The Dyrt is here to help plan your best camping near Covington. There's so much to see and do, from exhilarating hikes or bike rides to exploring the local dining and shopping. You're sure to find the perfect campground for your Covington camping trip.
"The Michigan State Forest Campgrounds continue to delight us. For $15 a night you can experience camping like I did as a child – simple, unelectrified, and in beautiful outdoor locations."
"Way off the beaten path but the sites are HUGE! Quiet setting right on Big Lake. Probably my most beautiful site in the UP so far. Vault toilets and no shower. Very clean. Boat launch."
"Spent the 4th of July here on site #5. Grounds are very clean and well maintained. Sites 7,8,9,10 have the best water views."
"Great site overlooking Lake Superior. Need to walk over highway to get to water. Very orderly and great Park Manager. Family & pet friendly with awesome playground."
$20 - $34 / night
"Nice campground right on Lake Michigamme, variety of sites (tents, cabins, electric hook-ups), big clean beach, showers."
"The bathrooms and showers and generally always nicely maintained as well, and there are plenty of both. The bathrooms do tend to run out of soap and toilet paper at busy times."
"Big boulders in road/trail.
What to expect:
- Park and walk/hike/canoe/kayak in. No motors on lake.
- First few sites near the boat launch are about 1/4 Mile Walk in and are close to each other."
"The Michigan Recreation Passport Solar does not cover local, county, municipal, or metropolitan parks or recreation areas."
"There are vault toilets and hand-pump well drinking water in several places, and picnic tables and fire pits at each camp site. The sites are well maintained, clean, and reasonably flat."
"Beautiful sites, some very private and right on the lake. Boat launch nearby. Sites are spacious and privacy depends in the site. Some are isolated, others are mean to camp with friends."
"Beautiful lake, great swimming area, secure, full hook ups. Very helpful we came in late night- they left reservation info in the mail box for us."
"My family and I took a 3 week vacation to visit Michigan. We stayed at a few different campgrounds, and did lots of hiking."
"My family could not find anywhere to stay and this was the very last campsite on the map in the state of Michigan. We thought F it."
"Right on a lake. We were site 44 it rained a lot. But it didn't flood the site. So that was a bonus. Bathrooms were outdated but we'll kept."
"Had a great site right on the lake, fire pit was 10 feet from the water, most sites are large with trees but not many are very level."
"We loved staying at Lake Gogebic!
There’s a beach a short walk through the campground and the site hosts are super friendly."
"General spots: Varies from right up next to each other to odd shaped spaces that have extra room and trees.
Our site: 40."
"On the shores of Independence Lake, just south of Lake Superior, sits this gorgeous, sparkling clean county park with a well-managed campground."
$22 - $26 / night
"Access to the lake was easy, and the fact that tete are so few camp sites on the lake really makes it feel secluded. There are 2 nice beaches on either end, and easy portage to other lakes."
"-> gorgeous hikes nearby (hiking around Clark lake is an 8-10 mile trek that’s gorgeous the whole way -> bathrooms kept clean -> nice and quiet -> beautiful views of the forest from every"
RangerNice campground right on Lake Michigamme, variety of sites (tents, cabins, electric hook-ups), big clean beach, showers. AT&T was okay, ended up using it for internet over Starlink, which was spotty due to trees. Son had a good time skateboarding and using the playground. We've stayed twice now and likely will again. I did notice the AED was missing from the beach house/laundry area....otherwise it seems accessible.
GuideOverall a decent Campground. Lots are spacious. Layout of fire pit on sites are poor. For example lot 76, fire is offset to the left of the electrical post. This is a problem since majority of RVs have awnings on the right side and electrical hook up on the back left side. Our fire pit ended up behind the camper. Poor layout by campsite personnel. “DNR Officer” that oversees the grounds is a zealot on dog leashes! “Your dog must be on a six foot leash even while swimming,” he yelled at me. Being an owner of a finely trained Labrador Retriever that I was exercising in the water, I doubt I will be back!!!!!!!!
GuideWe stayed at Van Riper State Park three times during June and July. The park is always clean and well-maintained. The bathrooms and showers and generally always nicely maintained as well, and there are plenty of both. The bathrooms do tend to run out of soap and toilet paper at busy times. Dogs are not allowed on the beach but also cannot be left unattended in your site. The rules are heavily enforced in this park. Park staff will ask you to move vehicles if you have more than two, and you will be asked to turn music completely off upon quiet hours. This is not the place to go if you want to party.
Sites 15 and 17, as well as several other sites along that side of that loop, now have a wooden fence at the back of them, so they are not as large as they appear in the photos online.
We have stayed in sites 14, 90 and 93. We travel with a 34’ trailer.
Site 14 is narrow but manageable. It is well-shaded by large pine trees on the site. Site is entirely dirt. There are trees to hang hammocks or clotheslines in.
Site 90 is on a corner by the propane tanks. It is a large site. It does have some roots and low spots. It is partial grass. It has nice shade and is adjacent to the bathrooms. There are trees to hang hammocks or clotheslines.
Site 93 is a large site that backs up to a small grass/tree buffer. It is across the road from the bathrooms. It has nice shade. There is a place to hang a clothesline but not hammocks.
Pros: Clean, well-maintained park
Quiet
Lots of playground equipment
Bike/scooter pump track
Excellent beach area
Lots of green space
Hiking trails
Wood and ice available for purchase at the entrance
Laundry is available; one washer and two dryers
Very kid and pet friendly
Cons: Park website has out of date information, specifically that there is no longer a store on the beach, nor are there kayaks/SUPs to rent
The Water Warrior Island is no longer in the lake
There are very few sites with buffers between
It is sort of far to the beach and laundry from the modern campsites
No non-reservable sites available
TravelerStayed here for 3 nights over the July 4th weekend 2020. Had a great site right on the lake, fire pit was 10 feet from the water, most sites are large with trees but not many are very level. Bugs were not a problem during the day but the second that sun goes down have the bug spray ready. The park was clean and very well maintained, bathrooms were very clean. It was still early in the season so the camp store wasn’t well stocked yet but they were working on it. The beach area was nice with a nice big sandy beach for the kids. The Porcupine Mtns were a 30 minute drive north and we had a great time there. I plan to go back here again as soon as I can.
GuideOverall, this is a good option for coming near Marquette, especially if you have a trailer, a family, or are looking to post up for a bit.
Pros: The campsite has a lot of amenities that are easily accessible. Each site has a table, a fire pit, potable water nearby and most have electric hookup. The beach area for swimming in Lake Independence is nice with a pavilion, volleyball, and ping pong nearby. You can launch your boat or fish from the dock. The views are beautiful.
Cons: It's a crowded location that doesn't offer a lot of privacy. At 2am we were woken up by a boat coming back in from the water blasting it's music while the whole crew was loud and obnoxious.
GuideThis is a well run,clean campground in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was easy to access and right off the main road, no four wheel drive necessary.
The campsites are large and there are a few sites near the lake (We recommend 113).There is a great playground, the summer of 2018 it hosted an inflatable water park which was a riot!
The water system is getting redone which will remove the orange color in the showers (which would otherwise be very nice). The water was not drinkable due to high arsenic but a large container of potable water was available. That is the only thing keeping this campground from being a 5.
The lake was a great temperature and very swimmable. Quiet hours are all the time so it was very peaceful and enjoyable. Ask the rangers for a listing of moose sightings outside of the campground.
Would definitely recommend for visitors in the U.P.
LegendVibe: Mix of retirees and families.
Cleanliness: Above average.
Facilities: Average.
General spots: Varies from right up next to each other to odd shaped spaces that have extra room and trees.
Our site: 40. One of the odd shaped spaces that had extra buffer room and big trees for shade. It was at an intersection at the camp and traffic was pretty steady during the day.
Noise: Mostly quiet. Kids played well after dark in a parking lot across from us, but quiet hours didn’t start until 11 and they were never a problem.
Cell signal(Verizon): Full bars. I streamed a movie (Anatomy of a Murder...see below).
Other: You can swim at Independence Lake right at the camp. If you want to swim in Lake Superior, Squaw Beach is about 10 minutes away. Ate the Lumberjack Tavern and found out about“Anatomy of a Murder” and that it took place at the tavern. Turns out the couple involved had a trailer at the campground.
Guide8/26-9/1/22- Free camping! There are vault toilets and hand-pump well drinking water in several places, and picnic tables and fire pits at each camp site. The sites are well maintained, clean, and reasonably flat. I tried self registering, but there was nowhere to sign-in. About 11Am the next morning, someone came by to register us. 2-bars Verizon 5G, and 2-bars AT&T 4G.
We rolled in about 10pm and drove through the western loop sites 1-22, pulled into the first pull-through site(W5) that we could easily get our 34’ fifth wheel into and went to sleep. In the morning, I walked the loop and found several others that we could fit(now that it was light out), and we moved over one site to W6. Site W21 has a lake view and a large loop in front of this back-in site that would be super easy to navigate for a big rig. Sites 11 and 12 were really close together but had a good views of the lake as well. Later, we drove over to the east camp site that all seemed to have lake views, and sites E12 and E13 are surrounded on 3 sides by water, a turn-around loop, and more sunlight for solar powered rigs. I didn’t think to check cell signal while there.
The towns of Watersmeet and Conover had the cheapest diesel fuel. The Wild Turkey Bar& Grill in Conover, WI had fabulous smoked meats, and there is a great little hardware store in Conover as well.
TravelerWe loved staying at Lake Gogebic!
There’s a beach a short walk through the campground and the site hosts are super friendly. There are sites that back up to US-64 so I’d recommend the middle or lakeside sites. The sites are also really big!! Park policy says you can either have 1 RV/trailer per site (with an added tent) or as many tents that can fit on the site, which is a great policy IMO. There is also ice for sale at the front of the campground; $2 per bag. There are electricity hookups but they’re spaced out weird so, depending on site, you’ll need a long extension cord to get power to your site.
I will say there was A LOT of kids around, riding their bikes/scoters/rollerblades and yelling at each other. It was a little annoying but we looked past it; if that’s a dealbreaker, maybe look for a different campground!
The weather was cool for 2/3 nights we were there so would recommend some warmer clothes and blankets. Not terribly bugging when it’s cooler, but the 1 day it was warmer there were a lot.
Overall, it was a great stay and if we ever find ourselves up in that area again we would stay again!
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near Covington, MI?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Covington, MI is Big Lake State Forest Campground with a 4-star rating from 4 reviews.
What is the best site to find glamping camping near Covington, MI?
TheDyrt.com has all 17 glamping camping locations near Covington, MI, with real photos and reviews from campers.
Keep Exploring
