Searching for a place to camp with your dog near Ludington? Find the best sites near Ludington where you bring your dog and enjoy a scenic view. Whether you're looking for a quiet location in the woods or a place near local attractions, The Dyrt makes it easy to find the perfect spot for you and your pup.
Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into state parks and recreation areas, state boat launches, state forest campgrounds and state trail parking lots. The Michigan Recreation Passport does not cover local, county, municipal, or metropolitan parks or recreation areas. Learn more: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/buy-and-apply/rec-pp
$25 - $65 / night
$14 - $27 / night
Lake Michigan Campground is perched on the shores of Lake Michigan, 15 miles south of Manistee. The area creates an incredible setting with a scenic overlook of the lake and a sandy swimming beach. This family campground provides an array of hiking and biking trails, plus swimming, fishing and kayaking.
A hardwood forest gives way to a beautiful sandy beach at the shores of the lake with a playground for younger campers. Trout fishing in Lake Michigan is another big draw. Bird watchers delight in seeing unique species like the piping plover and prairie warbler. The Arrowhead Trail, a short loop trail created by Boy Scouts, forms a loop between the campground and the beach. A trailhead for the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area is also within the recreation area.
The recreation area sits on the eastern banks of Lake Michigan along Porter Creek, due north of Hamlin Lake. As the second largest of the five Great Lakes, Lake Michigan provides stunning views and limitless options for water recreation. It covers a whopping 22,400 square miles and ranks as the fifth largest lake in the world. The Huron-Manistee National Forests encompass nearly a million acres of public protected land. Nearly 6,000 acres is wetlands that extend over the northern portion of Michigan's Lower Peninsula.
The nearby Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area has abundant trails for hiking and backpacking.
$27 - $32 / night
Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into state parks and recreation areas, state boat launches, state forest campgrounds and state trail parking lots. The Michigan Recreation Passport does not cover local, county, municipal, or metropolitan parks or recreation areas. Learn more: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79134_79210---,00.html
$25 - $65 / night
Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into state parks and recreation areas, state boat launches, state forest campgrounds and state trail parking lots. The Michigan Recreation Passport does not cover local, county, municipal, or metropolitan parks or recreation areas. Learn more: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/buy-and-apply/rec-pp
$40 - $160 / night
Poncho’s Pond is situated on 37 grassy acres. Our sites include city water, sewer, 30 & 50 amp electric service and television service at no extra charge. Tent sites have water & electric only. All sites have a picnic table and a fire pit. For those without a camper of their own, we offer rental Haciendas that sleep up to 8 people.
Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into state parks and recreation areas, state boat launches, state forest campgrounds and state trail parking lots. The Michigan Recreation Passport does not cover local, county, municipal, or metropolitan parks or recreation areas. Learn more: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79134_79210---,00.html
Traveler
Was a quiet. Simple.. Just with nature...Site was clean, across street you can buy firewood ...Was a pleasant 2 night's....From site to the nearest store 15-20 min away..If needed...Had no issues...Be back Thanksgiving 2024..
Traveler
Conveniently located but proximity to the road makes it noisy. Locals drag racing on the nearby road subsided around midnight. Campsites were clean and spacious. I stayed at one of the two sites down the road by the boat launch. I stopped here after my first campground stop was full. This site will definitely get the job done but don't make this a featured stop.
Guide
After a decent ruck in, you have some immediate camped spots and can travel further for even more. Summer time is busy so get there early for a spot. Have been multiple times with bigger groups and have always found a spot for tents and hammocks. Enjoy hikes down the best for a distance view of the dunes and enjoy fires with lake views at night.
Guide
Beach was big and beautiful but you had to drive to get to it unless you love walking with a bunch of beach stuff in a bathing suit. Hamlin lake is close by and is a good spot for fishing.
Guide
We had one of the sites closest to the beach access which was very nice for us, but since we were there Labor Day weekend(my mistake lol) we had a lot of traffic come through our campsite. We tend to enjoy more peaceful stays with less crowding. The beach had plenty of room for everyone to spread out and was not crowded at all which made up for it. Highly recommend watching the sunset from the beach. We also loved the lost lake trail. The group camping area is shut down.
Traveler
Very cheap and exactly what we needed for a last minute campsite with a great view.
Guide
Great location away from everything. Spacious sites that are spread out. We stayed in the Oak Loop. Only 5 minute easy walk to beach. Quiet. Enough cell reception to send a text but that's it. Pit toilets only in Oak and Violet loops. Flush toilets in hemlock and orchid loop. No showers, but showers available at convenience store down the street during the summer.
TravelerA small gem of a place. Park and pay to be in the National Forest...or disperse camping on Green Rd. We parked and hiked the mile and a half in to the Dunes. Take all your gear that you need if you don't want to trek back. Can not ride bike in or have anything with wheels on the trail. At the end of the Beautiful hike you come to the Dunes. Go to the right and you will see some spots to put a tent up(do not camp on Dunes or beach). To the right is easy walk and find. If you head to the left you will have to walk over some Dunes for a bit but this is where we went and found a perfect spot right where the forest and Dunes meet. Very short walk to the beach and it's AMAZING! We had it all to ourselves for hours. It's like looking at the ocean. Beautiful views, sunsets, night sky's. The water was warm and you could walk out a ways before it got deep. Great for swimming. It was perfect. One of my favorite spots away from the busy crowds. So worth the hike. Make sure you get wood and might have to hike it in. There is little to NO wood out there laying around. If you are willing to put the work in to hike out there then I promise it's worth it.
Traveler
Peggy are host was awesome . It's really clean and a beautiful place and close to the Dunes .
Guide
It’s a little cramped making it a bit overwhelming but the sites are nice and kept.
Traveler
Super close to manistee beach, came in on the weekend mid September, almost all the camp spots were taken. Forest was super eerie but beautiful.
Guide
Camp staff very friendly and park is well maintained. Nice hiking trails nearby and a 20 minute drive to a whole lot of entertainment!
Guide
Our site was great, easily fit a 17 foot trailer and a tent. Trails down to the water were appreciated by our kids. Neighbors are pretty close all around but that didn't matter until our last night. Several new campers rolled in at 10pm and proceeded to throw an absolute rager of a party until 4am - on Labor Day weekend. So overall a great campground but I wish there had been enforcement of quiet time or some kind of consequence for such horrible camping manners.
Traveler
Most sites have direct river access. All sites are walk-in, but not far from the parking area. There are two pit toilets for six sites and both were clean. They sites are large, but fairly open, not much between the sites.
Traveler
Small campsites, but nice bathrooms and showers, close to Baldwin
Traveler
Went there to use dump station after camping at the local veterans retreat, nice facilities and staff. 15$ fee to use dump station
Scout
I can't say enough about this place. They where so nice, polite and friendly. We had some R.V. Issues and they where there to help. The camp site was very nice. There bathroom and shower were so clean. We will stay there again.
Traveler
No running water.
No electricity.
No flush toilets.
No internet.
No phone signal.
Pure heaven.
Rustic campsites. 50-100 yards from the river. Great water from the pump. Nice clean vault toilet. Very quiet at night. Peaceful and beautiful. We've gone ever year for the last 5 years. Going again next year.
Highly recommend a satellite-based GPS unit like Garmin or TomTom in your car. I was serious when I said no phone signal so Google Maps ain't gonna' get you there.
GuideWe loved this park and the atmosphere. So much room for all size campers, bathrooms and showers were clean and spacious. Beach access super close and plenty of roaming for our dog. Fire rings were the nicest we've seen and the park was kept clean and today, the rangers were on top of everything.
Scout
Very small campground with a quiet time at 10:00 am. The host and staff were beyond helpful and friendly. Only complaint - bathrooms were a good hike away from the tent/RV spots
TravelerThe campsites are spacious and feature trails that lead directly to the Tippy Dam Backwater. There’s also convenient access for launching a boat on either the Manistee River or the backwaters side of the dam
Scout
I wanted to give this place a 5 star rating but unfortunately I’ve had a bad experience at this one. my first time camping with a group of friends at this campground we reserved 3 spots all close together to accommodate such a huge group having camped there for a little over 24hours was told by the park ranger to move my tent over to my side of the plot since my tent was crossing my groups plot boarder by a little bit in the middle of rain with 2 kids(under 5)in the tent to keep dry from the rain. park ranger couldn’t be lenient enough to wait for the rain to subside.knowing the park ranger usually make frequent rounds around the park they could have told me sooner if it was problem but they waited until it started to rain to tell me to move.
ScoutI had a deeply disappointing experience at this campground. Despite driving six hours to get there and booking three sites, which were more than enough space for sharing, my friend and his family were forced to move their tent because it was slightly over the boundary—just a foot inside our site. This happened in the middle of the rain, with kids inside the tent, and despite our explanations, a ranger and three staff members insisted they move. Meanwhile, a nearby camper was allowed to stay despite having two tents and one camper on one site, which is against the rules. This discrepancy made us feel racially targeted and left a sour taste in our mouths. To top it off, the bathroom facilities were dirty, which only added to the negative experience. The lack of empathy and fairness was truly disheartening.
ScoutTerrible staff and communication.! Worse part is a power hungry ranger telling us to move our tent 2 inches away from our PAID campsite. What was worse is he told us when it was pouring outside while his kids was inside. Will not come to this campsite because of the ranger! Edit: we later found out that there was another campsite down the road that had 2 tents and 1 camper on 1 plot and they said nothing
ScoutWe stayed for 2 nights drove 4 hours just to go here with our friends and family. We respectfully rented 3 sites for a group or 11 so we have enough spaces for our tents and be together. On the 2nd day it was pouring rain the ranger told us we are too close to each others campsite. Although we are together and paid we still had to move our tents just an inch away from each other in the rain he couldn’t even wait for us to wait for the rain to stop but no we had to move the whole set up in the rain. Worse experience at a campsite. I understand rules and policy but we were harming no one. DONT COME HERE IF YOU HAVE A BIG GROUP. Definitely not family friendly. It completely ruins the experience for people when big groups come.
Scout
Not a bad campground. Easy drive to Traverse City. Camp store is small and closes early, 7pm.
Scout
Nice spot with a fire pit. I don’t think you can get a trailer in the spot but I pulled up in my truck and setup a tent right next to it. I can’t hear anyone else and it’s elevated above the road. Nice and peaceful
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular dog-friendly campsite near Ludington, MI?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular dog-friendly campground near Ludington, MI is Cedar Campground — Ludington State Park with a 4.5-star rating from 40 reviews.
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