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Park Features
$40 - $50 / night
Small RV park with lake Huron beach frontage, full hookups, 50a/30a electric, Boat slips, Weekly, Monthly, and Seasonal rates.
$40 - $55 / night
A Family-Oriented Park Located on Lake Huron, we are a family-owned RV campground with 80 RV sites. Come enjoy our beautiful lakefront access, including a 120' pier! This is where memories are made!
Full Hook-up & Partial Hook-up sites available All of our sites are located on or within walking distance of Lake Huron!
Alcona Park is located on the historic Au Sable River floodwaters above the Alcona Dam, this 1100 acre park has three miles of shoreline on each side of this trophy fish producing river. The park is surrounded by the Huron National Forest and is a favorite home away from home for many vacationers. The river provides quality fishing of Walleye, Pike, Perch, Bass and Trout. Canoeing, boating, swimming, fishing, hunting and wildlife viewing are all popular activities for visitors. Over 450 campsites available. Camping cabins are available for rent!
$16 - $30 / night
Legend
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).
Legend
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).
Scout
Went later September on a Saturday and it was perfect. Good mix of tents and rv’s. Everyone was respectful and the whole campground was pretty quiet despite being essentially full. Bathrooms were clean, stocked, with plenty of hot water. Didn’t shower there but there is a ton of showers. Beach was a crazy close walk and really impressive. Even a pet friendly beach too. Camp host had fun activities for the kids (my kids claim this was the best time of the trip) as well as tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. Staff was incredibly friendly
Guide
Only stayed one night but it was a very nice stay. Private but not secluded. Encountered a bear in the night but it retreated back into the woods. Did have my dog with me. I would definitely go back.
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.
Guide
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!!
GuideMy Family and Friends had a great time here. Very nice and quite if you like that. Good spacious spots. Many sites are wide so they lend themselves to good group camping so you can pull sideways and open up to all in your group. We had great spots with the others we were with.
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.
ScoutThis campground was disappointing to say the least. Bathrooms were nasty with fruit flies no toilet paper either. The dump station was in poor condition. The non potable water didn’t even work. Our electric box didn’t work we had to use the box next to us. The bugs were awful! There was raw sewage there as well. It smelled so bad. You’re also in a trailer park with condemned trailers! The park was in bad shape as well. The site we reserved wasn’t even vacant!
Guide
Nice park. Can feel a little tight on some spaces, especially if your neighbor sprawls over the lines. Restrooms could use a little improvement (like replacing the crappy doors leading into the building) and some maintenance, but are clean. Being on a point between Lake Huron & Tawas Bay, there's almost always some breeze. There's beaches on both sides of the point. Staff friendly. Like most MI State Park sites, it's electric only. Tawas has no (as of this review) FHU sites. There's the Tawas Point Lighthouse here, which you can climb for a few bucks. Nice little gift shop next to it. It can get really packed here on weekends, and the day use gets closed because of being too full.
Big rigs, note that the roads can be tight, especially when inconsiderate campers crowd the road, cause you know... It's all about them.
All in all, it's one of our favorite state parks.
Hit Klenow's Market in town. They do great sandwiches!
Guide
Most campgrounds we have been to had lots of road noise but not this one! We stayed for 2 nights/3days and this campground was quite.
The vault toilets were well stocked with toilet paper, although one had a hornets nest inside and the other was extremely smelly.
Access to the river was good and the sites were a decent size with privacy in between.
We enjoyed walking some of the nearby trails
Guide
Good campground on a nice fishing lake. Large wooded sites but none that have lake access unfortunately
Scout
Nice sites. Though a few have the Shore to Shore trail going right through them. But there is access to the river. While I was there, it was peaceful, clean and easily accessible.
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.
ScoutI think jewel lake is pretty good because they have good campsites. I like the dog, they have an island, you can go on can't sleep on there, but you can go on it. They have a beach, they have a bridge, so you can fish on good water to go swimming, you can drive a boat, you can go on a kayaking on a jet ski, any type of water boats the camp site it's pet friendly perfect for campers or pull behinds tense, they're ok, for motorhome\ RV's but it's pretty good.
LegendA rustic state forest campground on Avery Lake. I had 3 bars of service here :)
Legend
A horse campground located directly on trails. Rustic campground with lots of trees. Non horse campers stay in lots 1-8
Legend
Jake from the Dyrt here! Beaver Trail Campground is new and bookable to the Dyrt. Check them out and share your trip on the Dyrt!
Guide
Gorgeous sites with lots of privacy. Basic pit outhouses no other services.
Only complaint is that contrary to Dyrts listing, it's not actually free.
Scout
Pretty large lots, some have natural blocking from other sites but some do not.
Felt like I had the beach to myself for two of the four days of my visit.
RangerPort Crescent is a really amazing campground to visit. The campground contains cabins, tent, and RV sites. Our site (95) was an electric only site but water was nearby.
Our site was on the sand but large enough to park the camper parallel to the campsite. we were well off the road there were no worries concerning passing vehicles.
The nature and wild life there are simply amazing and the sunsets on the beach were incredible. They were even more amazing because wildfire activity enhanced the fading rays of the sun.
We did buy the yearly MI recreation pass, not only for this but for some other stays we had planned in MI. The pass was $35 which was affordable.
For Astronomers this is a certified dark sky park the IDA. This is a Bortle 3 site with an SQM reading of 21.79 mag./arc sec2. I did not get to observe here due to smoke from wild fires.
Saginaw Bay is nearby and its a beautiful place to visit.
to Make sure you know where your gas stations are as they are a long way away from Each other. Also the water spigots in the park don't have hose connectors to either fill up with potable water at the dump station or bring water canisters with you.
Otherwise have a great time, we did!
Traveler
We left Tawas Point campground and went here. The day use beach bathroom was our first stop...not the cleanest. But the beach was nice as were the trails. Once in the camp itself, we loved how much better it was than Tawas. It's more spread out and I didn't feel like people were staring at me. Our site was perfect. We had some shade, perfect to park under as we car camped. Spacious lot and a trail connected us to a grassy area, boathouse, and beach. PERFECT spot if you are a paddleboarder/kayaker/etc. No wake lake is awesome for paddle sports! Our bathhouse was very clean. We will DEFINITELY be coming back!
TravelerIt is very nice and extremely clean. However it is kind of cramped. Sites feel close and everyone was very nosey. Pet beach is nice. Water is beautiful. Convenient location. People didn't listen to rules such as quiet hour and let their badly behaved dogs run loose. Bath house is extremely nice! All in all, I would camp here on an off day/season.
Traveler
Quiet and spacious sites. Near a lot of recreation, including Lumbermans Monument, the paddlers memorial, and the lovely Ausable River. Minutes away from Oscoda and Lake Huron.
Ranger
I launched from the Pine Acres Boat Launch and stayed at one of the primitive campsites on Cooke Dam Pond. The boat-in sites are great because they're super spaced out and private. Always an enjoyable time!
RangerSorry, I hate writing negative reviews, but this place deserves it.
Pros- the beach is fantastic, staff is excellent.
Cons- looks like they tried to cram in as many sites as possible, even on unlevel terrain. I can't imagine how ugly it would get during rainstorms with the mud.
$34/night is way too high. I've seen way better dry camping spots. This was our 3rd Michigan SP on our long trip, & we are really disappointed in this one.
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