The best STANDARD (TENT/RV) camping near
Bay View , MICHIGAN

We stayed at Wilderness in October this fall.  The fall colors were just about fully turned and it was just gorgeous.  This park is geared towards the RV camper and they have sites for just about any size rig.  The sites along the lake are geared more toward the sorter rigs.  Ours is a short 5'er and we fit just fine.

The only downside to this trip was the very high lake levels.  On the west side of the park with the more scenic beaches were just not accessible.  Actually, they didn't exist.  The water level completely inundated them.  Even the shore trees were in the water.  That prevented us from hiking where we had hoped to hike.  That really limited us.

The park was clean and the dump station clean and plenty of room  We would camp here again.

First off, this place is huge and has a lot to do and take in. It's a great place to take a walk, ride a bike, explore a path, or participate in the many activities they offer or just relax. Different areas of the park have a different vibe but all are good. Views of the bridge at night are simply awesome and you don't need a bridge view site to enjoy it, just head down to the grassy area by the water and grab a bench or light a fire in one of the fire pits. Most staff very friendly/helpful (seems there is always one know it all that isn't 🙂). Pay attention to lot descriptions on the website, they are very upfront that some lots are small. We had a 50a large and had way more room than we could use. Trees/bushes between sites for privacy. Looking forward to going back again in 2021.

Spent a week here over the July 4th holiday. Very nice park, clean, and we'll maintained. Owners lead you to your site and assist getting your rig lined up with water/sewer connections. Great pool, separate area for boat/trailer parking. Very quiet at night.

We enjoyed our time at Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping! We stay a week and stayed on two different sites and loved both, but the lake front view was definitely the best. Great view of the bridge and island! Beautiful Sunsets! Biggest campground we have ever stayed at. They pack them in-small sites, but run like a well oiled machine. The store had all the items we needed or forgot. We were close to the bike trail that went into Mackinaw City, it was a 3 miles to town. Definitely worth the drive!!

Came up here to sneak away on a warm weekend in November as this is one of the few State Park campgrounds open year round. We were really impressed.

The lake is crystal clear and has beautiful turquoise waters. We were able to take the canoe out and were the only ones on the water that afternoon. Cute beach front and seems like it would be a great family spot for the summer.

We stayed in site 122 but definitely recommend site 126 which had awesome views of the water.

The trails in the park were nice too but not very long. Pretty much only downsides were that the water spigots were turned off for winter (someone told us that there was a hose available back by the office somewhere) and shower house was closed (but vault toilets still open a d pretty clean).

Camping is here pretty good overall. I have stayed in Teepee #9 twice now. The first time was very comfy, but the second time we had a lot of rain, and things inside the teepee got pretty wet. We tried to cover things with ponchos and that helped, but I could feel the rain bouncing from the wooden floor on to my face as I was trying to sleep. Meanwhile my son in a little tent stayed completely dry! I also realized this trip that chipmunks could possibly get in where the teepee walls meet the floor. Very pleasant hiking. I didn't like it that that it is a long distance from the campsites to the swimming beach. We ended up driving every time we wanted to swim and it was like driving over a washboard.

The campsites weren't huge, it felt kind of busy to me. Overall it was good, but not amazing.

It was just before Labor Day and we had hoped to make it up to the Upper Peninsula before nightfall.  This didn't happen, so we tried a couple of state parks, but everything was already full.  Then, for $15 a night, we found this beauty along the northwest shore of Burt Lake, one of the larger inland lakes in northern Michigan. 

The campground offers lakeside sites as well as forested, more private sites, to enjoy the forest. Unlike many lakeside campgrounds however, the large beach area along the shore is common space, so everyone in the campground gets equal access to the water regardless of where you’re camped.  Bathrooms are simple pit-toilets and water was available from seasonal spigots.

The boat launch is right next to the campground so bringing along your toys is easy to do. Burt Lake has a well-developed lake shore with cabins and houses, so local trail opportunities were limited. It is however, centrally located to make day trips to many popular outdoor recreation areas that the north county has to offer. 

The popular tourist town of Petosky is within a 20-minute drive, which offers all the services you would expect from a large regional center.

Friday night in the middle of August isn’t always the best time to approach a campground without a reservation, unless you know where to look. Pigeon Bridge State Forest campground was off the beaten track enough that there was only one other camper in the park.  

Situated along the Shingle Mill Pathway and High Country Pathway, a popular backpacking route, this campground offers a great basecamp for backpackers to start or end their hike. With a large parking lot across the road, it’s a perfect place to leave a car for your hiker shuttle. The campsites are sizeable enough for a small group of tenters or small trailer, with enough space in between that you don’t feel jammed next to your neighbors. There is a clean pit-toilet and a year-round water well hand pump for drinking water. 

The network of trails offer lots of options for hiking and biking, and the creek looks like a perfect trout stream, and also offers a great summertime float trip. The town of Vanderbilt is about 10 miles away and offers a gas station and a small convenience store to pick up a few essentials.

We stayed here toward the end of October, I believe we were the last folks on our section of the park. The park is located a short 5 min drive to Mackinaw City and about 15 from the UP. The spaces were level, large and well maintained. Wi-Fi was great ($8 per day for 4 devices). Bathrooms and showers were ok. The beach front sites looked amazing but windy and it was getting cold so we did not spend much time there. Staff was great and very accommodating. AT&T cell signal was very good. They had a lot of bikes to rent and a camp store, unfortunately it was all closed for the season while we were there.

It is a municipal campground so we didn't expect much but the access to the Little Traverse Wheelway and views of Lake Michigan were awesome - and full hook ups for the price was great.  It has a small bathhouse and the sites are pull-though with back to back setup (so utilities are at the same post as one of your neighbors) but we scored that the 2 sites in front of us cancelled (it was wet, cold, windy and in general miserable weather but we lucked out day 2 and got a bike ride in to Petoskey State Park and a stop at Burnt Marshmallow Brewing before rain rolled back in) so we had a big open space for the kids to bike around on and allowed a view of the lake.

link on The Dyrt doesn't work - try this:

https://www.petoskey.us/departments/parks_and_recreation/campground.php

PROS: was really quiet, our neighbor is a regular and was extremely friendly and helpful.  The bike path to Petoskey State Park is right in front of the campground and takes you by the harbor and can branch off into town too.  Really close to downtown (which we did not explore but looks really nice).  We originally planned on staying at the state park but the campsite was half closed due to construction (so it will probably be really nice next year) but this worked out great.  Full hook ups on long pull thru sites for the price was great.  Firewood was available at the check-in kiosk and there is a playground on site.  Bathhouse with showers.  Less than 1 hour from Mackinac Island.  I read mentions of the hospital noise and while trucks unloading during the day was noticeable during the day, we didn't hear anything from there at night - the camp ground did have a transformer that was loud the first night but it was fixed by the next night.

CONS: it is no-frills and could be packed in during summer, but that should be acceptable for the price if you are looking for an easy base camp with access to everything in Petoskey.  The bathhouse was clean but dated.  The campsites look like they did not get a lot of cleanup - I filled a grocery bag full of trash from our site and the 3 open ones next to us.  

Ideal site would probably be as close to the lake as possible - the road in front is not travelled much since it dead ends at the campground.  There was a city facility at the end but it was not open on the weekend and we were told is pretty quiet when it is open.

NOTE: This was our first MI campground as part of out trip from GA to MN via TN-KY-IN-MI-WI-northern MN before staying in MSP for a week, then return via MN-IA-MO-IL-KY-TN-Home.