Gaylord is the perfect place for adventurous campers and RVers. 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 spot for your Michigan camping adventure.
$61 - $95 / night
"While it was pricey at $65 night, we had a very spacious full hookup site within easy walking distance of pool. Shower house was very nice and modern, with 4 shower stalls."
"This is so great koa with no road noise. The trees are mature and beautiful. This is a great laid back, family campground. The sites are bigger than other campgrounds in the area."
"This is a great campground South of Gaylord on Otsego Lake. I believe all sites have electric. The park is beautiful with a many sites having lake views."
"Well maintained grounds, with a fire pit and picnic table. State park, so no WiFi. AT&T is 1 bar. Restroom and showers are updated and clean."
"A few trails walking distance from the campground.
The old growth trail is beautiful and really well maintained. The trees are crazy TALL."
"Very friendly staff and clean park. Family friendly and pet friendly, beach was close by and clean. Reservations were very easy to make online and allows you to pick your site."
"The facilities were clean and the grounds themselves were a pleasure to walk around. The camp store was the best stocked one I’ve seen yet."
"Reservation side has sites up to split rail fence. Ramps to walk down to water.
Amazing sunsets"
"Bait and convenience store across from entrance. Good hub for local hiking and activities around the area."
$15 - $20 / night
"You can’t beat $15 a night, each rustic site is fairly secluded with privacy, and you’re right by Michigan’s only area to view free roaming wild elk!"
"This campground is right on the north central bike path and I came to this here for that easy access."
"Large, level electric sites. Very large campground in general. Since we were there in September and mid week, it was quiet. Bath house clean, but a bit outdated. Nice beach and swimming area."
"Staff was helpful, neighbors were friendly, bathrooms were clean, and it's right on the lake! Very pet-friendly, very busy. Reserve in advance."
"Recommend the on site ATVrental lots of trails to ride"
"They did a great job with the trick or treating by shutting down all vehicle traffic and by having a site decorating contest. And we got second place so they gave us a nice goodie bag."
"The staff was the friendliest we have ever come across. Within 10 minutes of someone leaving they were on the site cleaning up, making sure it was ready for the next camper."
ScoutI just saw a review from another camper who experienced the same as me; generators everywhere, no peace and quiet, no rangers to tell people to turn down their music, no one to police the crazy orv drivers who treated the 10 mph roads as race tracks. Do not go here if you're looking for a nice time. This campground is horrible, loud, dirty, and not managed. It’s full of drunk yahoos who use it as a cheap place to stay in northern Michigan.
RangerWhile it was pricey at $65 night, we had a very spacious full hookup site within easy walking distance of pool. Shower house was very nice and modern, with 4 shower stalls. Full coin laundry was helpful too! They had kids activities over the 4thof July weekend, and our kid loved it. The KOA is about a 5 min drive to Otsego Lake and the state park, where there's a nice beach and easy lake access. There's also a newly paved bike trail right by the lake for you to log some miles on. Nearby towns of Gaylord and Boyne provided us with plenty to do, and only a couple hours to get to Sleeping Bear sand dunes. We thought this place was worth the expense- big, flat, level sites with fire pit and full hook up. Nice pine trees and plenty of space for kids to play. Did not like the additional fee for kid to get wrist band for jump pillow and mini gold, but did it anyways.
LegendOne nite stay in cabin. Cabin had electricity, mini fridge, electricity and bunk beds. Only complaint was cabin was close to fairly busy road.
ScoutMake reservations early! This is a beautiful state park with the best of pure Michigan woods and Lake Huron sandy dunes and beaches . Very family and pet friendly but also quiet and peaceful for couples who just wanna get away . Only drawback is low signal cell service but hey getting off the grid is what’s its all about. Unplug and recharge yourself. Electric hook up availability 20/30 amp . Hiking and biking paths , a cute play ground , sandy beach with volleyball area all walking distance from campsites! Friendly staff , we love this park !
TravelerWe stayed for a quick overnight and wish we could have stayed longer. If we stayed again - we’d pick site 101. Little more privacy than the rest. We stayed at 137 which backed up to the woods which was lovely. This is a very bustling and full campground with lots of groups and families. Lot’s of kids on bikes. We were surprised to see a group with a full bar right out front on their site. We’re used to Texas parks where that would NOT fly😆 But everyone respected the quiet hours so we had no noise issues at night. Easy access to the water from everywhere thanks to groomed paths. Nice long but narrow sandy beach great for the kids to swim. Busy but very fun place to camp!
LegendThis park has some strong positives that outweigh the negatives so depending on what really annoys you about a campground determines whether you may or may not like this place. The park is run by the City of Petoskey and sits on 21 acres in downtown Petoskey overlooking Lake Michigan. Petoskey has a really cool downtown with great restaurants (we liked Beard’s Brewery, Palette Bistro, and Grand Traverse Pie Company), shopping, a free art center (Crooked Tree), parks, and a pretty marina with a scenic breakwater lighthouse. If you have never been to this part of Michigan, you should definitely come for a visit.
The campground is very popular because of the price and location with about 1/3 of the park occupied by seasonal or monthly rentals of people that have been coming for many years. There are 71 sites which can be used for RVs or tents. Roads are paved and sites are grass/sand. There are fire pits and picnic tables at each site and a nice large grassy area in the front of the park near Lake Michigan with multiple picnic tables in a common space.
There are many positive attributes of this park. The location of this park could not be better and the price of $30/night (water, sewer, 30 amp electric; $28 for electric and water only) is a great deal. (Especially because other private campgrounds in the area are easily $60+/night in the summer season.) They have free wifi that worked well and we were able to get over-the-air antenna television channels. You are really in a prime location with Lake Michigan in front of you. Many of the sites in this park have a great view of the lake (especially sites 1-16). Running through the park is the Little Traverse Wheelway which is a paved bike path spanning from the cute towns of Charlevoix to Harbor Springs. (If you don’t have a bike with you there are plenty of rental places nearby.)
Now for the negatives. The bathroom/shower houses are old and tired but were clean. The park sits between a hospital and water treatment plant, one of which can be smelly on warm days the other of which has a very loud HVAC system generating lots of noise. The park is located close to the busy road M-31 so there is a bit of road noise. The sites are very close together so there is not much privacy. The park is open to day-use and has a heavily used bike path running right through it so there are lots of people coming and going.
LegendWe looked forward to our stay at this campground so close to Mackinaw City. We arrived just before 5 pm behind another camper. Walter was having difficulty handling both of our check-ins: he couldn’t find the other camper’s reservation (apparently not a one-off) and then his computer kept freezing while processing ours. The process to get both of us checked in took almost 30 minutes.
The advertised group gathering gazebo seemed to have been taken over by the office; I saw no other covered gazebo. And the fire pit was horrible! It spewed toxic smoke the entire time we were checking in (I had to keep stepping outside). As Becky’s review mentioned, there was junk surrounding the “office” and close by area.
The RV sites did not have any separation/privacy between them. We had reserved a water/electric site but in the end, chose one of the tent sites that faced the lake. We didn’t even see a number indicating what site it was– it was mostly a large grassy area.
The mosquitos were horrible (I realize this is not the fault of the campground although the grass was a bit tall).
Although I’ve seen worse, the restrooms were just passable. The floor was wet. At least there was soap and paper towels. Did not use the shower so cannot comment on that.
The best part of this campground is the view of Lake Huron. As advertised, there is a (far-off) view of the Mackinaw Bridge from the beach, but you have to look through the wall of mosquitoes.
It’s my understanding this is a city-run campground and if that is correct, we expected better. In order for me to give this more than two stars, it would have to:
• cost less ($50 was way too much money to pay for this campground),
• have a more efficient check-in system, and
• be cleaned up of all the junk lying around.
If we would not have lost all our money, we would have ditched and looked elsewhere. We didn’t even cook in our van, opting instead to eat in town. We were up and out early the next morning.
GuideGreat sites with electric and water. Dump on site, very clean bathrooms and helpful staff. The campground has great Elk Lake access and some sites have views of the lake. Well kept, ice and firewood for sale on site.
RangerIt is a municipal campground so we didn't expect much but the access to the Little Traverse Wheelway and views of Lake Michigan were awesome - and full hook ups for the price was great. It has a small bathhouse and the sites are pull-though with back to back setup (so utilities are at the same post as one of your neighbors) but we scored that the 2 sites in front of us cancelled (it was wet, cold, windy and in general miserable weather but we lucked out day 2 and got a bike ride in to Petoskey State Park and a stop at Burnt Marshmallow Brewing before rain rolled back in) so we had a big open space for the kids to bike around on and allowed a view of the lake.
link on The Dyrt doesn't work - try this:
https://www.petoskey.us/departments/parks\_and\_recreation/campground.php
PROS: was really quiet, our neighbor is a regular and was extremely friendly and helpful. The bike path to Petoskey State Park is right in front of the campground and takes you by the harbor and can branch off into town too. Really close to downtown (which we did not explore but looks really nice). We originally planned on staying at the state park but the campsite was half closed due to construction (so it will probably be really nice next year) but this worked out great. Full hook ups on long pull thru sites for the price was great. Firewood was available at the check-in kiosk and there is a playground on site. Bathhouse with showers. Less than 1 hour from Mackinac Island. I read mentions of the hospital noise and while trucks unloading during the day was noticeable during the day, we didn't hear anything from there at night - the camp ground did have a transformer that was loud the first night but it was fixed by the next night.
CONS: it is no-frills and could be packed in during summer, but that should be acceptable for the price if you are looking for an easy base camp with access to everything in Petoskey. The bathhouse was clean but dated. The campsites look like they did not get a lot of cleanup - I filled a grocery bag full of trash from our site and the 3 open ones next to us.
Ideal site would probably be as close to the lake as possible - the road in front is not travelled much since it dead ends at the campground. There was a city facility at the end but it was not open on the weekend and we were told is pretty quiet when it is open.
NOTE: This was our first MI campground as part of out trip from GA to MN via TN-KY-IN-MI-WI-northern MN before staying in MSP for a week, then return via MN-IA-MO-IL-KY-TN-Home.
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