Best Tent Camping near Garden, MI

It just so happened we were there on the very last night they were open for the season. And yet they still had over half the sure booked! It's a small campground, but very near the lake, and the coolest part is the old blast furnace (hence the name of the camp on the bay) on display. Mother Nature took it over, but you can feel the history!

A few spaces are actually on the water front with beach access, but one is taken by the camp host, the other two are reservable.... And they were reserved. But there were others, all within an easy walk of the sand. Ours was tucked in the woods, others more exposed, all with fire pits and grills and picnic tables. Even a hanging post of some sort. Drinking water was also a perk.

There is no electric and there are no showers, but vault toilets are centrally located. There is an adjacent park with more tables and grills. Even though there were a lot of RVs, we heard no generators the night we were there.

This is a forest service campground in the Hiawatha Forest. Sites are $20 each as of 2019.

My husband and I stayed at Newport State Park April 12-13th, 2019. We hiked to site 16 but ended up hiking back to site 1 because there was still quite a bit of ice on Lake Michigan by site 16. Both campsites had a fire ring, camp bench seats and bear boxes. The privy by campsite 16 was preferable because it had a half wall instead of being enclosed. Campsite 1 shares its outhouse with campsite 2. The hiking was very easy with minimal elevation change. Lake Michigan was beautiful to look at. Being early spring in Wisconsin it was still slushy and was depositing ice on its shores. A great place for people looking to backpack/hike in. We will be going back.

The channel marker campsite is the perfect distance (about a half mile on a well maintained flat trail) from the ferry dock and could be accessed by water too! There is a primitive toilet at the site along with a bear pole and storage locker, and a campfire ring with grill top. The site is private yet still close to the trail with an adjacent trail down to the beach, both areas include beaches. 

The site requires that all tents are placed within 15 feet of a sign which only grants space for 1 tent easily. We also were able to fit one hammock within these guidelines.

There is provided firewood at most all the other campsites we walked by, but no wood was provided to this site.

Also note the bugs (mosquitoes and flies) are horrendous! Even with strong deet spray. Good idea to invest in the bug net gear the ferry service recommends!

I have been visiting this campground since the early 90s with my family. My Dad used to come here when he was young. It does not have all the modern “glamping” amenities - no water/electric hookups here! No showers or running water! Outhouses only! And that’s just how it should stay. Half of the campsites have direct private lake access for swimming or boating purposes. The other half cozy up against the deep woods. All campsites are decently private, with a fair amount of foliage and woods separating all of them, unlike some places where you pitch a tent ten feet from your neighbors. There is a boat launch and a fish cleaning table, and every site has a picnic table and a metal ringed fire pit. This is perfect for the true rustic tent camper. I spent five days here in early July 2020 with nothing but my motorcycle and a two person tent, and it was all bird songs and wildlife. The only downsides are that there’s only one location to dispose of trash, so you could have a decent hike to do so, and the fact that there’s no electric hookups means glampers tend to run generators which can be a little annoying. But this is a wonderful place and it holds many good memories for me!

This campground is close to Munising therefore convenient for visiting Pictured Rocks and other tourist draws in the area. In the busy summer season it may be difficult to get a last minute spot with an RV, but as I was tent camping and pleased to take a walk in site I had no problem getting a same day reservation even in August. The tent sites are all walkin, with a tent parking area and then various distances to hike in along a path to the different tent camp sites. The campsites themselves are gorgeous, with tall trees and right on the shore, and privacy in between. Also, they provide several wagons in the adjacent parking area so you can easily tote your gear into your site. All of that would make for a 5 star rating, maybe 4 due to road noise from the nearby highway. However, I am only giving this experience a 3 because of one really important drawback: there needs to be at least an outhouse provided adjacent to the tent area. As it is, if nature calls you first have to hike down the path through the tenting area to the tent parking lot, then hike through the campground to the bath house which is a good distance away. Apparently this is too far for some people so they decided to just poop by a bush by the tent site trail and left it right there. Worst yet, the spot I saw like this had be left there for probably a few days, which shows a need for maintanence to patrol the tenting area more often and clean up such messes as they are health hazards as well as nauseatingly ugly. I wish this hadnt happened as otherwise it would be a pretty decent place to tent camp!

The campground(CG) was easy to find and our RV GPS took us right to the CG entrance. There is no formal check-in so we headed to site 44, which had our name and the dates of our stay. But, that’s when the fun started as we tried getting into this dry camping site. The road is fairly narrow, the site had trees to avoid on the sides plus above, and there were trees on the other side of the road limiting our swing for our 39’ fifth wheel and F450, about 60’ total in length. It took some doing and adjustments but we got into the site. The site is very nice but mostly shaded so our solar panels were not going to work. We expected this factor and brought our 2000W Honda generator. Currently, we have four lithium batteries and charged them mid-morning morning and then in the early evening before bed as quiet hours are 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM. For the most part, sites are decently spaced with vegetation between sites giving a sense of privacy. However, in this CG’s beautiful setting, you still get quite a bit of highway noise. The highway noise does settle down during the night. Like the last place we stayed, Tahquamenon Falls, this CG filled up each evening, with an even mixture of RV and tent campers. Three are no shower facilities here but the very clean vault toilets are placed periodically throughout the two loops. There is potable water at the dump station and spigots periodically within the loops. We got 1 to 2 bars on Verizon with the best signal in the morning. The picture rocks boat cruise is well worth the money. Get there about an hour early so you can be one of the first in line to get a seat on the right/port side for the best picture opportunities. The cruise runs up the rocks on the right side, slowing down for photo ops, and then on the way back, quickly does the left/starboard side. You cannot stand up or move around on the upper/uncovered deck when the boat is in motion.

Stayed here for 2 nights while we explored Munising and Pictured Rocks, what a wonderful rustic campground (our favorite kind)!  Half of the sites were reservable, the other half first come.  Big, level campsites with a fire ring, picnic table, and hook.  Campsites well separated, lots of privacy.  Vault toilets are available, by far the cleanest vault toilets I have ever encountered!!  Potable water available.   MOSQUITOES were the only downside to this place (not the camp's fault), so pack hoodies and long pants!!  They laughed at bug repellant.  It was like the zombie apocalypse, but mosquitoes.  Easy access to Superior, Munising, and Pictured Rocks.   We will absolutely stay here again, with high-quality citronella candles, of course.

Petes Lake is a great campground tucked in the Hiawatha National Forest. The campground is located about 15 minutes south of Munising. We stayed in Munising at a private RV park for a few days before discovering this place and fell in love with it. The campground has only 41 sites but because they are well-spaced and heavily treed you have some privacy and don’t feel cramped.  If you want a campsite right on the water, look at sites 4a and 5a.  Sites 7a and 8a are walk-in tent sites having lots of privacy. There are plenty of sites that are long and level enough to fit large RVs you just have to be mindful there are lots of trees. The main roads in the campground are paved and wide enough to maneuver. Campsites have no utilities but there are vault toilets and potable water.  Picnic tables and fire pits are at each site and you are allowed to collect firewood from dead and downed trees (which I love since I am a campfire lover).  Be aware that there are only two vehicles allowed per site and you will be charged $6/vehicle/night. Since this is a National Forest campground, senior pass holders get ½ off camping making this a bargain at $9/night.

For the outdoor enthusiast who is looking to get away and enjoy the outdoors this place is great. It is set on the 190-acre Petes Lake where you have a swim beach, boat launch and fishing piers. We spent a couple of hours paddling the lake which was very peaceful. Running through the campground is the Bruno’s Run Trail – a 9-mile trail traversing the woods and around small ponds. This was a great trail except for some pesky bugs that started annoying us as we heated up. Our dog loved the hike because we passed a couple of ponds letting her cool off and get a drink. We only encountered four mountain bikers during our hike which was nice compared to the crowded trails in the nearby Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  

We would definitely come back to this campground and it would be a 5-star if it had hook-ups for our RV.

Nice little campground on the western end of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, about five minutes outside of the cute town of Munising. If you plan on going to Grand Island, this is the place to be. A typical campground with tent and RV sites mixed in. Level sites with picnic tables, fire rings, tent pads, and vault toilets. I didn't stay here long enough to need to find out where the nearest showers are. Next to the campground is a really nice picnic area on the lake with great views of the island. The night I was there a ranger came out and did a program on owls right from the beach.