Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Johannesburg, MI

Wooden Shoe Campground in Ellsworth, Michigan is a small campground set on a hill above Ellsworth Lake. This park is great if you want to sometime explore Michigan’s waterways. When we visited the park, it was about 25% full which made it very quiet and relaxing. There are some great sites that overlook the lake that are inviting for an evening fire and enjoying a pleasant view.

The park has 45 RV sites with water, 30 amp electric, cable TV, and internet. There are seven designated tent sites in a heavily wooded area with some glimpses of the lake. Some sites have a nice amount of shade while those towards the front of the park are more open and have a better water view. Picnic tables and fire pits are at each site. The main road throughout the park is paved, in good condition, and easily navigable with even large RV. There is a dump station at the entrance of the park that is easy to get in and out of. A camp host is on site. The price per night to stay here is $25 and they offer a super inexpensive price of $125/week. Reservations can be made by emailing a reservation request or calling the city. 

The town of Ellsworth is quite small with a couple of shops and restaurant or two. The quaint coastal town of Charlevoix is 10 minutes away where you will find plenty of shopping, restaurants, a pretty harbor, weekly live music (in the summer), a farmers market and really great library with a large room that has a great selection of books for sale for a few bucks. The towns of Boyne City and Boyne Falls are about 20 miles away and also worth visiting if you have the time. For dog owners, Boyne city has an off-leash dog park and Boyne Falls has a large ski resort that is perfect for walking dogs in the summer.  The larger town of Petoskey is about a 45 minute drive but well worth a visit. 

If you want to “get away” and enjoy water activities this is a good place to come. There is a canoe/kayak boat launch just down the hill from the park that puts you in a narrow stretch of water that connects Lakes Ellsworth and Saint Clair. A short (approximately 1 mile) paddle into Lake Saint Claire lands you in a beautiful nature preserve administered by the Little Traverse Conservancy.  Be sure to visit Friske’s Orchard which has a fruit stand, bakery with pizza and sandwiches, general store and petting zoo and is only six miles away on Rt. 31.

The good things about this park are the price, access to pretty water for kayaking/canoeing/fishing and the view from some of the sites. You are not too far from some of northern Michigan’s most popular towns yet only paying $25 night. The small size of this park gives it a quieter feel than some of the nearby state parks that have hundreds of sites. When we were there about half the campers appeared to be seasonal who come to enjoy the boating and fishing. Many of these people were not there during the week which made the park super quiet. 

A couple dings for this park are that many of the sites are not level and even pitching a tent can be difficult. The bathroom/shower facilities are old and run down. The main bathhouse is located in the front of the park with port-a-potty’s scattered about. Some of the sites are close together and give a crowded feeling. 

Overall, I would say this is an average park which is why it gets three stars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vBh0Dej5Ro

Make 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 !

First off we couldn’t park our trailer until a boat trailer was moved from our site. Then there was glass, rusty nails, and trash all over the site so we had to do a quick clean up of site before unpacking. It only got worse as night time came as the campers next to us drank and partied all night with half the campground, every night for our entire four day stay. They even smashed into our vehicle as they wrestled and sprayed silly string on each other at 1 a.m. When we ran to town for a few items we came back to their kids playing near our camper. They seemed to personally know the care takers as they were partying with them, so nothing was done about any of it. The following day we again went to town and these people allowed their guest to park in front of our camper, next to the hitch. The beach area was un-swimmable and full of trash, cigarette butts, duck poop as well as dog poop because it was used as a dog park. There were also old clothes and shoes left all over the beach area. The bathrooms were dirty and left with no soap. The woman’s bathroom looked recently painted but the men’s bathroom was completely disgusting. The showers had old food in them and you had to pay for tokens to use them. The trails were ok, the frisbee golf area also looked good. But that’s about the only good thing about this park. We would never pay money to stay here again.