Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Manistique, MI

This campground is 15 minutes away from Manistique but feels quite remote. Campsites are in a couple loops. The first one seems set up for multiple family or friend campers. A volleyball net and horseshoe pits are found here. These also had less shade. Driving towards the small boat launch will uncover a couple more sites with more privacy. We saw one camper set up there with his teardrop camper.

The river is a medium size that looks nice for canoeing. Fishing seems to be another draw. We moved on to avoid the flies but in the right season this would be a nice getaway spot.

Drove through this one yesterday and wish I would have had the camper with me to have stayed. Very buggy but beautiful views of the river. Saw some people fishing but only one camper. Locals fishing said almost no one camps here. Locals actually all banded together to take care of it to keep it from closing. I think this campground is under estimated and worth a shot. If you want remote camping with great views this is your place. Sites are mostly open but since it’s empty plenty of room to spread out. Only 6-7 miles from Manistique which has a grocery store, bait stores and ice. You could even go to the casino! I didn’t camp here but drove through and spent some time here. Bring your bug spray and fogger and enjoy the woods as it was meant to be enjoyed!

Rustic campground along the shores of Lake Michigan. 23 sites. Hand pump for water available. Beautiful spot on Lake Michigan with no signs of life for miles down the beach. Pets are welcome. Fire pits are available. Seven sights are along the lake. Six mile drive down a dirt road to access the campground. The road is usually in good condition. It is well worth it. An extremely peaceful and beautiful place.

Rustic campground with 46 sites for tents or RVs up to 40ft. Vault toilets, two well hand pumps with potable water. Waterfront and non-water front sites available on a first come, first serve basis. No reservations. Beach area and water access. Open year round. Pet friendly.

One of my favorite places to rustic camp! Sites are first come first serve, planning arrival for certain days and times is required so you can land a site. Hiking is the best part of pictured rocks, bring the right shoes and lots of big spray so you can enjoy Mother Nature’s beauty. No pets are allowed which is a bummer but understandable. I’ve seen bear while driving through the park both times I’ve camped in pictured rocks, so they’re definitely around!

Open, level gravel sites and some concrete pads scattered throughout this pretty new campground. A few baby trees in the open meadow are trying to get started, but other than those there is no shade. We stayed in a full hook up 50 amp site, and experienced no power issues despite 2 days of freakishly high winds and scorching heat in the 90s. This is an immaculately clean and well run campground. Wi fi is ok for email and phone scrolling social media. The only reason we didn't give 5 stars is due to construction in the campground with dump trucks and beep beep beep of machinery backing up every day. Once they are finished and the shade trees grow this will be a premier campground in a beautiful area. Pets allowed on leash. Trash receptacles convenient to each area of the campground. Bath house with coin laundry machines.

Stayed here for 4 nights early July 2020. Social distancing had some sinks and urinals turned off. Seemed super clean. 4-6 tent only spots are in pretty good shade. All sites had at least water and electricity. Swingset and covered sandbox for kids. Volleyball net. I saw dogs and cats; we brought 1 dog. 

Cell coverage (AT&T for my family, Verizon for my friends) was pretty hit or miss at 0-2 bars at any given time. I could sometimes stream audio for an hour or two. Other times, it wouldn't do anything. Wifi was available, but it wasn't any more reliable than cell service down in the tent area. Service wasn't normal until hitting either of the east-west roads at the north and south sides of the UP that run along Superior and Michigan, ~8-10 miles north or south of the campground. We like limited to no signal, but realize some count on it, so try to always include it in reviews. 

Campground was pretty busy and the internal noise levels were fine, but you could hear vehicles (possibly cars as well as ATVs) racing off grounds in the night. I'm a very deep sleeper, so this didn't bother me, but I did hear it when I was awake for my nightly jaunt to the potty. My buddy mentioned it kept him awake for a while.

Went tubing with a launch from the grounds and got picked up by staff about half to 3/4s of a mile down river. My guests paid, so not sure how much, but perfectly nice little break from the heat for an hour. 

~20-5 minutes to closest spots to hit the beach, both of which were about 10 degrees cooler than the campground.

We drove up to Manistique on a Friday night; I was originally worried that we wouldn't be able to find a first-come-first-served site on a Friday, so I was mentally prepared to find another place to stay.   We arrived at 5:30 (if you're from WI, don't forget about the time zone difference!) and there were only three other campers in the three western loops.  I felt so relieved!

We stayed at site 72, which was nice and flat and a quick walk to the water and bathrooms.  Our site was so peaceful and we slept well.  I still can't get over how few people were there on a Friday in summer!

There are no flush toilets or showers at this campground, but if you needed a shower, you could go to the main park on the south shore.

We bought our firewood from a house south of the campground entrance on H455.  It was an amazing price ($5) per square of firewood, and they offered kindling bundles for a dollar.

The west campground is close to Kitch-Iti-Kipi.  After having dinner at Clyde's in Manistique (great burgers!) we visited the Big Spring.  It was almost dusk and the park was still relatively busy.  I'm glad we went at that time of day; I can imagine how crowded it must get during mid-day.  The spring was awesome, and riding the raft out and back was fun.

I would highly recommend the West campsite.  It was so peaceful.  Close to Kitch-Iti-Kipi, a short drive into Manistique, and just a little over an hour drive to Pictured Rocks.

I enjoyed this campsite very much. MI state parks generally have great, clean bathrooms, this one included. Most sites have tree coverage, and can have good views of the lake. Sites aren’t super private, but it wasn’t busy when I visited in October of last year.

If you are looking for things to do in the area consider: Kitch-iti-kipi Springs Fayette State Historic Park Canoeing on the Manistique River

Right in Manistique near Kitch-iti-kipi, this campground was easy to book last minute, and had the cleanest camp showers I’ve ever used. With water and electric hook up, we were all set to settle in for the night before continuing on our road trip the next morning. The staff was very kind and helped us choose the nicest available site.

Wood and ice were available even after office hours for a fair price.

visited June 2018

Despite being close to the road, Northland Outfitters is a quiet, peaceful little campground. With aonly 14 camping sites and 4 cabins, it is small. 

Our site (#6) was located right on the Manistique River. 

There is a horseshoe pit, volleyball court, canoe, and kayak rentals available. Inside the office, a game table for cards or board games is also available to those staying at the campground. 

The bathhouse and shower were clean. Additional outhouses were available near sites farther away from the bathhouse. 

There is a small camp store with basic supplies. 

The downside to this campground is many of the sites didn't have much privacy between them.

Great time at south Manistique lake campground. This campground has 30 campsites that are first come basis. There are outhouses that are super clean and Oder free. There is a dumpster for trash and it is 15$ a night. We stayed at site 30 right on the lake near the boat launch. The launch unfortunately did not have a dock and is very shallow and sandy. We watched someone struggle to get their boat out as the truck was getting stuck in the sand. The sites all have picnic tables and a fire ring. Unfortunately the fire ring did not have a grate to cook over. Other than that great experience all around. We will return!

This place was amazing. Very roomy and just beautiful. The camp host was horrible they would yell at us to slow down when we we under the speed limit. There dog was off leash and bit one of our dogs and one of our campers. They were horrible worst hosts ever!

Northland Outfitters I stayed here overnight in mid-June to take a kayak trip down the beautiful Manistique River. We decided to come here last minute after seeing it pop up on a Google search. When I called the owner was very nice and told me he had availability for kayaking and camping. Since we have our own kayaks, he suggested we go upstream in our own vehicle and then kayak down to the outfitters, then they would take us back to get our car. It worked out great. The river was up and it was a beautiful ten mile trip which took about 2 hours. 

The campground is wooded and spacious. Maybe 14 or 15 sites. There is electric, but no water at individual campsites, which is typical of the U.P. There is a convenient spigot to fill the fresh water tank on our travel trailer on the way in. No dump on site. Our campsite#10 was only a few feet from the river and had a perfect view. There are fire rings, picnic tables, a BBQ grill and WiFi. There is a camp store with everything you need. There is also a cute restaurant that serves great comfort food just down the street. This was a fun place to stop and camp. I would definitely recommend if you need a spot for the night and/or want to kayak or canoe the river.

Great campground!

Book early to get a spot. It’s clean, quiet and caters to riders. It has a shower building, 2 washers and 2 dryers, restaurant, store (only open certain hours), ice, dump station and 91 octane fuel on site. There is direct trail access from the property, and they provide a free ORV hand washing station and air for tires. There is free WIFI for guests and you can also purchase a faster internet speed. I love that the campsites are not on top of each other and there are trees between the neighboring campsite. They cut tress branches to clean open spots for RVs. Most sites have water/sewage and 30 or 50amp service. There is a dog run in the back of the property for small dogs.

We stayed here one night last summer on our way to Wisconsin. There are a few dispersed sites throughout the forest. They are just clearing or pull offs without any facilities. This is deep forest with sandy roads. The site was just a few miles from pictured rock national seashore. Of note the road from Deer Park and Grand Marais is a rough washboard road. It can be driven in a car without clearance but presents a risk for passenger vehicles with heavy loads. We were awoken by local hunters running their dogs through our site. They had a huge caravan of dog vans and made quite a commotion in the woods. If your looking for a free site near Grand Stable Dunes this does the job.

Not our favorite campground but will do in a pinch, plus the price was very reasonable. 

Not too far off of 101, easy paved drive, just a little winding. $8 for camping, and the America the Beautiful and other Interagency passes are honored here and is half off with a pass. 

This is a campground of just a row of sites with a driveway down the middle. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon in early August and found a spot, but it was more busy than we expected it to be. Very open and zero privacy at each site. No clear boundary between sites. Fire pits and picnic tables throughout. Campground sits along a creek and is surrounded by trees which is nice. Lots of sun during the day here. Water spigots, dumpsters (no recycling) and pit toilets available. 

Bonus…wild blackberries! We picked a bunch right behind our spot. 

There is a camp host on site that had firewood for sale and were a bit surprised to see people actually lighting up big campfires when restrictions exist. Recommend the creek side as another road runs along the campground which was quite busy. 

Access to creek is entering from outside the campground or though someone else’s spot. 

Very weak/ non existent cell service. But weboost helped a lot. 

BE AWARE: Loose dogs……literally all over! We only stayed one night because of this alone. Everyone had multiple dogs and at one point there was a wild dog ruckus near the water that went on for a while!

At least according to my buddy, that is. We (two couples and our two dogs) stayed at Minerva Lake four nights, from June 17 until June 21, 2022. The dispersed site was large enough for our two tents, a privacy tent, three tables, a chuck box, and plenty of seating around the fire ring. The site is adjacent to a boat ramp, but only one fisherman showed up all weekend. We did get a few other four-wheel visitors, mostly folks exploring in their side-by-sides. USFS personnel paid us a visit the day after a strong thunderstorm, just to make sure we were ok. And we're fairly certain we had a couple of bears pass us by while we were relaxing by the campfire. If not bears, something else certainly set the dogs off! Mosquitoes were not the worst we've experienced, though they did pick up in the early mornings and evenings.

We stayed at Petes Lake Campground from June 10-16, 2018. We enjoyed the large site of 3A and were traveling with three dogs. There are clean vault toilets and water available. There is no wi-fi or cellular service here. There is a nice beach and pier to enjoy the clear lake.

Gorgeous campground for those who enjoy rustic camping (no utilities). This place is extremely popular and reservations are not taken, so arrive early. It took us two tries before we landed a site here (Hurricane River is a good backup spot). The North County Trail passes right through this campsite; the only downside is, no dogs allowed on the trail (we were issued a warning).

All the sites are pull through so your front door faces another front door. Roomy sites with designated fire pits. There is a playground with lots of things for the kids to do. There is a nature trail you can take your dogs on. Great location to get to most of everything you want to do in the UP. There is a dump station, but we had full hook up.