as I would come here as a child. Lots of lakes, beaches, play structures, and more open field space than you can imagine. Most of the campground is run down and in need of improvements. The tennis courts & basketball courts are nearly unusable. The pads are so weathered the lines are gone and vegetation has started growing in all the cracks. Tent camping is difficult as all the sites have large concrete pads in the middle of the site. So a tent has to be pitched next to the road or right on the line of your neighbors site. If you are in a RV this isn’t a problem. For tents, site 191 is the best. On top of a hill which overlooks the campground and lake. It’s an end site so you can spread out a bit into the adjacent field. The bath houses restrooms are in need of renovations or at least a severe cleaning. Very smelly. Showers are nearly pointless, warm water at best. For tent campers this campground is best for day use in my opinion. While the Village of Milford is a bike ride away and has lots to do, there are better places to spend a weekend.

This is a typical fairground campground with open grassy areas for campsites surrounded by barns and tracks. The fairgrounds is located just off I-94 which makes for easy entrance and exit to the campground, but, means there is lots of road noise. Close by are plenty of stores, restaurants, gas stations, etc. In fact, there is a gap in the fence that runs around the fairgrounds allowing you to walk to a Walmart, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, and more. 

We arrived without a reservation and the women in the office was very helpful providing a map with all available sites during our stay and letting us choose which one we wanted. One of the first things you notice is that a number of people are here long-term so we went to the back area hoping it would be quieter and less crowded. A number of the campsites are “buddy” sites meaning your patio opens to your neighbors so be careful which one you pick. This is pretty undesirable when the neighbor is a total stranger so we chose a site where we didn’t have anyone next to us. 

They offer 50 amp full hook-up sites, 50 amp/water, and 30 amp/water sites with pull-thru and back-in options. There is a dump station located in the middle of the park which is easy to get to. The roads are wide and a lack of trees makes this campground accessible for any size RV. The sites are level but some lack grassy making the patio pretty dusty or muddy. Unfortunately, where we were was pretty muddy just after a light rain. This campground works best for RV’s and not tents. For tenters there is a designated section that is set in a corner of the park with large trees for shade but not much privacy between you and others. A water spigot is in the tent area and there was one picnic table. The camp office sells firewood but we only saw two fire pits in the whole park. Be aware that noise from the interstate and nearby train tracks may make for a restless night. Bathrooms are centrally located in the campground and were old and tired but relatively clean. On-site laundry is available.

Apparently, management is having some issues with campers not obeying some of the rules. One of the sad things about this campground is that campers have to be reminded to clean up after their dogs. Apparently, it is such an issue that we got a letter stating that if you don’t pick up your dogs poop you would be asked to leave. How sad is that? There is free WiFi which worked pretty well. Upon checking in, we had to sign a piece of paper stating that we would not download copyrighted material or stream movies or we would be asked to leave. 

My favorite aspect of this campground is that they had a community garden that you were welcome to pick from. We got tomatoes, Swiss chard, peppers, broccoli, and more. Overall, this campground was fine for the few nights we were here and close to the attractions we wanted to visit. We never felt unsafe even though it was close to major cities. We chose this campground because we wanted to go to Ann Arbor and Dearborn and it was a very convenient location.

Pros:

·        Good location if you want to visit Ann Arbor and Dearborn

·        Close to interstate for easy access

·        Long, level sites that will fit any RV

·        Community garden you can pick from vegetables

·        Stores and restaurants are nearby (some within walking distance)

Cons:

·        Lots of road noise from I-94

·        No trees for shade or privacy

·        Would not recommend for tent camping

·        Many campers are long-term

·        “Buddy” campsites with patios facing each other

no tent camping

It's always great to spend time at Holly. The only downfall is the public bathroom. Camp sites are pretty big. Tent camping is also A bad place to hang out as nothing is level for tents.

Nice mix of camping & Disc golf. The course is mowed down and easy to navigate. Picnic tables,fire ring, primitive tent sites available!

Nice campground. Sites are close together and sites 60-72 or so are really tent site, not level, and need extension cord for electric. No water hookups. No ATT service.

Spent 2 night in the Aspen Loop tent camping. Minus the silk/inch worms in the trees it was great. Fire pit was large and bathrooms were clean. We did a 6 mile hike and some fishing. Great easy quick weekend away.

Well kept, quiet and fun. Bike rental was easy and did not cost too much. We had a tent site and the yurt site. Water was cold due to it being early June as expected.

Nice little campground, offers both places for tent camping and RV camping. Lots to do, bike trails, walking paths, jet ski rentals, etc. Check-in people at the pavilion were nice and helpful. They also sell firewood at the pavillion. Most campsites have electric hook up and there is a dump station for RV's.

A nice little campground. Great location if staying in the Lansing Area. Has full hook ups, and electric water, also tent sites with nnothing. Great pool area. Softball diamond that has tournaments on weekends a little early start for the full hook up sites. A couple ponds for fishing. People are very friendly.

A short trip from home, this was a great weekend getaway! The camp site was spacious but tucked back in a bit (we tent camped on an RV site). The campground was quiet as well.

We did a 7 mile loop hike and then went to Battle Alley Brewing in Holly (10 min away).

No grate on the firepit so be aware of that.

Would definitely come back - it’s like being up north but you’re under an hour from home.

I was very satisfied with this campground. Each site gets its own picnic table and fire pit, and there are also cabins available. The camp is dog-friendly, and has a variety of shade or sun spots, even if most of them are not level. RV's and tent-camping allowed. You can bring in your own firewood - the wood that they have for sale is not good, don't buy it; when we were there, a local family very close to the campground was selling much better wood that was older and burned better. The bathrooms are clean (well-water) and the staff is friendly. There are "host" activities for kids and adults also, the schedules are posted in the showers. The lake is clean enough to swim in, also. The sites are on the small side and grouped together; there are plenty of trees close enough together to hang a hammock but nothing I would call a forest. Good community camping; not for those who like isolation.

This park and campgrounds are very manicured with tons of RV, trailer and tent sites. The lake has a small shallow swimming area and beach that gets very busy during the day but less traffic right before sunset. There are lots of family activities like mini golf, kids bike courses and playgrounds. It’s a very large open family camping area. The staff are very nice and very busy making sure the grounds are perfectly maintained. I camped in the area F on the outer perimeter just down way of the beach area. I had plenty of room for my tent, awning and to park my SUV. The was electrical and water (non potable) at the site. During the weekdays I only had a few neighbors further down in tents or travel trailers. On Thursday almost all sites filled up with travel trailers. A park employee told me they would be fully booked for the next two weeks. Very nice camping, quiet. Holly Oaks Offroad park is across the street and Holly Recreation area is adjacent. Lots of great towns nearby like Fenton.

We stopped here for the night on our way to Indiana. It rained on us the entire time which made the drive to the site even worse. It’s a very bumpy, dirt road. It may not have been as bad without the rain. Once we arrived at our site, we realized we didn’t have a long enough cord to plug in! A lot of these sites have the electric box far away from where you would park your RV. It might work better for a tent site - I’m not sure. But we had to drive back into town to get a longer extension cord. So please, come prepared. Making that drive again, I was almost ready to sleep on the side of the road. But once we got settled, it ended up being a pretty secluded spot. We mostly kept to ourselves and didn’t even use the vault toilet. No other amenities are offered here.

Met the new owners as we were driving by and they gave us a brief description of what they were doing to the grounds to make it more cozy but comfortable as before sites were pretty tight. Adding cabins to their already 8’ish to accommodate additional “glampers” as some of us enjoy a bit more than a tent and or camper OR don’t have a tent/camper. Lake looks big n clean along with activities laid out for the kids outside already can’t wait to see what they put in place next year/ season!