Best Campgrounds near Sand Lake, MI

We stayed here on a Tuesday and Wednesday night. We were at site 96 right on the water. It was gorgeous and clean and there were lots of spaces. The bathroom wasn’t bad but the water was cold. The showers were nice and have a private toilet in them as well. The fire pits are nice and every site comes with an electric hookup. Tons and tons of paved hiking trails. Pet friendly. Best part was checkout was at 1pm instead of 10am. Felt like it was more a family campground though so probably won’t be revisiting myself. $30/night for a tent site and wood is available on site for $7/bundle. Wood comes from a “vending machine” so it’s always dry and ready to burn which came in handy durning the rain. I did also see an area for water and sewer dumping as well.

General: A real hodgepodge of options: paved sites, sandy sites, some with electric, hammock sites, several different types of cabins, and domes. Our stay was in 2023, and this review is based on that, but the campground was closed for the 2024 season for upgrades. 

Site Quality: Varies greatly. We were able to secure two different sites for our two-night stay. Upon arrival, however, we doubted we would be able to navigate our 18-foot camper van into Site 58– it was sandy, narrow with trees, and cars were parked alongside the narrow access road, making backing in very difficult to impossible. We were able to switch to Site 69 for the first night. The second night we were in site 56 and enjoyed listening to the waves lapping up against the shore. Not all sites are level. Little privacy/separation between sites but if you can score a waterfront site, then it’s all good. Sites 93, 95, 95A, 98, 99A, 101, 103, 105, and 107 back up to the old river channel and the water was very stagnant and green. The beachfront sites mostly have nice views of Saginaw Bay/Lake Huron but be cautious when selecting: some are sand and not level. You will hear road noise from M25 on the 19 sites that back up to the road (and also some of the sites opposite these). 

Bath/Shower: Two bathhouses (east and west) plus a couple of vault toilets. The East Bathhouse was very modern and clean. The West Bathhouse looked to be a bit older but still seemed fine. 

Activities/Amenities: Beach access, fishing, swimming, and an observation platform for bird watching or night sky viewing (the weather did not cooperate to check these out). There are nearby hiking trails, a playground, a basketball hoop, and a horseshoe pit. There is a dump station. Kudos to Michigan for extensive recycling! 

We arrived late at night, and I was able to get in a nice walk around the campground before the rain started, dampening our options for the rest of the day. Obviously, our stay here would have been better with better weather, but I caution you to be careful when reserving your sites based on your type of camping. Despite the abundance of mayflies (gross but not biting) and the muddy sand-covered road from all the rain, we’d stay here again if we could get a beachfront site. We enjoyed our time here and would love to see what improvements were made when the campground was closed (although I thought it was very nice before).

This county park (open May 15– October 15) has a mix of no hookup, electric only, and full hookup sites. We stayed here with friends in their 43-foot Class A in an electric site facing Lake Huron and the view was phenomenal! It would be a bummer if you had a site behind a large class A blocking your view of the lake. The full hookup sites were completely full mid-week in June. 

The sites are on grass and very close together with no separation/privacy between them, but the view of the lake makes it worth it. It rained all day the second day of our stay and the dirt road and grassy areas accumulated quite a few puddles. 

The bath/shower house was reasonably clean, but it took a few minutes for the motion light to go on (I thought it wouldn’t). Didn’t use the shower so cannot comment on that. 

There is a playground, boat launch (separate fee), and reasonably priced firewood ($5/bundle). You can tour the lighthouse for which the park is named for $5 per adult or $3 per child (but you can only climb to the top on select– usually holiday– weekends. The volunteers are very passionate about their knowledge of the lighthouse. 

We would definitely stay here again as long as we could get a water view site (and the price was reasonable).

nice campground with plenty of woods and water. rustic sites could be a little more leveled off but not awfully bad. they have full, semi and rustic sites. camped here 4 times and enjoyed my time. PRO'S- great fishing, playgrounds for kids, great for riding bikes, sites are clean and many have good space for larger campers, staff is friendly and reliable. CONS- showers need more pressure, roads can get extremely dusty when it's dry, "beach" is small and rocky and on a slop which is difficult to walk on due to too many rocks in what little sand there is however the whole lakeshore is rocks so wear water shoes, while it didn't bother me, it can get a little loud at nite, after 10pm "quite time" but nothing really serious, some rustic sites could use some dirt to level them up but manageable, rustic sites, IMO, are a little expensive at $20 a night but I've camped at others that were $40! summing my review up, I enjoyed every time I camped here! caught lots of fish from walleye to crappie, even a 6.3lb small mouth bass!! very nice campground that I will continue to camp at and recommend!!