Best Campgrounds near Keweenaw Bay, MI
Keweenaw Bay, Michigan sits at the gateway to the Upper Peninsula's camping landscape, with options ranging from lakeside state parks to rustic forest sites. Baraga State Park Campground provides year-round access to Keweenaw Bay, though its proximity to US-41 creates notable highway noise. L'Anse Township Park & Campground offers a quieter alternative with higher visitor ratings and operates seasonally from May through October. Within an hour's drive, McLain State Park Campground provides direct Lake Superior shoreline access with spacious sites and scenic views. The region supports both developed campgrounds with full hookups and more remote dispersed camping options like Mouth of the Huron, where primitive sites offer greater solitude.
Winter arrives early in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, with some campers reporting "full-on winter" conditions by mid-October. A Michigan Recreation Passport is required for state parks, while township and city campgrounds have separate fee structures. Cell service varies significantly throughout the area, with McLain State Park noted for "poor to nonexistent cell signal" on Verizon networks. Road conditions can be challenging at some locations, particularly after rainfall when sites at Baraga State Park have been "submerged in water," forcing campers to relocate to drier portions of their sites. As one camper advised about dispersed sites: "The entrance to this campground is not for low clearance vehicles...it is full of HUGE flooded potholes."
Lake Superior dominates the camping experience in this region, with premium lakefront sites commanding higher fees and earlier reservations. "We had a site backed up to the lake and enjoyed the sound of Lake Superior waves," noted one visitor to Ontonagon Township Park. Site privacy varies considerably between campgrounds, with Baraga State Park frequently criticized for overcrowding. "They squeezed in WAY too many sites in this place. You can hear the campers next to you fart in their sleep," reported one frustrated camper. By contrast, McLain State Park receives praise for its "overly spacious and well disbursed" sites where "over a mile of beach gives every camper enough room to feel like the entire lake is theirs to enjoy alone." Most campgrounds offer electric hookups, with water access points available at central locations.
