Best RV Parks & Resorts near Iron Mountain, MI

We were in Site# 14. We had electric/water with a paved pull-through. We travel towing a 14 foot trailer and were able to fit both in our pull through site along with my jeep.
The site was easy to level but the wheels of our motor home were off of the ground.

Check-in is at the hotel. The RV park is not visible from the hotel (it’s back in the woods). There is a phone at the shower house that can be used to request a free shuttle to the casino.

Our site was not shaded with limited trees. This was a smaller lot with our neighbors fairly close.

The lot comes with a picnic table and fire ring.

There was not any WiFi (we used our Starlink). They do not offer Cable TV.

There is not a community outdoor kitchen or community fire pit.

They do not provide garbage service at your site so you must walk to garbage dumpster.

They do have an indoor Swimming pool at the hotel with a sauna and steam shower.

There is not a Playground. There are not any additional play areas like Bocce ball, shuffleboard, basketball sport court, horseshoe, or volleyball courts.

They have a general store in the parking lot of the casino where you can also get gas.

There are restaurants on site in the hotel as well as a spa. The closest big town with stores is Escanaba (about 20 minutes away).

This is solely an RV park. They do not have any cabins to rent or any tent areas.

They have one shower house. The shower house has individual showers (toilets & sinks are on opposite side of shower house).

The laundry facility is located at the BP gas station (located in the parking lot of the casino/hotel). It is a cash only facility, but they have a change machine. It is approximately $2 to wash and $2 to dry a load.

They do not have a fenced in dog park. There are areas to walk dogs.

Bugs did not seem to be an issue.

Some fun things to do outside of the campground are to visit the Sandy Point Lighthouse or Ludington Park in Escanaba.

The casino is smoke-free. It states that the tables are open from 10am to 2am. Not all tables are available though (for instance, roulette wasn’t always available and if they did open up the one roulette table, it wasn’t until 6 or 7pm). The slot machine options are abundant.

Van Riper State Park is a must-visit if you’re traveling through Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  It’s popular year-round, although camping is only open between May and October. Stop for the day to hike the trails and go for a swim, or stay a week and enjoy the sunsets and serenity.

The state park covers both sides of the highway with the campground and day-use area on the south side and a huge section of trails and wildlife viewing areas on the north.

There are 147 sites in the modern campground, including some sites with 50-amp electric service, and there are another 40 sites in the rustic campground. Plus, there are two mini cabins in the modern campground if you don’t own a tent or RV. All of the campsites have a fire ring and picnic table.

One thing we noticed is that the sites at Van Riper are very large– so much bigger than many sites we’ve seen at other state parks. This means there is plenty of space for your trailer, truck, bikes, screen tent, kids’ toys, etc. without feeling like you’re infringing on your neighbor.

Another plus for the state park is the laundry facilities. Two washers and dryers are located in the restroom building near the beach.

Van Riper State Park is extremely family-friendly, with activities for everyone. There are approximately 5 miles of hiking trails on the north side of the state park. One trail provides a very nice overlook of Lake Michigamme and the surrounding area. Other trails run along the Peshekee River or through the woods and may even provide the chance to see the moose that live in the area. The trails are not difficult, but there is some elevation to get to the lookout. If you don’t want to hike the whole 5-plus miles from the campground and back, you can drive and park at the group campground and go from there.

A sandy beach awaits both kids and adults on Lake Michigamme. The lake is popular as it is much warmer than most of the lakes in the Upper Peninsula. A large, fairly new playscape is also located near the beach, as well as a swing set. One of the most unique activities is a bike pump track. This is the only state park that we saw that had one. It was very popular with the kids and is conveniently located between the campground and the day-use area. The lake is popular for fishing and if you have a boat you can use the launch in the back of the park. It also is a good location for kayaking.

• Yards on the lower sites are large, lots of room with concrete pads, but power/water hookups at lower sites are designed for motorhomes, not travel trailers
• Yards on upper sites are cramped and unlevel
• Taco Truck on site has amazing food!
• The campground is ATV/UTV friendly but the area “trails” are gravel roads except the ATV park east of Crandon
• Dump site is unlevel and leans away from hose hookup making it difficult to fully flush holding tanks
• Driveway to get in and out of dump site is rough and quite tight for a camper longer than 35ft to maneuver around
• On July 4th wknd we paid $60/night for water and power hookup, a little steep for not having full hookups

I grew up about 10 minutes away from this campground and it is still an awesome place to go when we are looking for a “staycation”!

It’s right by an elementary school so it’s a very safe area, across the road from an AMAZING playground that all ages will love, also about 50ft from a beach! The beach isn’t huge, and is open to the public so at times it gets crowded but is very safe and clean. The beach is on the peshtigo river and is great for kayaking, paddle boarding, boating, jet skiing, and tubing! There is a boat launch less than half a mile towards town on the river that is open to the public! Also includes a skatepark!

There also are two pavilions on parks grounds, both covered. One is smaller on the beach and includes grills and tables, and the other one has a stage on it for performances!

This campground is a mix between RV’s and tenting so you get the best of both worlds! Forget some necessities? No Worries! You’re a 10 minuet drive from Walmart and within walking distance of a cafe and gas stations! There are bathrooms, water hook ups, picnic tables, fire pits, and parking.

(I unfortunately do not have any recent pictures because I lost all of them but google really does a great job of showing what I’m talking about!)

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.