Are you in need of a campground near Essexville, MI? Essexville is an adventure-filled destination for those who love the outdoorsy camper lifestyle. But it's also great for those who prefer to spend time near the city, exploring and sightseeing. Search nearby campsites and find top-rated spots from other campers.
Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into state parks and recreation areas, state boat launches, state forest campgrounds and state trail parking lots. The Michigan Recreation Passport does not cover local, county, municipal, or metropolitan parks or recreation areas. Learn more: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/buy-and-apply/rec-pp
Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into state parks and recreation areas, state boat launches, state forest campgrounds and state trail parking lots. The Michigan Recreation Passport does not cover local, county, municipal, or metropolitan parks or recreation areas. Learn more: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/buy-and-apply/rec-pp
Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into state parks and recreation areas, state boat launches, state forest campgrounds and state trail parking lots. The Michigan Recreation Passport does not cover local, county, municipal, or metropolitan parks or recreation areas. Learn more: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79134_79210---,00.html
$20 - $50 / night
Beach, trails and children's solace pad, just an easy walk across the road. Newer bathhouse. Shady sandy campsite. Be sure and visit downtown Bay City, lots of great restaurants, a Riverwalk on both sides of the river, concerts in the park. Great atmosphere.
Most sites are good, though some have slopes to them. Choose carefully. Great newer playscape and splash pad (!) for the kids, across State Park Rd from the main campground. Nice newly opened visitor/nature center. Campground usually clean and patrolled. Showers/restrooms are good, cleaned twice a day. Friendly staff.
Some of the best campground hosts are here.
Groceries, restaurants & laundromats are a short drive away.
TV reception was ok, and T-Mobile worked well enough.
Nice park. Can feel a little tight on some spaces, especially if your neighbor sprawls over the lines. Restrooms could use a little improvement (like replacing the crappy doors leading into the building) and some maintenance, but are clean. Being on a point between Lake Huron & Tawas Bay, there's almost always some breeze. There's beaches on both sides of the point. Staff friendly. Like most MI State Park sites, it's electric only. Tawas has no (as of this review) FHU sites. There's the Tawas Point Lighthouse here, which you can climb for a few bucks. Nice little gift shop next to it. It can get really packed here on weekends, and the day use gets closed because of being too full.
Big rigs, note that the roads can be tight, especially when inconsiderate campers crowd the road, cause you know... It's all about them.
All in all, it's one of our favorite state parks.
Hit Klenow's Market in town. They do great sandwiches!
Very loud, lots of children, kids will be kids, but the loud music until very late and the dogs barking all hours not necessary! At least I know most of Tom Pettys songs now from listening to them all night!
We had a large group of families with varying ages and abilities. We used multiple different styles of cabins and a few RV sites, as well as various buildings for activities. All in all, it was an incredible time and I highly recommend it. Staff was helpful with activities such as archery but, seldom seen if not directly helping with things. It was nice to feel like we had the run of the place but, still know that help was available if we needed it. The location is pretty great, off the beaten path but, within 30 minutes of major stores and conveniences.
Laundry facilities would have been awesome since we were staying a full week but, there was a laundromat only about 15 minutes away.
The food selection was about what you'd expect in a public school cafeteria and resulted in health-minded guests needing to make their own meals in the cabins and meals were VERY rushed, only allowing 30 minutes for our large group to get their food, eat and be out of the building.
The grounds were well maintained for a rustic campground but, bathrooms and meeting buildings were adequately upgraded and offered pleasant amenities, such as a game room, large gym and decent air conditioning.
We had a great time here and look forward to returning one day!
We love this campground. It’s quiet and well maintained. The owners are friendly and willing to help. Wood bundles are available for purchase and they deliver to your site. No tents allowed but pop-up are welcome. The bathrooms are key for me and are very clean. There shower are private and are quarter operated. This is our go-to when in the area.
Port Crescent is a really amazing campground to visit. The campground contains cabins, tent, and RV sites. Our site (95) was an electric only site but water was nearby.
Our site was on the sand but large enough to park the camper parallel to the campsite. we were well off the road there were no worries concerning passing vehicles.
The nature and wild life there are simply amazing and the sunsets on the beach were incredible. They were even more amazing because wildfire activity enhanced the fading rays of the sun.
We did buy the yearly MI recreation pass, not only for this but for some other stays we had planned in MI. The pass was $35 which was affordable.
For Astronomers this is a certified dark sky park the IDA. This is a Bortle 3 site with an SQM reading of 21.79 mag./arc sec2. I did not get to observe here due to smoke from wild fires.
Saginaw Bay is nearby and its a beautiful place to visit.
to Make sure you know where your gas stations are as they are a long way away from Each other. Also the water spigots in the park don't have hose connectors to either fill up with potable water at the dump station or bring water canisters with you.
Otherwise have a great time, we did!
It is very nice and extremely clean. However it is kind of cramped. Sites feel close and everyone was very nosey. Pet beach is nice. Water is beautiful. Convenient location. People didn't listen to rules such as quiet hour and let their badly behaved dogs run loose. Bath house is extremely nice! All in all, I would camp here on an off day/season.
Since 1966 I visit, often just back packing. Clean enough & refreshing enough & still something pre-historic, particularly the beach, & the roads to it.
After following this campground's FB page for years we finally got to visit this summer. It sits along the Rifle River next to Rifle River Campground and Whites Campground.
The campground is huge and offers so much! The store up front had everything you probably forgot at home, plus more.
The bathrooms were always clean when we needed them. The showers were clean, some lacked hanging hooks on the walls. The water was warm immediately, but the push button timer for the shower water made showers kind of annoying (small issue though).
Everyone seemed to abide by the noise curfews around 11 pm and it seemed rather quiet through the night given the amount of campers around. The rustic sites along the river in section "N" were very large and spacious spots. Sections L and M seemed to be tightly packed in.
The Group camping side is considered the "Adult/Party" area. Nobody was crazy out of hand or anything to that nature, just louder music, drinking, etc.
There were numerous playground areas, volleyball, horseshoes, and even an arcade area. Although we didn't stay in the Family area it looked very nice.
We had a great time at the campground and would 100% stay again.
We got lucky for a spur of the moment weekend get away and scored the perfect site at a campground we had never been to before. It's a busy campground.. but this site made us feel like we were in our own little world. The lake was only a few yards from our tent. There is also a dark sky preserve there which worked out perfectly for the meteor shower that was going on that weekend. One of my favorite camping trips ever... it was just gorgeous. I booked online through the michigan parks website. There must have been a cancelation that I got lucky and grabbed. It really was the perfect camp site.
If you get the right spot, you have essentially private access to the beautiful waters of Lake Huron. Clean beaches and large private lots.
Campground was perfect for tenting. Right by bathrooms and they were very clean. Short walk to the beach!
This was our 2nd time here. We stayed on site 71 this time down by the beach. Good amount of space for our set up. Nice view of the lake from across the road.
Nice pull through sites, some are tight, but none are impossible. Knowledgeable and friendly staff. There’s private land on either side and a dirt bike track that the neighbor owns on the north end, so if you’ve got a light afternoon napper, stay away from that end. Clean facilities, close to attractions and highway. Overall a good spot to stay
First time here, our site is huge. Lot of people on Friday and Saturday so extra caution when driving through the park. The Tobico Marsh trails and observation towers wee great for watching birds. Lots of trails. TheDay use area has lots of beach, as well as picnic areas, pavilions, a fishing pond, more trails. As this is less than an hour from home, this will become a regular just get away for a weekend campground for us.
We stayed here on Labor day last year and loved it. We are going back again this year. We will be making this an annual plan.
We enjoyed this very quiet campground. It is not a family “resort” style campground. There is a playground, no pool. Each site has full hook-ups and are a good size. Nice shade trees At Most sites
You can climb a lighthouse and look out 30+ miles. Two swimming beaches. Dog beach. A few trails to walk on, not many to ride bikes.
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
We came in late for just a place to rest before heading further north. Drop box available after 10pm(summer). Between 8p-10p there is a yellow phone to check in with. Can book day of until 8pm online. Easy to get into late at night. Big lots. Fire pit. Sites are electric only. Recommend to have extension cord for some sites, as plug in can be far. Website has pictures for sites and will advise if lot gets wet. Staff was very friendly the next morning. Updated our rec pass at the park before leaving. Lots of trails and swimming beach near park.
Park is very well kept, quiet, staff is friendly and plenty of things to do on site
We loved this campground. The proximity to the beach was phenomenal. Our site, 95A was along the old river channel which made for nice views of water fowl. I will say though, the Canada Geese were extremely active…even at late hours of the night and early morning (expected). Lake Huron did not disappoint. We enjoyed some sunsets, weathered driftwood, more geese, sea gulls, and sand pipers.
The weather started out decent and very fall like, but come late Friday night, sustained 20 mph winds and unrelenting downpours ensued. Did I mention we were in a tent?! Fortunately, I truly did “batten down the hatches” so to speak. This is not a tent review, but the Sam’s Club 9’ x 14’ tent never leaked, never ripped, and held its own!
Flies out did mosquitoes, and bees were in full pollination mode. We did fog our site and used Thermacells which helped within Mosquitoes. Chipmunks ruled the campground. They were busy everywhere. Also a local woodpecker was going to town at a site next to us. We didn’t see any raccoons or deer…did I mention geese?!?
Site had 120v and 30 amp service, a picnic table, and fire ring. It was directly across the street from the restrooms and showers.
Site Size was approx 33’ x 50’
Shower facilities were a bit dated but functional. Restrooms were clean with nice hot water and high powered hand driers.
We’re planning another trip and hoping to make it to the sites closer to the lake.
Lovely tent and more
Large sites, all full hookup. Plenty of onsight activities on the weekend. Large play areas, dog run, basketball court, lots of walking trails, and family friendly.
Great campground to stop in for the night. We paid 25 for a camp spot plus 9 for a passport to put in our window. The beach is right across from the campground but the water is extremely polluted so we didn’t swim but the sand is really nice and clean so we did catch some sun rays. They have showers and bathrooms here. Firewood is 6 dollars a small bundle.
It was a short stay but we had a great site that had a little path to a fairly private beach which made it so much fun! It was a very packed campground due to the great location, which made backing in and then hooking up a little tricky so bring your patience during that time. Very nice staff. Super long lines for the dump station on a Sunday (we opted to just wait it out until our next campground)
Frequently Asked Questions
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According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Essexville, MI is Bay City State Park Campground with a 4.4-star rating from 20 reviews.
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