Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Marquette, MI

Very pleasant and new developed campground. We found this place out of sheer luck while looking for a campsite on the forest road. Great spot if you’re looking for something near to, but away from Marquette.

Landed here after trying unsuccessfully to camp along Lake Superior (everything full). It’s a sweet little campground: quiet, dark and removed from the crowds. Close to Laughing Whitefish Falls and also not far from Marquette and Presque Isle. Recommend all!

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.

We have been camping every Labor Day at Marquette Tourist Park for about 8 years. We come up from the mid Michigan area for Marquette’s Blues Fest. This park is set in a beautiful area around the Northern University. Some sites have full hook up that we love, but this year we didn’t reserve early enough to get one. The site we are on is #2 and it’s very nice, facing the water. It has water and electric and a great big tree for shade. We love Marquette, it’s our “Happy Place”.

We camped right on the lake at number #13 which is the last site towards the back of the camp ground. Even though the signs said it was full, we rolled the dice anyhow and ended up getting a cancelation site for free! The guys at the office were very nice and accommodating. Camp was clean, quiet and dog friendly. Great fishing right off the waters edge, swimming and paddle boarded the lake as well. Super close to downtown Marquette, like a 10 minute bike ride.

We stayed at Van Riper State Park three times during June and July. The park is always clean and well-maintained. The bathrooms and showers and generally always nicely maintained as well, and there are plenty of both. The bathrooms do tend to run out of soap and toilet paper at busy times. Dogs are not allowed on the beach but also cannot be left unattended in your site. The rules are heavily enforced in this park. Park staff will ask you to move vehicles if you have more than two, and you will be asked to turn music completely off upon quiet hours. This is not the place to go if you want to party.

Sites 15 and 17, as well as several other sites along that side of that loop, now have a wooden fence at the back of them, so they are not as large as they appear in the photos online.

We have stayed in sites 14, 90 and 93. We travel with a 34’ trailer.

Site 14 is narrow but manageable. It is well-shaded by large pine trees on the site. Site is entirely dirt. There are trees to hang hammocks or clotheslines in.

Site 90 is on a corner by the propane tanks. It is a large site. It does have some roots and low spots. It is partial grass. It has nice shade and is adjacent to the bathrooms. There are trees to hang hammocks or clotheslines.

Site 93 is a large site that backs up to a small grass/tree buffer. It is across the road from the bathrooms. It has nice shade. There is a place to hang a clothesline but not hammocks.

Pros: Clean, well-maintained park

Quiet

Lots of playground equipment

Bike/scooter pump track

Excellent beach area

Lots of green space

Hiking trails

Wood and ice available for purchase at the entrance

Laundry is available; one washer and two dryers

Very kid and pet friendly

Cons: Park website has out of date information, specifically that there is no longer a store on the beach, nor are there kayaks/SUPs to rent

The Water Warrior Island is no longer in the lake

There are very few sites with buffers between

It is sort of far to the beach and laundry from the modern campsites

No non-reservable sites available

This is going to be my new favorite campground when I visit Marquette!

Bare bones campground nice new showers and bathrooms gravel pads I’ll pull through. $35 a night close to Marquette golf course in a casino.

Rippling River is a really nice campground, very close to downtown Marquette and right in/on a huge mountain bike park. There is a bar with pizza, beer, wine and a fire pit, a pool and a river running along the edge. Some of the sites are shaded - ours wasn't, but it didn't matter because the weather was very temperate when we were there. There is a really nice little path along the river in the campground and a great hike that goes to Morgan Creek Falls across the highway. We loved the Marquette area. Nice bike paths, breweries, restaurants, health food stores, etc. We also loved visiting Pictured Rocks.

Nice, clean, quiet right on the lake. Full hookups, level sites and lots of room for large gatherings at the party pit. A short drive to Marquette.

The campground is located right in North Marquette making it close to shopping and great eating. But also very close to amazing hiking trails, disc golf and great swimming/fishing areas!!

This is a new park still under construction lots of flat gravel spaces. They’re all pull through with full hook ups. Is close to a golf course and a casino in the city of Marquette. Nothing fancy nice new bathrooms.

Very nice campground with old growth trees located in the city of Marquette. Close to bike paths and mountain bike trails. Nice beach area. Close ride to the downtown area with lots of shops and dining. Newly remodeled restrooms. Large sites, friendly staff.

I noticed some real negative comments about this place, and at this time I think this is a pretty decent place to stay. There are no trees for shade, but this is Marquette Michigan, where it’s unusual to get into the 80s during the summertime. The tent sites are down close to the river in or not even visible from the main RV area. If you want to tent camp here, I think those sites would be excellent because they provide a good amount of privacy. I found the lady in the office who registered me to be very pleasant, and I did not notice a bunch of “junk”around the office building.  The water, sewer, drain pipe, and electric hook ups are all in very good condition.  additionally, there is no longer any exposed dirt like you see in some of the pictures on this particular camping app. The grass has grown in just fine.  I would definitely stay here again. 

We got one of the spots closer to the road but turned out great! These spots don't have quite the lake view but seem to feel more quiet and secluded. The lake views were gorgeous, amenities fine. We found this after leaving another spot closer to Marquette that felt uninviting despite all the reviews. We were so glad we took a chance and found this place instead!