We stayed in the semi modern sites, which was tents and no RVs nearby, which was good. That was about it. The Interstate was directly behind the sites, so the highway traffic noise took away from the feeling you want when camping, that off the grid feeling.
The site was clean, picnic table and fire ring. There was a water spigot close by too. We did some short hiking to sand dunes which was really cool. Nice paths lead to beautiful sunset over dunes.
Upon returning from the hike, we set up camp. That's when we found the ticks. We found probably 10 on our dog, several on us. The couple next to our site was struggling with ticks also, and they hadn't hiked, so makes me think they were from the campground. (We stayed ON the trail carefully while hiking). We've camped a lot and never dealt with this many ticks.
We actually ended up bailing due to how many were on us all. Spent the next 24 hours picking them off everyone in our family at home. Not good. We know it's a fact of life, but this place was infested. Bummer of a trip.
Paddlers Village was a nice, small, clean campground right on Lake Superior. We stayed in a Yurt, and had a good experience. The campground offers nice showers, a sink to wash dishes, trash cans.. all the amenities. The yurts are just steps from lake superior, and they have a nice rock beach (we filtered the water there and it was awesome) and a pier going out into the water. We had great sunrises. Each yurt is equipped with bunk beds and a futon (sleeps 5), mini fridge, power… definitely glamping :) Just bring your own sleeping bag, etc.
You can also rent kayaks from there to go out into lake superior. We were not able to do that because it stormed, but they say you can get to Pictured Rocks - that would be VERY FAR.
One thing to note - there was a HUGE thunderstorm while we were there, and we stayed totally dry and secure in the yurt. It was an ideal night to be there with that happening.
The only negative of the place is really just the tight proximity to other campers. there is not a ton of room, so we could hear people talking outside into the night.
This is a small quaint campground that worked perfect for us with tents - we were down a pretty long path from the RVs. The sites are ON The beach on lake Superior, so are BEAUTIFUL! They are clean and neatly kept, close to town if you need to grab anything. There is also a little store on site if you need any thing necessary.
When we were there, the wind coming off the lake was 40+ mph… so we didn't have a great weather experience (plus torrential rain) as you'll see in pics. however, had it been clear, the sunrise would have been a pretty amazing cup of coffee.
We backpacked into the Coves site, which was about 2 miles from trail head to the camp site. There are 6 backcountry sites at Coves, each with bear box and pole which helped. Bring everything - it's truly backcountry which is exactly what we were wanting. Small hike down a dune takes you to Lake Superior which was a pristine, empty beach and perfect water source (bring filter).
Hike everywhere - the beauty is breathtaking!! We did about 8 miles along the cliffs, and every turn was something new and amazing. The cliffs are very high, and straight drops off the edge, so be careful if you're taking little kids. (Or teenagers who are invincible).
This campsite was very nice, clean, ammenities galore. Beautiful hike to Big Sable lighthouse, which was wonderful, but take water and good shoes for walking in sand!
The crowd was the only negative. Sites were all full, not a lot of seclusion or separation between. Was just not our preference, but may be for some. We were in a tent, most others were in RVs. Tons to do though, hiking, kayaking, games, etc. definitely worth a shot.