Brighton Recreation Area

We stayed at lot M18 of the rustic site, Murray Lake. The site was large and had a picnic table and fire pit. There are TONS of mosquitos.

Gas and convenience is not far away. I had spotty Verizon service but I did get all of my notifications. Internet use was slow.

This was our first camping experience in Michigan, so we weren’t exactly prepared. My rating takes this into consideration.

First of all, if it’s rainy or muddy, you might want to think twice about entering the rustic camping area. We have a 4Runner, so it was no problem but a few little cars did slide around and have trouble on the hill by our site.

Our site wasn’t level, so we were rolling around a bit. If I went there again I’d try to find a spot towards the end of the loop by the exit. These sites were higher and some of them were private. I’d examine the map carefully because some of the sites were horrendously open and basically on the road. Maybe good for a vehicle with a rooftop tent or a trailer of some sort, but it would have been annoying for us. Site M22 was big and far enough away from other campers, but again not level. Probably a good location for a group of hammock campers.

All that aside, the biggest problem was mosquito activity. The camping area sits on an inaccessible lake with a marsh area.

When we rolled in the first thing we noticed was that everyone had screen houses set up.

We didn’t have anything but our tent and a hammock with a big net so everyone got bitten up while cooking and hanging out by the fire. It was pretty miserable. Yes, I realize this is mostly our fault.

I’ve since purchased a thermacell backpacker and some bug net hats and stuff. I’m looking into constructing an ultralight screen house that can be suspended from trees.

The last problem was drunk campers hooting and hollering all night but that isn’t the camping areas fault.

This place is super close to where we are living so I’ll probably schedule it next spring and come prepared. There are lots of nearby lakes and recreational trails so it’s a fun place to be with family.

Stayed here one night on my way from Ohio up north. Decently clean showers with hot water and lots of kids on bikes.