Best Tent Camping near Carleton, MI

We went tent camping for the weekend and really enjoyed it! Many tent sites available and rather spacious sites. The beach was full since it was Labor Day weekend, but clean and shallow for kids to easily play. Clean bathrooms and shower houses and lots of places to ride our bikes. A nice place to stay if you want to take advantage of the lake, Sandusky or the Lake Erie islands.

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.

no tent camping

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.

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.

Don’t let the secret get too big but this place is great. Stayed there at the state park for a week tent camping and it’s wonderful. It’s clean and quiet. The facilities are close and clean. The whole island is fun with plenty of hikes and hidden beaches. Make sure to stop by the local restaurants and get some unique drinks and food. The Brandy Alexander is a must have drink,

Ditto Rebecca’s and Sarah’s reviews below. Tent camped for 5 nights. Brought the dog and bicycles-easy island to bicycle on/around. Camp office now had WiFi in/near the office building. Loved being able to hear the waves on the beach even though our spot wasn’t on the beach. Lots of families and retirees. No issues with rowdy folks-quit time was quiet. Had a problem with our car and lots of folks offered assistance.

I recently camped here at South Bass Island State Park. Because of current Covid-19 restrictions, the campground was pretty empty (which I hear is very unusual for summertime). I camped in a tent-only site on the edge of the 25 foot cliff. Great for adults, but no safety barrier for young children.  Campsite #97 and#99 have fire rings right on the cliff. (I camped at #99.)

The facilities at the campground are clean and well maintained and the people who work at the camp store are friendly.

The campground is well shaded with mature trees throughout and it over looks Lake Erie to the West making for great views of the sunset. Some sites are right on top of each other and others are well spread out.

We will definitely be going back! Campground is on the lake and is beautiful! So many things to do! The camp is clean, has a playground, and movie night. Bath house is a typical campground bath house. We had a tent site and it was huge! Sites come with fire pit and picnic table. Beach is within walking distance of campsite.

We tent-camped in well-shaded loop D, which is a non-electric tent area. Loop D is much smaller and more private than the larger non-electric area (loop A). If you're in a camper, then the area next to loop A (loop B)  is your best bet for shade. We loved our stay here. It's a great base camp for exploring the area and the beach is just a short drive. I wish the bathrooms in the non-electric loop were updated,  but they were cleaned on a daily basis. Daily nature programs for kids at the campground 's excellent nature center were great. Take the ferry to Put-in-Bay while you're at East Harbor, or take a road trip to the Mad River & NKP train museum in Bellevue.

We stayed at one of the primitive tent sites at South Bass Island State Park and had the most enjoyable time. The site was on a cliff overlooking Lake Erie. The campground was very well kept and clean. The park staff was friendly and helpful, and the park office was stocked with necessities at a decent price. If I had any complaint at all, it would be that the sites are really close together, which could be a problem at busy times. Fortunately we only had one neighbor directly beside us, and they were very nice folks. Would highly recommend this campground!

Had a great camping trip! Miller’s Ferry to the island. Completely Shaded. Mostly level. Some are narrow-ish. Our site 32, was long back into the open wooded area behind us. Everyone was respectful. Shower houses decent. Older and clean. Private shower stalls. Plenty of drinking water stations and grey water dump too. We were there with the mayflies 😂 harmless but plentiful! Wifi worked. Office open after 3pm-ice. Lake is beautiful. Tent sites-no electric-on the lake and are picturesque. We rented a golf cart to get around the island, which was a lot of fun. Sunsets near Perry’s Memorial are magnificent. Goat Soup and Whiskey-best restaurant! Second best-Upper Deck.

This is a quiet campground near Lake Erie. The campground seems like it’s mainly seasonal but they did have some transient camping and tent sites. We stayed at site 156. The site was large with a large grassy area right on the lagoon. There was a large flock of geese that stayed near the lagoon which meant goose poop around our site. It was also very buggy in the evenings. The electric is 50 amp. They have connectors you can use for a $25 deposit and then get your money back when you return the cord. They accept check and cash, no credit cards. The roads are paved and they have a nice outdoor pool, small playground, and small miniature golf course.

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.

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.

Although we camp in a motor home, this is one of the best tent camping spots I’ve seen. About twenty of the tent spots overlook the cliffs with great views of the water. Sites 97 and 114 sit on the edge of the cliff. This makes these two spots really unique. However, families with young children, unstable adults, and those who like to party would find these sites profoundly dangerous. The tents are two feet from the edge of the cliff.

There are no electric RV sites with a cliff-edge view. We stayed in Site 46, which was next to the restroom and just fair. The flattest RV sites with fair to good locations are Sites 57 and 44 (although even these will require a little leveling).

The campground includes very clean flush toilets and even cleaner showers (no cost for the showers). Wood and ice are available at the check-in building. In the summer there are kayak rentals.

If you haven’t been to this island everyone uses golf carts and bikes (90% golf carts). Golf cart rental shops are everywhere. We used bikes and saw the entire island. The restaurants and shops are at the other end of the island from the campground. Getting there took about twenty minutes by bike (probably seven minutes by golf cart).

We loved it here and extended our stay. The people are wonderful and the town is filled with things to do. The campground is quiet and tranquil. Rates for an RV site with electricity were $39.00 in September of 2021.

Our site was $59.95 a night.

We were in Site# 504. We had Full hook- up with a gravel pull-through.
We travel towing a 14 foot trailer and were able to fit both in our pull through site along with my jeep. The site was easy to level. We were charged $25 additional for my jeep since we were towing the trailer. We also were charged $10 because we arrived at 1:25 PM and check-in is at 2 PM. The park was close to empty so arriving early was not an inconvenience. We drove ourselves to our spot (no escort).

Our site was shaded with lots of trees. This was a smaller lot with our neighbors fairly close.

The lot comes with a concrete patio with picnic table and fire ring. They sell wood for $6 a bundle.

There is free WiFi, although not strong. They offer Cable TV and there are many channels.

There is not a community outdoor kitchen or community fire pit.

They pickup your garbage at your site daily before noon.

You are allowed to ride personal golf carts. They do not provide golf cart rentals. There is really not a need to have a Golf cart because it is a smaller campground.

They do have a Swimming pool but it is currently closed due to maintenance (although it just looked closed- no signs of maintenance being done).

There is a Playground. They also offer horseshoes, corn hole, giant jinga.

They have a basic general store. There are not scheduled activities for kids.

There is not a snack bar/restaurant on site.

The streets are gravel so not great for riding bikes. This is an RV park with tent camping and cabins to rent.

They have one shower house. The shower house has individual bathrooms with your own sink, shower, toilet. These are kept very clean.

There is a laundry facility. It is a cash only facility, but they have a change machine. There are approximately 4 washers and 4 dryers. It is approximately $2.50 to wash and $2.50 to dry a load.

They have a small fenced in dog park.

There isn’t tons to doin the actual city of Perryville. But Toledo is a 20 minute drive.