Are you in need of a campground near Norway, MI? Norway is filled with the activities, sights, and experiences to make everyone in your crew a happy camper. You're sure to find the perfect spot for your Michigan camping adventure.
"The bathroom was also spotless. The showers were free to campers with plenty of hot water. Keyes lake was right across the street and the fishing was great. Most certainly will return."
"Right across the road from a lake."
$25 / night
"As of this writing, 2024, they have recently installed new showers and flush bathrooms. I live near this campground, so I have stayed at almost every site in the park."
"This is the last Michigan State Park Campground as you are heading south and entering WI.
Beautiful views of the Lake looking east and south to Washington Island and Door County Peninsula."
"Great views of Lake Michigan! Beautiful sandy beach just a short walk away! Really nice playground for the kids. Overall, one of our favorite places to connected camp!"
"Park is located in the Peshtigo River state forest. Pet friendly!! Your pets are aloud on trails and with you at your campsite. They must be on a 6 ft leash. The park is beautiful."
"Electric hook up & a great rate!
This camp is well off the beaten path , narrow windy roads abound. But all paved & no traffic. In fact, we never saw a soul."
"We visit our family up at shakey lakes campground every summer! They have a permanent site along with several other family members. It is RV and tent friendly."
"Large RV’s , very quiet , away from the casino. Inexpensive, clean and very neat. Will definitely stay here again."
$20 - $34 / night
"Nice campground right on Lake Michigamme, variety of sites (tents, cabins, electric hook-ups), big clean beach, showers."
"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."
GuideStayed for 5 nights. The third party computerized reservation system gave our site to someone else. Fortunately, we were put into a first-come first-served campsite right on the water which is a major upgrade. All of the sites (except for a few paved handicapped sites) are grass. Perimeter sites can be muddy. Interior sites can have enough slope that the trailer A-frame is on the ground in order to level. Electricity is reliable. Restrooms are immaculate. Showers are nice. Dump station with fresh water is clean and works well (2 bay).
My main complaint is a common, almost universal complain - people are right on top of one another. We have a truck camper 6 feet from our screen room with its AC on high and a very "fun" family sitting right outside our trailer on the other side. The "infield" is much worse - seems like each site has multiple vehicles and space is so tight that they are stacking kayaks. Family groups with clustered sites. Seems like a kennel as well with dogs everywhere. On the plus side: very little music being played, people were respectful, dogs well behaved for the most part without unattended barking dogs, people stayed quiet in off hours. The park itself is small with no biking trails or significant hiking trails. Not a lot of birdlife. They do have a nice beach which is a draw for families. We enjoyed our stay overall. We would return only if we had a waterfront site for a max of 3-4 nights. Off season would be better than summer.
RangerNice campground right on Lake Michigamme, variety of sites (tents, cabins, electric hook-ups), big clean beach, showers. AT&T was okay, ended up using it for internet over Starlink, which was spotty due to trees. Son had a good time skateboarding and using the playground. We've stayed twice now and likely will again. I did notice the AED was missing from the beach house/laundry area....otherwise it seems accessible.
GuideWe 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
LegendWhen we pulled into this campground we couldn’t believe how empty it was. Compared to all the other campgrounds we had been to in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and seeing as it was still the busy summer camping season we were shocked. We were wondering what was “wrong” but nothing really surfaced. It could just have been that we were there during the week and the weekend rush hadn’t come yet.
There are 96 campsites that sit on 74 acres so there was plenty of room for us to walk our dog and not feel like we were going in circles. Campsites are the usual mix of pull thrus and back-ins, rustic tent and water/electric. None of the sites have sewer but some have 20/30/50 amp electric with water and others are rustic tent sites. The electric and water sites long enough for any size RV but leveling may be difficult in some of the sites (which are grass). Picnic tables and fire pits accompany every sites. Some sites have their fire pits located at the back of the sites which makes for a big line of fire pits which was kind of weird. There are some large pine trees that provide some shade but this is not a wooded campground by any means.
For a county-run park there are plenty of amenities including WiFi which was slow and depends on where you are located in the park. The showers and flush toilets were clean but a little on the old side. A store sells ice, firewood, soda, snacks and ice cream. There is a really nice picnic pavilion that would be great if you had a lot of people in your group. It is covered with a “kitchen” area and lots of picnic tables. Since the park is on the Escanaba River there is a boat launch (albeit not really suitable for large boats with deep draft) and you can fish from the bank. Disco golf fans will love the 27-hole course that winds through the woods and property. For the kids, a playground area is large with lots of things for them to climb and play on.
The park is located off HWY 2 so access is easy but there is a bit of road noise. Plus, when we visited there was road construction going on that produced traffic backups and more noise. But the real problem is the train tracks that runs alongside the campground and seemed busy 24/7. It is not so bad in the front of the park but back where the tent section is must be pretty bad if you are in a tent.
GuideAs of this writing, 2024, they have recently installed new showers and flush bathrooms. I live near this campground, so I have stayed at almost every site in the park. If you cant have or don't want a lake site, site #4 is the largest. It is almost 35 yards across the front. Trees are growing back, but not many mature trees on the East of the park. There is a really nice beach area adjacent to, but not in the campground. It is a nice short walk. Each site has electric hookup, and some sites have more than one box. Not much ambient light in this park, so it is great for viewing stars and Northern Lights. This park also is situated near the ATV trail, and has access to the 160 mile Blue Ox trail system.
GuideThis is a well run,clean campground in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was easy to access and right off the main road, no four wheel drive necessary.
The campsites are large and there are a few sites near the lake (We recommend 113).There is a great playground, the summer of 2018 it hosted an inflatable water park which was a riot!
The water system is getting redone which will remove the orange color in the showers (which would otherwise be very nice). The water was not drinkable due to high arsenic but a large container of potable water was available. That is the only thing keeping this campground from being a 5.
The lake was a great temperature and very swimmable. Quiet hours are all the time so it was very peaceful and enjoyable. Ask the rangers for a listing of moose sightings outside of the campground.
Would definitely recommend for visitors in the U.P.
LegendThe people in the office were very nice and chill, always a good start when the people checking you in put off a warm vibe. We booked a river site but changed to a basic water and electric and saved 5 bucks for a better site. The sites on the river are not well laid out and it's hard to tell where to set up. None of the sites here are very private, but they are all very clean and larger with nice tall pines and big fire pits. The playground is awesome and there is a large grassy ballfield for playing. The river itself is a bit underwhelming, kind of marshy and not clear. There's a large dropoff from the campground to the river so it's only really accessible at the boat ramp, which is fine if you expect that going in. There is laundry and reasonably priced firewood. Overall a solid campground.
GuideMy friends and I love camping here because of the huge wooded sites, quiet family environment, and excellent service provided by Jen, Joe and their whole family. As a privately owned campground, they take their rules and security seriously to make sure their campground is safe, clean, fun, and quiet (during quiet hours). If you're looking for the party campground, this isn't it. If you're looking for lake fun (no boats) during the day and relaxing by the fire at night, this place is a must.
TravelerWe got our new Marmot Tungston 4P tent so I took the wife and kids on a quick weekend trip to J.W. Wells State Park campground in Michigan's Upper Peninsula to test it out. I found J.W. Wells by searching for waterfront camping along Lake Michigan. There are plenty of state and national parks along Lake Michigan but not many where you can pitch your tent right along the waters edge like J.W. Wells. It also happened to be the only site within 4 hours drive of Northbrook, IL (N. Suburb of Chicago) with such close proximity to the waters edge that I could find.
The site itself is tucked right along the Green Bay coastline about 1 hour drive north of Green Bay, Wisconsin. There is a main campground for tent and RV but we chose to stay at 1 of 3 rustic tent sites a little north of the main campground. The campground was well maintained with picnic tables for each site, firepit, and a nice well groomed plot of grass for us to pitch our tent and setup camp. The main campground has showers and a playground right in the middle.
The view from our site was majestic, especially watching the sun rise over the horizon of Lake Michigan. The sunrise was the pinnacle moment of this trip. And that's really the only reason why I gave it 3 stars. The campground itself and the views are incredible, it's just that there isn't much to do around these parts. There are a couple short trails for hiking or ATV's and the Cedar River about a mile north of the site which I assume has some fishing and boating, but that was about it. The only other activity we found was to drive 30 mins north to check the small harbor town of Escanaba. Really not much to see or do there either.
I probably wouldn't recommend this campground for families or persons looking for lots of activities or places to see and visit while camping. It's great for a simple quick getaway with a great view to just sit around camp and relax.
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