Best Campgrounds near Harrisville, MI

Traveling in from Indiana, the country side relaxes your big city anxieties while calming the busy lifestyle in your rear view mirror. Pulling into the campground you notice a warm and welcoming couple greeting you, as if your were long lost cousins. The campsites are nicely laid out with comfortable amenities. With a soothing creek whispering in the background of our campsite, we set our camper up for a two week adventure in this northwestern part of Michigan. Just minutes away from Tawas, the atmosphere is relaxing and the birds add a melody to the air. During our stay we met several other campers will call this place there second home. Enjoying the area and the camp owners friend and helpful manner prompted us to schedule another trip this coming year. What a great place to spend a relaxing vacation.

We stayed here on a Tuesday and Wednesday night. We were at site 96 right on the water. It was gorgeous and clean and there were lots of spaces. The bathroom wasn’t bad but the water was cold. The showers were nice and have a private toilet in them as well. The fire pits are nice and every site comes with an electric hookup. Tons and tons of paved hiking trails. Pet friendly. Best part was checkout was at 1pm instead of 10am. Felt like it was more a family campground though so probably won’t be revisiting myself. $30/night for a tent site and wood is available on site for $7/bundle. Wood comes from a “vending machine” so it’s always dry and ready to burn which came in handy durning the rain. I did also see an area for water and sewer dumping as well.

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).

This county park (open May 15– October 15) has a mix of no hookup, electric only, and full hookup sites. We stayed here with friends in their 43-foot Class A in an electric site facing Lake Huron and the view was phenomenal! It would be a bummer if you had a site behind a large class A blocking your view of the lake. The full hookup sites were completely full mid-week in June. 

The sites are on grass and very close together with no separation/privacy between them, but the view of the lake makes it worth it. It rained all day the second day of our stay and the dirt road and grassy areas accumulated quite a few puddles. 

The bath/shower house was reasonably clean, but it took a few minutes for the motion light to go on (I thought it wouldn’t). Didn’t use the shower so cannot comment on that. 

There is a playground, boat launch (separate fee), and reasonably priced firewood ($5/bundle). You can tour the lighthouse for which the park is named for $5 per adult or $3 per child (but you can only climb to the top on select– usually holiday– weekends. The volunteers are very passionate about their knowledge of the lighthouse. 

We would definitely stay here again as long as we could get a water view site (and the price was reasonable).

Alpena Fairground camp sites are conveniently located right off Route 23 within minutes of local attractions and historic sites.  The RV / trailer sites were spacious enough with water views of the Alpena wildlife sanctuary and Thunder Bay River. The sunset views are lovely. We launched our kayaks right from our site and paddled around the sanctuary.  Be aware, you cannot access Thunder Bay and Lake Huron from here.  Access is blocked off at 9th street dam.  If you want to head into Thunder Bay it’s best to just drive down and launch in at marina.  And if you head down River you will have to paddle upstream to get back, not fun in high winds. Camping is quiet, only a few other campers there.  Be mindful the fairgrounds hosts events during the year.  The circus stopped to perform during our three days there but we didn’t hear a sound or notice anyone around.  The restrooms and showers were clean enough, located near fairground entrance.  Holly the caretaker was courteous to answer my questions over the phone before arrival and during check in. Her home office is located near entrance, it’s a small rancher house.  Water and dump available as well near entrance.  Overall a nice quiet stay.  The should invest in new fire rings.