Best Glamping near Garden, MI

The customer service at this campground is impeccable. Bathrooms are always amazingly clean. Small camp store has all the basics. Playground for kids. Campsite was very clean. Tent sites have lots of mosquitoes, so be prepared. Cabins and yurts also available to rent. Couldn't have asked for a better experience.

Campground Review: Indian Lake State Park, South Shore, has become my favorite State Park in Michigan! This was my first visit, and I'm in love. Great location, well maintained. 5 minutes from Kitchitikipi, or the Big Springs, 5 minutes from Lake Michigan. Lovely lakeside spacious sites.

Gear Review: La Siesta Travel Hammock- very cool, compact hammock! My first ever hammock/hammock experience, and it was a huge success! Easy up, easy down, the rigging was easy and simple to figure out. Tips and hints about where to locate your hammock, hammock angling, etc. would be appreciated in the instructions. Overal a great product though.

This was our first experience at this park in the southern section of the western part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Many of the sites are just feet from Lake Michigan.  We listened to the waves all night long.  The park is very well maintained and clean.  We checked in on Labor Day just as the majority of campers were leaving.  The individual sites are grassy with many trees throughout the campground.  The restrooms/showers were spotless and constantly maintained.  While this was our first stop, it won't be our last.  Being that close to the lake is wonderful.

Nice state park campground with grassy, but tight sites. Located right on Lake Michigan. Very nice beach. Showers were okay, but always seemed a little dirty

Great views of Lake Michigan! Beautiful sandy beach just a short walk away! Really nice playground for the kids. Overall, one of our favorite places to connected camp!

Fantastic.. group cabins available.. great for big family outings. But great facilities and camping sites. You can fish Lake Michigan or swim off the beach or hike the park.

One line of sites is right in the water. Like all the Michigan SP we’ve been to, getting a big rig set on the site takes a bit of skill. Should have wonderful sunrises.

We got our new Marmot Tungston 4P tent so I took the wife and kids on a quick weekend trip to J.W. Wells State Park campground in Michigan's Upper Peninsula to test it out. I found J.W. Wells by searching for waterfront camping along Lake Michigan. There are plenty of state and national parks along Lake Michigan but not many where you can pitch your tent right along the waters edge like J.W. Wells. It also happened to be the only site within 4 hours drive of Northbrook, IL (N. Suburb of Chicago) with such close proximity to the waters edge that I could find.

The site itself is tucked right along the Green Bay coastline about 1 hour drive north of Green Bay, Wisconsin. There is a main campground for tent and RV but we chose to stay at 1 of 3 rustic tent sites a little north of the main campground. The campground was well maintained with picnic tables for each site, firepit, and a nice well groomed plot of grass for us to pitch our tent and setup camp. The main campground has showers and a playground right in the middle.

The view from our site was majestic, especially watching the sun rise over the horizon of Lake Michigan. The sunrise was the pinnacle moment of this trip. And that's really the only reason why I gave it 3 stars. The campground itself and the views are incredible, it's just that there isn't much to do around these parts. There are a couple short trails for hiking or ATV's and the Cedar River about a mile north of the site which I assume has some fishing and boating, but that was about it. The only other activity we found was to drive 30 mins north to check the small harbor town of Escanaba. Really not much to see or do there either.

I probably wouldn't recommend this campground for families or persons looking for lots of activities or places to see and visit while camping. It's great for a simple quick getaway with a great view to just sit around camp and relax.

This is the last Michigan State Park Campground as you are heading south and entering WI.

Beautiful views of the Lake looking east and south to Washington Island and Door County Peninsula. Nice stream and playground for kids to play in and on. Mostly grassy campsites so things get a little wet after heavy rains. Most sites have electricity and water.

No. No, they can’t. This place lives up to every glowing review. It’s quiet, every site is wooded and offers privacy. Throw a dart at the map and you’ll get a great site. It’s clean, well kept, spotless bathroom and shower facilities, lovely little camp store manned by friendly people. And hallelujah, a playground to get my kids out of my hair, positioned in front of their office/store so it feels safe, too. Walking distance to Lake Michigan, the Mink River, and Grandma’s Swedish Bakery, in the heart of northern Door County. We will absolutely be back.

When we pulled into this campground we couldn’t believe how empty it was. Compared to all the other campgrounds we had been to in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and seeing as it was still the busy summer camping season we were shocked. We were wondering what was “wrong” but nothing really surfaced. It could just have been that we were there during the week and the weekend rush hadn’t come yet. 

There are 96 campsites that sit on 74 acres so there was plenty of room for us to walk our dog and not feel like we were going in circles. Campsites are the usual mix of pull thrus and back-ins, rustic tent and water/electric. None of the sites have sewer but some have 20/30/50 amp electric with water and others are rustic tent sites. The electric and water sites long enough for any size RV but leveling may be difficult in some of the sites (which are grass). Picnic tables and fire pits accompany every sites. Some sites have their fire pits located at the back of the sites which makes for a big line of fire pits which was kind of weird. There are some large pine trees that provide some shade but this is not a wooded campground by any means. 

For a county-run park there are plenty of amenities including WiFi which was slow and depends on where you are located in the park.  The showers and flush toilets were clean but a little on the old side. A store sells ice, firewood, soda, snacks and ice cream. There is a really nice picnic pavilion that would be great if you had a lot of people in your group. It is covered with a “kitchen” area and lots of picnic tables. Since the park is on the Escanaba River there is a boat launch (albeit not really suitable for large boats with deep draft) and you can fish from the bank. Disco golf fans will love the 27-hole course that winds through the woods and property. For the kids, a playground area is large with lots of things for them to climb and play on. 

The park is located off HWY 2 so access is easy but there is a bit of road noise. Plus, when we visited there was road construction going on that produced traffic backups and more noise. But the real problem is the train tracks that runs alongside the campground and seemed busy 24/7. It is not so bad in the front of the park but back where the tent section is must be pretty bad if you are in a tent.

Great open sky site, next to the water. High winds, but local beach trail and historic town a short walk away with additional trails. FYI bathrooms, shower facility, water drops, and water dumpsite closes annually for winterization around Oct. 21. Keep this in mind when booking! Water was shutoff days after. arriving thankfully we filled up jugs before that. Electric and camp wifi on year round. 30A and 20A service at each site, worked fine. We'll be back for the next New Moon!

Had the entire park to ourselves over the last 4 weeks, on weekends. Sites do appear to be close to each other and might be tight during the summer.

Nice campground with electric hook up no water at site. Nice spacious shaded sites with pull throughs available. The historic site is a must see.

I enjoyed this campsite very much. MI state parks generally have great, clean bathrooms, this one included. Most sites have tree coverage, and can have good views of the lake. Sites aren’t super private, but it wasn’t busy when I visited in October of last year.

If you are looking for things to do in the area consider: Kitch-iti-kipi Springs Fayette State Historic Park Canoeing on the Manistique River

Such an awesome campground! We came for Kitch-iti-kipi, but we both think that the highlight of the trip was the campsite. Far enough apart from others, but nothing is a far walk either. The lake is awesome, it’s super shallow and warm and there are stairs around the campground to go swimming. We definitely will be coming back!

I spent only one night in this campground in August of 2016. It was absolutely beautiful and I am heading back his summer for several days. I was lucky enough to get a site with plenty of space and a great view, backing right up to the lake.

The campground staff that I met where very friendly and helpful, helping me find a local grocery store for some essentials.

Some of the sites are pretty small and others very open, but all in all, the campground was pleasant.

The bathhouses were clean and appropriately sized, the showers were hot with good water pressure, and the campground was spotless as far as liter was concerned.

Book a site that butts up to the lake for a great view. Make sure you bring bug spray however as the mosquitos were brutal in mid August.

Just needed a nice campsite for one night after traveling from Traverse City headed to Marquette. Made a reservation and booked a lake view site. The campground was really clean and the people were really friendly who worked there. They were dog friendly and everyone camping around us were really friendly as well. We were tent camping and there was plenty of space for more than 3 tents. We would definitely recommend this for family's as well as people like us just passing through. Great lake view and 10 minutes away from Kitch-iti-ipi "big springs".