Looking for the ultimate pet-friendly camping experience near Midland? Find the best information on pet-friendly campsites and dispersed camping near Midland, including sites, reviews, and tips for getting the most out of your camping experience. 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
Located just 20 minutes north of Lansing, Sleepy Hollow State Park is an idyllic getaway for anyone needing some time away from the city. The 2,600 acre park is situation on Price Road off US-27 making it easily accessible to people passing through. That being the case, the park still maintains its charm and accommodates campers and visitors every day without issue. The Little Maple river can be found winding in and out of the forested geography, with Lake Ovid situated right in the heart, thanks to the clever placement of a dam. Visitors come from all over to enjoy the scenic landscapes, birdwatching opportunities, and Winter Snowshoeing.
During the Spring, camp rangers host the weekly Sleepy Hollow State Park Nature program, which educates campers about local wildlife and the history of the surrounding regions. This is a great opportunity for families to spend some time together, especially after a long day of hiking and camping.
Surprisingly, it’s during the winter that this park is most frequently attended. In fact, Sleepy Hollow is most recognized for the miles of snowshoeing and cross country skiing trails that run through the land. The trails are well-traveled, however there’s no shortage of privacy to get out and find peace and quiet within the confines of a forest muted by snow.
Camping here is easily accessible. Michigan Residents can utilize their State Park Recreation Passport to get in for free. Otherwise, entrance rates are $11 for residents, and $16 for non-residents. If camping, full-service campsites start at $25/night, while walk-in rustic sites are only $17/night. Furthermore, if camping in a tent doesn’t sound like your thing there are onsite cabins available for rent at $68 per night. If you want electricity and a full-service cabin, Deluxe Cabins can be rented for $101 a night.
$25 - $101 / 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
$15 / night
$15 - $25 / night
$30 - $600 / night
Rifle River Campground & Canoe Livery, LLC is located in Sterling, MI along the beautiful Rifle River. We offer camping both modern and rustic camping with over 25 campsites directly on the river. Whether you prefer to enjoy to serenity of the river in one of our canoes, tubes or kayaks or simply want to explore nature, we have what you need to enjoy your camping experience.
Guide
Great place for families and friends. RV and Rustic Sites as well as Cabins.
General store serving ice cream and pizza.
Ice and Propane exchange.
Beer,Liquor and tobacco products.
Play ground and covered picnic area.
Boat launch
Pull up docking for store use
Traveler
Alright camp ground, it’s a members only. Few grouchy people that seem more miserable than into relaxing. It’s definitely an interesting atmosphere compared to other campgrounds. Staff are hit or miss, seems like the pleasant ones take layoff and move on. Small improvements are made year over year, which is nice.
Scout
We really enjoyed our stay. We brought our travel trailer and my brother and his family stayed in a cabin. Very well run campground with plenty for all of our kids to do. We were extremely impressed with the owners and all of their assistance and personal touches. We were told they just took over ownership of the campground last year and this is their 1st season as owners. We will definitely be back!
Scout
The campground seemed nice into Sat. Night came. They started Blasting loud music that drowned our or campfire conversation from 1000ft away. We end our night early and still couldn't sleep, because the music was so loud inside of our camper, a hard side camper. We called the camp store and they said they couldn't do smoothing about it. We won't be back.
Traveler
Beach, trails and children's solace pad, just an easy walk across the road. Newer bathhouse. Shady sandy campsite. Be sure and visit downtown Bay City, lots of great restaurants, a Riverwalk on both sides of the river, concerts in the park. Great atmosphere.
GuideMost sites are good, though some have slopes to them. Choose carefully. Great newer playscape and splash pad (!) for the kids, across State Park Rd from the main campground. Nice newly opened visitor/nature center. Campground usually clean and patrolled. Showers/restrooms are good, cleaned twice a day. Friendly staff.
Some of the best campground hosts are here.
Groceries, restaurants & laundromats are a short drive away.
TV reception was ok, and T-Mobile worked well enough.
Ranger
Our site was averaged out to $82.71 a night with the weekly rate discount.
We were in Site# 306 (a deluxe plus RV site - be aware that some of these are back-ins and not clearly labeled on the site map - we had to change sites to a pull-thru). We had Full hook- up with a gravel pull-through.
We travel towing a 14 foot trailer and were able to fit both in our pull through site along with my jeep.
The site was easy to level.
Our site was not shaded with zero trees. We weren’t able to sit outside because of the direct sun until after 8:30pm.
This was a smaller lot with our neighbors fairly close.
The deluxe plus lot comes without a concrete patio but with a picnic table and fire ring. They do sell firewood and will deliver to your site.
There is free WiFi. They do not offer Cable TV but there are quite a few channel options.
There is not a community outdoor kitchen or community fire pit.
They do not provide garbage service at your site so you must walk to garbage dumpster.
You are allowed to ride personal golf carts. They also allow you to rent pedal bikes. They do not provide golf cart rentals.
They do have a heated indoor and heated outdoor Swimming pool and one hot tub.
There is a Playground. They also offer Gaga ball, basketball sport court, and volleyball courts. There is a Game room for kids. They have a Putt putt course and Jumping pad.
They have a great general store.
There is a separate Activity Center for kids.
There are tons of scheduled activities for kids like wagon rides, arts & crafts, scavenger hunts, obstacle courses, etc. Activities are scheduled all day from 9am to 8pm.
There is a snack bar on site from 4pm-9:30pm where you can get hot dogs, brats, pretzels, nachos, ice cream, etc.
The streets are mostly paved and good for riding bikes.
This is an RV park with cabins to rent also. Tent camping is also allowed.
They have two shower houses. The shower house has the typical stalls. There is a great area to hang clothes and store your toiletries in the shower stall. These are kept very clean.
There is a laundry facility. It is a cash only facility, but they have a change machine in the arcade room. There are approximately 4washers and 4 dryers. It is approximately $2.75 to wash and $0.75 to dry a load.
They do not have a fenced in dog park. There are areas to walk dogs though.
Flies were an issue and bug spray was needed.
There were no trails to hike off of the campground.
Some fun things to do outside of the campground are Frankenmuth FunShips (chocolate & wine tasting), the Golden Ticket Trolley, the Bavarian Belle (popcorn & sodas) River Place Shops, wineries, and Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland store. This RV park is less than a mile to downtown/River Place Shops where there is tons of shopping.
Traveler
We just got done with a 3 night stay at Sleepy Hallow. The campsite itself was great, nice a roomy while also being wooded. The bugs were pretty intense, but bug spray helped. They are working on the natural gas pipeline nearby, so there was lots of construction noise. Verizon service was basically non existent other than at the beach. The dog beach was small and full of algae.
Legend
The ONLY issue I had with this campground was that it's on a busy road. The campground is beautiful and very clean with a great swim area, cute playground, and newer shower houses.
Traveler
The only complaint about the week I spent was they didn’t cut the grass, other than that I had an amazing birthday week at Rifle River Campground, we found amazing flowers blooming like yellow and pink lady slippers I even found Agates, fossils if you’re a rock hunter and when you climb up the tower there’s a extremely large eagles nest.
The fishing wasn’t very successful I only caught a small one but the water was warm and clear you could see the sand doons.
Guide
We had a large group of families with varying ages and abilities. We used multiple different styles of cabins and a few RV sites, as well as various buildings for activities. All in all, it was an incredible time and I highly recommend it. Staff was helpful with activities such as archery but, seldom seen if not directly helping with things. It was nice to feel like we had the run of the place but, still know that help was available if we needed it. The location is pretty great, off the beaten path but, within 30 minutes of major stores and conveniences.
Laundry facilities would have been awesome since we were staying a full week but, there was a laundromat only about 15 minutes away.
The food selection was about what you'd expect in a public school cafeteria and resulted in health-minded guests needing to make their own meals in the cabins and meals were VERY rushed, only allowing 30 minutes for our large group to get their food, eat and be out of the building.
The grounds were well maintained for a rustic campground but, bathrooms and meeting buildings were adequately upgraded and offered pleasant amenities, such as a game room, large gym and decent air conditioning.
We had a great time here and look forward to returning one day!
Traveler
The place was beautiful for Memorial Day weekend. The neighbors in the campers were loud they were playing loud. I did notice lots of ticks. Our dogs all had at least one on them and all of us campers had a few. It’s expected being in the backs wood like that I just didn’t realize how bad. We did some hiking while there and the trails were nice for the most part all the storms definitely did a number on the trees back there lots down in the trails. Overall it was a great weekend
GuideExcellent owners! Super friendly that work hard to keep the place really clean. Its been in business since 1941 I believe.
They have 20 sites. The ones by the river are where we stayed. (sites 4&5). They also have some little cabins. They also do kyak rentals, with drop off and you boat back to their own landing. Super convenient.
We stayed the weekend and fully enjoyed it. We stayed in site 5 and had the river as our front yard. Electric is provided at each site, and they do have a dump station.
The ONLY downside I had, and I knew full well going into this and it didn't bother me, it is on M115, a fairly busy road. I know that might be a deal breaker for some, but was easily overlooked for the view we had, the kindness of the owners, and the cleanliness of the facilities and grounds. Most folks wont care, but some purists (Just know that I'm usually a boondock, REAL desolate camping kind of guy), wont like the traffic aspect. I didn't let it bother me.
I give 5 stars because they cant do anything a bout the location, obviously, so I rated on our experience. We had an excellent time, and will come back again.
Traveler
We love this campground. It’s quiet and well maintained. The owners are friendly and willing to help. Wood bundles are available for purchase and they deliver to your site. No tents allowed but pop-up are welcome. The bathrooms are key for me and are very clean. There shower are private and are quarter operated. This is our go-to when in the area.
ScoutWe stayed here 2 years ago. The office where payment is made is a few miles away from the actual campground.
There is a dump station and water at the fairgrounds. Along the left side near the dump / water station as you enter are huge grassy sites marked by electrical outlets at the rear of the sites. The rest of the fairgrounds are set up like a traditional campground on a "loop" style. It looks like almost all the sites will accommodate a 40 footer easily.
There were 2 or 3 campers who appeared to be long term seasonal guests but it did not distract from our overall stay.
We pull an Imagine 2500RL pulled by a Ford F-150 max trailer package.
We stayed 4 nights and spent the days traveling around Bay City.
Founds a great BBQ that had been shared by MI PLAYGROUND --- Meaty's Roadhouse BBQ& Sausage Shack Bay City.
We are planning our Summer 2024 travels and will; be stopping at the Bay County Fairgrounds again this summer.
ScoutI took a day hike back about a mile to site “F”. It was pretty private with a day site about 75 feet away so if anyone hiked in to use the day site, you might have to contend with close neighbors. Otherwise, a great spot with water access.
Scout
I have been here for over 2 weeks now and I am absolutely loving it! The Camp Hosts are delightful and helpful. It’s a quiet and peaceful setting ❤️
Scout$10 for clean drinking water they provide the the dump hoses. Always clean and well kept
ScoutShowers and Rest Rooms have been updated and were well taken care of. The park rangers were extremely friendly and helpful. We are newbies, but if this is what rving is like, we will definitely be enjoying it.
Traveler
Campsites are pretty close together and you can hear traffic nearby most of the day. Sites are well kept and toilets were nice and clean. Easy to get in and out but doesn't really feel like camping with all the traffic noise.
ScoutWe had a nice stay. It is a small campground and that is exactly what we were looking for. We got there on a Thursday afternoon and the best site #6 was taken but we were able to find 3 private sites that were unoccupied. There were several dogs and some barking but not too bad.
ScoutSince 1966 I visit, often just back packing. Clean enough & refreshing enough & still something pre-historic, particularly the beach, & the roads to it.
GuideWalk-in site F was literally the perfect campsite. Fully secluded (except a few curious hikers who stopped in around lunchtime), easy 1 mile walk from parking lot, can kayak right up to it on the calm lake, hammock posts, picnic table, fire pit, gorgeous night sky views. A+ and 10/10
ScoutThis is a family campground and the quietest park I have ever stayed in. Rates and fees are all reasonable. Private lake with some lakeside campsites. Most sites shaded. Dirt and/or grass. Clean restrooms.
Daughter got her Yakima Skybox stuck and it would not open. The owner Paul was very accommodating and spent more than an hour helping her to get into the box.
There seem to be more rules than many other campgrounds. However, if you are reasonable and respectful of other campers you will have no issues.
Stayed three nights. Will return to camp again.
Scout
Very nice, quite and clean, everything you need, water electric, sewer, cement pad will definitely be back there again
GuideCampground is one of Outdoor Adventures membership campgrounds, way overpriced, check FB Marketplace for resellers.
Campground is rustic, but clean, sites are relatively cramped, but lots of trees. Staff seemed nice.
GuideNice Jellystone, very nice staff, lots of planned activities for kids. Most sites are relatively cramped, a few are spacious. Not all sites have fire rings, so ask when reserving if you need to bring your own portable fire pit.
Discovering pet-friendly camping options near Midland, Michigan, opens up a world of adventure for you and your furry friends. With a variety of campgrounds that welcome pets, you can enjoy the great outdoors together.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular dog-friendly campsite near Midland, MI?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular dog-friendly campground near Midland, MI is Bay City State Park Campground with a 4.4-star rating from 20 reviews.
What is the best site to find dog-friendly camping near Midland, MI?
TheDyrt.com has all 89 dog-friendly camping locations near Midland, MI, with real photos and reviews from campers.
Keep Exploring
