Best Tent Camping near Barton City, MI

The lake has an island in the middle and is great to explore by boat. Not sure how much there is to do without watercraft, as there’s just a really short trail. A friend snowmobile camps here in winter, that’d be beautiful to try. Nice basic primitive state park tent camping. Clean and simple. Shady.

We visited this campsite for a long weekend in October, looking for that autumn experience. Our site was right on the lake, and had a great view of the river and the trees changing. Our site was very large, especially for tent camping, and that seemed to be the trend. Others were camping with campers and tents, but there was pretty of room to spread out in the late fall.

Short backpacking walk to this no-reservations rustic campsite. You need a backcountry permit and there’s usually a small fee. Lovely forested secluded tent sites. There’s only one or two fire pits, but going there is a nice way to meet your neighbors (only 2 other groups when I was there in April). Sites aren’t too sandy and are pretty shady. Follow bear rules!!

Lovely rustic campground, with several sites fronting Lake Huron. We tent-camped in August and swam twice a day in that beautiful crystal clear water. Our site was not particularly private (a medium-sized RV came in part-way through the week and its generator ruined our serene quiet), but its location on the water was priceless. We enjoyed touring the area, and especially loved Presque Isle. Some gorgeous farmlands to drive around, too, and we serendipitously came across an amazing sunflower farm. We'd love to return to this campground.

The campsites are purely for tent camping and are around 20'x40'. We went with a group and fit four tents on one site with a picnic table and fire pit for less than $10 each. There is a large bath house with showers, a pavilion/picnic area, where they sometimes have a DJ at night. And there's a really nice open area and playground for the kids. The front store /check-in desk has some supplies for while you're there, and they also offer canoe/tubing/kayak trips with transport, directly from the grounds. We had a great time and plan on going back again.

They charge per person, so I paid $75 for my boyfriend and I to tent camp on the river for the 2 night minimum required. They are money grubbers who charge per person then put multiple parties on one site. Firewood available on site is soaking wet so had a lot of issues getting a fire started. Not much to do at the campground unless you want to pay an arm and a leg to rent one of their watercraft. Staff is incredibly rude and unhelpful. Everything they offer is an extra charge. Will not be returning here ever again.

I have camped here a few times over the last decade. I have tent camped in the past and now with a travel trailer. The sites are large, and some humongous. The campground is quiet, and the lake is right behind the campground. A nice sandy shoreline and shallow water makes for a relaxing day. There needs to be some maintenance done at this campground, at least two water pumps are without handles, one was with out a handle three years ago as well, so the missing handles may be part of the campground management plan. There are a few vault toilets placed in various areas in pairs. Of each pair, one is closed, presumably to reduce costs associated with maintenance.

The fire rings in some sites are brand new, so it is obvious that maintenance is underway.

Overall this campground is still on a list of favorites that we return to once or twice a year.

If you are looking for decent modern campsite Harrisville offers that. There is a bike trail that goes into town. Friendly host that offer books. There is wood on site to purchase through a vending machine. Only takes exact amount. Sites are pretty close together which makes getting to know your neighbors from the get go. The bathroom was very nice. Extremely clean and well kept. Staff was there several times even this late in the season cleaning at 6:30 am. The view of the lake was lovely. I happened to have site 74 which has a great view of the lake. Though the traffic of bathroom goers is annoying. The bathroom offered such bright beam of light I never used any of my flashlights. Depends on how you feel about that. If you’re looking for nice weekend to sleep outside this is nice. If you’re looking to get away from it all and have peace and quite. This is not it. Even in September. Staff was super friendly. I originally booked 82 and it was extremely tiny for a tent site more suited for a RV. Be mindful when picking your site. Majority on the water side are tiny and are more suited for RV not a tent. I mean tiny!

Sand, pine trees, vault toilet, fire ring, gorgeous views, serenity, bear pole - my family adores this place. It is possibly the nicest camping we've done in Michigan. Water filter is a MUST unless you want to walk to the parking lot every time you need potable water. None of us ever got sick drinking the filtered lake water. Kayaking and canoeing in is easy. We have walked in, too. Having a wheeled cart is nice for bringing in large family-sized tents and other heavier items.

Location is excellent.  This is a well maintained park, fantastic beaches and nice trails.  I arrived on a Thursday and left Sunday.  The sites are on the small side without any barriers, which was fine midweek.  On the weekend, overcrowding was the norm.  This was my first experience at a Michigan state park, and I do not know if others have designated spaces based on the size of the RV or tent.  This would make a more pleasant experience for campers.  My guess is the park was designed long before people hauled around a 30 foot camper.  No park rangers facilitated parking that I could see, and clearly you should book your spot as early as possible.

Midweek 5 stars, Weekend 1

Needed a tent sight for 3 pup tents motorcycle camping. Nice quiet secluded campground in the woods. Nice clean baths and showers. $25 for tent $35 RVs pull threw.

We tented at this campground and enjoyed it so much! Loved being right by the water, and bathrooms were so clean. Would go back!

Pprivate. Modern and Rustic, so tents don't need to be in a Zoo of RVs. Tons of trails, great kayaking and canoeing

Nice open area big enough to put our 8 person tent. Picnic table and power! The Lake Huron is a stones throw to the East. Great place, we will be back soon!!

Mostly shade but not dark like other sites. Large area so room for camper and tents. Fire ring located near back corner... away from your awning. Path behind site makes for short walk to the beach.

This campground has sites for RV’s and tents. Vault toilets that are cleaned daily. Small lake with a beachfront. No motor boats allowed. We come every year!

We absolutely love camping here weather it’s in a tent, hammock or RV we have always loved camping here.

Night sounds are so relaxing.

We typically do the sites closer to Mio sites 1-6

Plenty of trails and fishing.

No water No electric No sewer

My husband and I last minute decided we wanted to go camping for the night and the one and only site he could find with a short(ish) drive was here. We decided to go for and and we are so happy we did! We tent and the site was so nice and big for us and our tent, hammocks, and 2 kayaks. It was very spacious even with neighbors on all sides. For the park being for what we could tell 100% booked, it was roomy and quiet. They have a vending machine for wood which was so convenient but someone also drove past our site selling it. The bathrooms were clean, but they were right on the beach so the area was heavily trafficked which was kind of strange to me, and that was the only thing I didn’t really like. There were some beautiful sites right on Lake Huron that we are hoping to get next time we are there, because we will be back!! The pictures are from the sunrise this morning. We woke up and walked just a little way to a beach area to watch it come up. It was beautiful!

The one thing this campground has going for it is the location: Right on Lake Huron. We reserved (after trying so many times) a spot right on the lakeshore with its own private trail to the beach. We were very excited. Sadly, lake levels are at historically high levels and thus there was no beach. The waves did, however, sound amazing while sitting by the fire and when laying down in the tent at the end of the night. Lastly, in my opinion, most of the camp sites are way too small and therefore seem way too close together. Without the beach the entire appeal of this campground is gone. If you are looking to camp on or near a beach on one of the Great Lakes I would look elsewhere.

Picture Description: The picture of the tent shows that most of the site was an asphalt pad leaving very little space for anything else.

The other picture shows the absence of the beach. This was about 15 feet from the back of our campsite. It did make for great ambient noise (as mentioned above).

Loved camping on this lake. We hauled our canoe loaded with our tent and amenities on a dolly the half mile or so back to the camp sites. Some of the best catch and release artificial lure only fishing. Loved watching the loons on the lake.

Stayed here in late September 2023 for 2 nights. The campsites are well spaced from each other and most have lake access. we had 2 tents and plenty of room. Vault toilets were clean, well water was good. Saw an elk while driving around the area.