Pines Campground — Ludington State Park

Great campground with beach access. It’s great to be in the forest, then take a quick walk over to the beach.

Campground was busy, but very quiet. Neighbors were friendly.

I was fortunately on the outer side of the loop at a site that didn't immediately abut a sister site, but as a whole the sites were shoulder-to-shoulder with no privacy. Even with a small car, there wasn't a ton of space to pitch a tent at the site, which was very shallow and up against a hill, leaving no option but to pitch it within about 6 feet of the road. Campers at neighboring sites were surprisingly quiet, given the sheer number of RVs and kids on bicycles. Easy access to hiking trails, including a short ~0.5 mile hike to Lake Michigan.

We initially tried to book at this campground and we denied do to being fully booked. When we arrived to book a site, there were soo many sites open that were not available for one reason or another, but no one was camping on them. We stayed on site 58 and glad we did. This part of the park has the trail to the Sable Lighthouse off it, but it also has RVs that you can rent for your stay, that look overused and clutter was everywhere around them. The trail out to the lighthouse was very beautiful and accessible, along with the personal watercraft ramp on Lake Hamlin by the beach. I was very impressed with the ADA accessible ramp and how easy it was to use. There are a ton of activities you can do at this park, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, boating on both lakes, fishing, swimming, riding bikes and a lovely walking path for birding.