The best DISPERSED camping near
Riggsville , MICHIGAN

One of the best state campgrounds.  This is a very large park and can be hard to get into.  It has wonderful trails around it, good sized sites, an active ranger program for kids. There is the upper campground (Pines), which does not have direct views or water access, but is a great campground.  The lower section is on the water.  There is beach access for all campers along the water and gorgeous views of the Mackinaw Bridge.  It's a great hub for all the activities in the area: the dark sky park, Mackinaw City, Mackinac Island, etc.

Without a doubt this is one of our favorite campgrounds.  It's a bit older, so the campsites are quite large compared to modern campgrounds.  There are huge trees throughout, easily navigable roads, etc.  There are two sections to the park, one a bit smaller with a gorgeous new bathroom.  The other larger section has older facilities, but clean. There are a couple beaches here, some more popular than others.  Since there is a boat launch, kayak rentals, and small café at this state park, it can get busy in the public area during the summer.  The campground is along a paved bike path.  It's not far from the closest town, which has a couple restaurants, shops, etc.  The only drawback to this park is that it abuts a very busy road and can have a fair amount of road noise if you're on that side.

We stayed at Wilderness in October this fall.  The fall colors were just about fully turned and it was just gorgeous.  This park is geared towards the RV camper and they have sites for just about any size rig.  The sites along the lake are geared more toward the sorter rigs.  Ours is a short 5'er and we fit just fine.

The only downside to this trip was the very high lake levels.  On the west side of the park with the more scenic beaches were just not accessible.  Actually, they didn't exist.  The water level completely inundated them.  Even the shore trees were in the water.  That prevented us from hiking where we had hoped to hike.  That really limited us.

The park was clean and the dump station clean and plenty of room  We would camp here again.

First off, this place is huge and has a lot to do and take in. It's a great place to take a walk, ride a bike, explore a path, or participate in the many activities they offer or just relax. Different areas of the park have a different vibe but all are good. Views of the bridge at night are simply awesome and you don't need a bridge view site to enjoy it, just head down to the grassy area by the water and grab a bench or light a fire in one of the fire pits. Most staff very friendly/helpful (seems there is always one know it all that isn't 🙂). Pay attention to lot descriptions on the website, they are very upfront that some lots are small. We had a 50a large and had way more room than we could use. Trees/bushes between sites for privacy. Looking forward to going back again in 2021.

We enjoyed our time at Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping! We stay a week and stayed on two different sites and loved both, but the lake front view was definitely the best. Great view of the bridge and island! Beautiful Sunsets! Biggest campground we have ever stayed at. They pack them in-small sites, but run like a well oiled machine. The store had all the items we needed or forgot. We were close to the bike trail that went into Mackinaw City, it was a 3 miles to town. Definitely worth the drive!!

Came up here to sneak away on a warm weekend in November as this is one of the few State Park campgrounds open year round. We were really impressed.

The lake is crystal clear and has beautiful turquoise waters. We were able to take the canoe out and were the only ones on the water that afternoon. Cute beach front and seems like it would be a great family spot for the summer.

We stayed in site 122 but definitely recommend site 126 which had awesome views of the water.

The trails in the park were nice too but not very long. Pretty much only downsides were that the water spigots were turned off for winter (someone told us that there was a hose available back by the office somewhere) and shower house was closed (but vault toilets still open a d pretty clean).

We stayed here toward the end of October, I believe we were the last folks on our section of the park. The park is located a short 5 min drive to Mackinaw City and about 15 from the UP. The spaces were level, large and well maintained. Wi-Fi was great ($8 per day for 4 devices). Bathrooms and showers were ok. The beach front sites looked amazing but windy and it was getting cold so we did not spend much time there. Staff was great and very accommodating. AT&T cell signal was very good. They had a lot of bikes to rent and a camp store, unfortunately it was all closed for the season while we were there.

Wilderness was great, not what you are looking for if you are tent camping more of an RV park. Beautiful views though

We stayed for a week at Young State Park in September of 2020. Our site was at the end of a row and we enjoyed a decent amount of space for a truck and trailer, 30 amp service, and AT&t cell service. (I ended up needing to use Teledoc :( and my husband was able to turn on the hotspot and laptop and use the web.) The site is dirt but was level.

Some sites were not in use because of high lake levels and park water problems. Leaking pipe? The small dune area leading up to Lake Charlevoix makes you feel like you are at Lake Michigan. We saw some beautiful sunsets from the edge of the water. There are a walkway and observation platform. There is some hiking, a place to walk your dog, swimming, and bathhouses. We used the campground as a base to explore surrounding towns like Boyne City and Charlevoix, but mostly for kayaking. It was very quiet during the week and was packed on Friday and Saturday nights. The fall color was building toward a peak and the scattered maple trees mixed with cedar made it very pretty. We would stay again in the offseason.

This state park is one of the best. The campsites have amazing water views and are nicely spaced out. Bathrooms are clean. Highly recommend!