Best Tent Camping near Hale, MI

Recent Tent Reviews in Hale

422 Reviews of 36 Hale Campgrounds

• 

  Lee D.

  Legend

  

  Jan. 12, 2025

  Port Crescent State Park Campground

  Very popular campground nestled between the highway and the beach

  General: A real hodgepodge of options: paved sites, sandy sites, some with electric, hammock sites, several different types of cabins, and domes. Our stay was in 2023, and this review is based on that, but the campground was closed for the 2024 season for upgrades. 

  Site Quality: Varies greatly. We were able to secure two different sites for our two-night stay. Upon arrival, however, we doubted we would be able to navigate our 18-foot camper van into Site 58– it was sandy, narrow with trees, and cars were parked alongside the narrow access road, making backing in very difficult to impossible. We were able to switch to Site 69 for the first night. The second night we were in site 56 and enjoyed listening to the waves lapping up against the shore. Not all sites are level. Little privacy/separation between sites but if you can score a waterfront site, then it’s all good. Sites 93, 95, 95A, 98, 99A, 101, 103, 105, and 107 back up to the old river channel and the water was very stagnant and green. The beachfront sites mostly have nice views of Saginaw Bay/Lake Huron but be cautious when selecting: some are sand and not level. You will hear road noise from M25 on the 19 sites that back up to the road (and also some of the sites opposite these). 

  Bath/Shower: Two bathhouses (east and west) plus a couple of vault toilets. The East Bathhouse was very modern and clean. The West Bathhouse looked to be a bit older but still seemed fine. 

  Activities/Amenities: Beach access, fishing, swimming, and an observation platform for bird watching or night sky viewing (the weather did not cooperate to check these out). There are nearby hiking trails, a playground, a basketball hoop, and a horseshoe pit. There is a dump station. Kudos to Michigan for extensive recycling! 

  We arrived late at night, and I was able to get in a nice walk around the campground before the rain started, dampening our options for the rest of the day. Obviously, our stay here would have been better with better weather, but I caution you to be careful when reserving your sites based on your type of camping. Despite the abundance of mayflies (gross but not biting) and the muddy sand-covered road from all the rain, we’d stay here again if we could get a beachfront site. We enjoyed our time here and would love to see what improvements were made when the campground was closed (although I thought it was very nice before).

• t

  tyler H.

  Scout

  

  Sep. 24, 2024

  Sleeper State Park Campground

  Late summer peace

  Went later September on a Saturday and it was perfect. Good mix of tents and rv’s. Everyone was respectful and the whole campground was pretty quiet despite being essentially full. Bathrooms were clean, stocked, with plenty of hot water. Didn’t shower there but there is a ton of showers. Beach was a crazy close walk and really impressive. Even a pet friendly beach too. Camp host had fun activities for the kids (my kids claim this was the best time of the trip) as well as tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. Staff was incredibly friendly

• D

  Djakata S.

  Guide

  

  Sep. 23, 2024

  Jewell Lake Campground

  Great place

  Only stayed one night but it was a very nice stay. Private but not secluded. Encountered a bear in the night but it retreated back into the woods. Did have my dog with me. I would definitely go back.

• 

  Nicole V.

  Guide

  

  Sep. 23, 2024

  Emerick Park Campground

  Quaint and Close to town

  Small campground with boat launch, shower house, and bathrooms. Connect’s to a park with playground and pickleball court. Easy to walk or ride your bicycle into town for ice cream. No swim beach but good fishing opportunities on the thunder river.

• 

  Chad H.

  Traveler

  

  Sep. 20, 2024

  Outdoor Adventures Saginaw Bay Resort

  Common Camp Ground we go to all the time

  Alright camp ground, it’s a members only. Few grouchy people that seem more miserable than into relaxing. It’s definitely an interesting atmosphere compared to other campgrounds. Staff are hit or miss, seems like the pleasant ones take layoff and move on. Small improvements are made year over year, which is nice.

• 

  Ralph E.

  Guide

  

  Sep. 5, 2024

  Alcona Park

  very nice campground

  nice campground with plenty of woods and water. rustic sites could be a little more leveled off but not awfully bad. they have full, semi and rustic sites. camped here 4 times and enjoyed my time. PRO'S- great fishing, playgrounds for kids, great for riding bikes, sites are clean and many have good space for larger campers, staff is friendly and reliable. CONS- showers need more pressure, roads can get extremely dusty when it's dry, "beach" is small and rocky and on a slop which is difficult to walk on due to too many rocks in what little sand there is however the whole lakeshore is rocks so wear water shoes, while it didn't bother me, it can get a little loud at nite, after 10pm "quite time" but nothing really serious, some rustic sites could use some dirt to level them up but manageable, rustic sites, IMO, are a little expensive at $20 a night but I've camped at others that were $40! summing my review up, I enjoyed every time I camped here! caught lots of fish from walleye to crappie, even a 6.3lb small mouth bass!! very nice campground that I will continue to camp at and recommend!!

• G

  Gary E.

  Guide

  

  Sep. 5, 2024

  Sleeper State Park Campground

  Great time

  My Family and Friends had a great time here. Very nice and quite if you like that. Good spacious spots.  Many sites are wide so they lend themselves to good group camping so you can pull sideways and open up to all in your group. We had great spots with the others we were with.

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  LISA R.

  Traveler

  

  Sep. 3, 2024

  Arrowhead Lake Camp

  Amazing place

  This place was fantastic. We stayed in the Lakeside cabins. Amazing views! We went kayaking, mountain biking, hiking and fishing. The wildlife is plentiful and the lake is full of fish. The staff are fantastic. If we needed anything, they were there in minutes. Always courteous and friendly. Will definitely be back

• 

  Jacqueline A.

  Traveler

  

  Aug. 23, 2024

  Bay City State Park Campground

  Great Park on Lake Huron

  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.

• 

  Gary G.

  Guide

  

  Aug. 8, 2024

  Bay City State Park Campground

  Good park

  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.

• 

  Sara Y.

  Scout

  

  Jul. 29, 2024

  Tawas River RV Park

  Trailer Park

  This campground was disappointing to say the least. Bathrooms were nasty with fruit flies no toilet paper either. The dump station was in poor condition. The non potable water didn’t even work. Our electric box didn’t work we had to use the box next to us. The bugs were awful! There was raw sewage there as well. It smelled so bad. You’re also in a trailer park with condemned trailers! The park was in bad shape as well. The site we reserved wasn’t even vacant!

• 

  Gary G.

  Guide

  

  Jul. 28, 2024

  Tawas Point State Park Campground

  Nice location

  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!

• 

  Rebekah J.

  Guide

  

  Jul. 21, 2024

  Canoe Harbor State Forest Campground & Canoe Camp

  Quite, Spacious sites

  Most campgrounds we have been to had lots of road noise but not this one! We stayed for 2 nights/3days and this campground was quite.

  The vault toilets were well stocked with toilet paper, although one had a hornets nest inside and the other was extremely smelly.

  Access to the river was good and the sites were a decent size with privacy in between.

  We enjoyed walking some of the nearby trails

• 

  Nicole V.

  Guide

  

  Jun. 29, 2024

  Avery Lake State Forest Campground

  No lake sites

  Good campground on a nice fishing lake. Large wooded sites but none that have lake access unfortunately

• 

  Nicole V.

  Guide

  

  Jun. 29, 2024

  Big Bear Point State Forest Campground

  Too close for comfort

  This area is separate from the big bear lake campground and is busier due to the boat launch. Sites are close together without much privacy

• 

  John H.

  Scout

  

  Jun. 20, 2024

  Pine River Campground

  Great campground

  Great Campground. Great sites where you don’t feel like you are on top of other campers.

• 

  Dean H.

  Scout

  

  Jun. 17, 2024

  Gabions Campground — Huron Manistee National Forests

  Gabion's Peace

  Nice sites. Though a few have the Shore to Shore trail going right through them. But there is access to the river. While I was there, it was peaceful, clean and easily accessible.

• J

  J L.

  Guide

  

  Jun. 13, 2024

  South Higgins Lake State Park Campground

  Great campground but you cant reserve a spot

  Well, the campground is old. Everything works very well. The sites are decent size. They’re plenty of small playgrounds throughout the campground. The beach is amazing the views awesome however when it comes to booking, it’s impossible to get a spot somehow they’re already booked before they even allowed to be booked and it’s every good spot

• 

  Angela B.

  Traveler

  

  Jun. 9, 2024

  Rifle River Campground

  Awesome campgrounds @ Rifle River

  The only complaint about the week I spent was they didn’t cut the grass, other than that I had an amazing birthday week at Rifle River Campground,  we found amazing flowers blooming  like yellow and pink lady slippers I even found Agates, fossils if you’re a rock hunter and when you climb up the tower there’s a extremely large eagles nest.

  The fishing wasn’t very successful I only caught a small one but the water was warm and clear you could see the sand doons.

• 

  Sara C.

  Traveler

  

  May. 27, 2024

  Wakeley Lake Campground — Huron Manistee National Forests

  Beautiful!

  We only stayed one night but it was very nice, right by the water. One other camper nearby but completely out of earshot.

• 

  Emily G.

  Scout

  

  May. 23, 2024

  Jewell Lake NF Campground

  Jewell Lake

  I think jewel lake is pretty good because they have good campsites. I like the dog, they have an island, you can go on can't sleep on there, but you can go on it. They have a beach, they have a bridge, so you can fish on good water to go swimming, you can drive a boat, you can go on a kayaking on a jet ski, any type of water boats the camp site it's pet friendly perfect for campers or pull behinds tense, they're ok, for motorhome\ RV's but it's pretty good.

• 

  Lydia T.

  Legend

  

  May. 13, 2024

  Avery Lake State Forest Campground

  A rustic state forest campground

  A rustic state forest campground on Avery Lake. I had 3 bars of service here :)

• 

  Lydia T.

  Legend

  

  May. 13, 2024

  Big Oaks Equestrian State Campground

  A rustic state forest equestrian campground

  A horse campground located directly on trails. Rustic campground with lots of trees. Non horse campers stay in lots 1-8

• 

  Lydia T.

  Legend

  

  May. 13, 2024

  Big Bear Lake State Forest Campground

  State forest campground on Bear Lake

  A rustic campground right on Bear Lake. Most sites are directly on the water. There is a 4 foot breakwall between the sites and the lake. You could anchor your boat in front of your campsite.

• C

  Chuck M.

  Guide

  

  Apr. 29, 2024

  North Higgins Lake State Park Campground

  A little disappointed

  The campsites were nice and level and reasonably large. I chose a site near the bathrooms, which were quite annoyingly closed. The campground was located right next to a busy road. So, there was road noise through the night.

  I was happy I got to charge my batteries, though.

  I met a squirrel that was so spoiled by previous humans that when I accidentally dropped a bit of food on the ground, he ran right up, over my foot grabbed it and then ran about 10 feet away and ate it.

• 

  Jake C.

  Legend

  

  Dec. 8, 2023

  Beaver Trail Campground

  Campground with Stocked Fishing Pond

  Jake from the Dyrt here!  Beaver Trail Campground is new and bookable to the Dyrt.  Check them out and share your trip on the Dyrt!

• 

  Willow W.

  Scout

  

  Nov. 19, 2023

  Pine River Campground

  Camp

  It's quiet and just peaceful!