Gary G.

The Dyrt Pro

St. Clair Shores, MI

Joined April 2021

Union stagehand, photographer, ex-rock roadie

Good park

Most 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.

Nothing seems enforced here

Stayed 5 days. Had a FHU site, of which there's a lot here. That all worked fine. Almost no trees here. None of the usual painted lines on the pavement to indicate your site boundaries, which sucks. You have to guess, and hope your neighbor doesn't spread out.

Nothing seems enforced here, and I mean nothing. Rarely saw anyone patrolling the park, never saw any staff checking sites before the next camper came in. My site had dog droppings and cigarette butts in the firepit. Neighbors had FOUR vehicles on site, two more than the rules. Witnessed endless speeding and people going the wrong way on the roads. Without exaggerating, 80% of the cars were going too fast, 75% going the wrong way. No one seems to care or enforces anything. I think the supervisor here should be fired or retrained. I camp in 4 to 8 MI state parks per summer, this is the only one where it felt like no one cares.

They need some "wrong way" signs and "speed limit 10" signs. (15 is too high, cause 15 means 20 to people, 10 means 15… ). Then they need to care.

At least the bathrooms were clean.

You can get TV from Detroit or Toledo, and T-Mobile service was ok.

Groceries and many dining options not far off.

We're 50/50 on staying here ever again.

Nice location

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!

Great staff, good hosts, not bad

Camped here thru the 4th of July weekend. The staff kept noise and other stupidity tamped down. They say quiet time is all the time, and I love that.

Typical MI state park, sites are electric (30a and/or 50a) only.

No real beach, but there is a swimming area. Picked up Detroit TV stations easily, good for the rainy mornings we had.

With T-Mobile, Internet service was practically non-existent. Phone calls & texts worked. The camper across from us said it was the same for Verizon.

One section is mostly paved & ADA sites, the "upper" section is grassy and/or dirt. Both restroom/shower buildings were fine, I just wish they had posted times when they'll be closed for cleaning.

All in all, we'd have no problem returning here.

Nice campground

Not a bad place. Pretty quiet, other than the usual occasional idiot. Decent sites. ADA sites concrete, regular sites grass, sandy, or a combo of both. Pretty average spacing for a state park, except when a doofus parks sideways in a back-in site. (Wish the MI DNR would put a stop to that ). Typical MI state park sites, electric, fire ring and a picnic table. Most sites shaded, completely to some. Will return.

Any grocery shopping you'd want is within 2 to 5 miles. (Aldi, Meijer, Kroger) Fast food too, if you need it.

Verizon and T-Mobile service sucks here. No park wifi.

Don't.

I live within a few miles of here, and I would not recommend overnighting in this lot. It's bad enough here that local police are constantly in the lot while the store is open. Of course, they're INSIDE the store, which isn't going to help if someone's breaking into your RV OUTside the store.

No way

There is no way you want to overnight here. Sketchy area, not really safe.

No effin way

This is NOT a place you want to park overnight. Sketchy to the max.

Peaceful, when basketball stops

We thought we'd give Holly Recreation Area a try. Campground is in "loops", each fairly apart from each other. The closest "lake" was mostly lillypads and scum. No swimming there, but the lake with the beach (and overpriced lake inflatables, $20 for 60 minutes use!) was a drive (or looong walk) from my site. (We're in the Oak Loop).

Playground equipment leaves much to be desired. Old swings and slide here, down a ways it's a climbing dome and some other metal thing. I don't know what genius thought putting a basketball court right next to a camping area was a good idea, but the constant "blap blap blap" sound got tedious real quick. Speed limit is 10mph, people seem to add 10 to that, so watch the kiddos. I even saw an official State van zip by my site at at least 15 to 20mph. Not great.

Every site is paved, which is nice, but I've never seen SO many unlevel sites. Some slope back, some forward, or to the side. I mean virtually every site in this loop is unlevel. I'm not exaggerating in the least. Hard to believe they thought this was OK. I drove each loop, noting the level ones, which was only a handful total.

We're close enough that we should get all the Detroit TV stations, yet I can get none. T-Mobile only gets LTE, which is slow.

Vault toilets in the loops, modern restrooms/shower out on the main park road. Unless you like long walks, expect to bike or drive to them. The modern facility near me was ok, showers ok, but there were lots of spiders in the stall I used. What's a lot? I counted 15 on the walls. It IS camping though, so kind of expected.

It is pretty though, very wooded, but sites clear & well spaced. (though, again, mostly all unlevel to some degree.) Road and site pavement is in good condition, and sites clearly marked.

I doubt we'll return here.

Good value for the money

Been pretty peaceful Tues/Weds. The only real noise has been them power washing the now closed pool for the season. But I guess they have to do maintenance when they have to do it.

Bathroom's nice. Even have hand dryers in most of them. And baby changers. Didn't see any sewer pipes that had threads on the inside, so you may need a donut or at least a weight to hold your elbow into the sewer. Lots for the kids to do here. Multiple playgrounds. At least three ponds all fairly nice with ducks and geese hanging around. There's a few sites are unlevel so you may need to use your levelers and maybe some blocks, we did. Areas in the back woods are quite nice and very treed. Quite private but a long walk to the "town" which is where most of the activities are.

All roads are gravel except the main access road which is paved asphalt.

Laundry room was quite nice with very new machines. It looked like it was two bucks to wash and $1 to dry.

Wi-Fi ( 2.4 and 5G) seems good throughout the entire park. Best Wi-Fi I've ever had at a campground. They have Wi-Fi repeater towers everywhere you look. T-Mobile signal was good, got plenty of TV channels out of Columbus.

Typical MI State Park

You get electric, period. Dump station available, potable water available there, as well as various spigots within the park. Beach ok but narrow. Firewood available, with free loaner wagons to get it to your site. I found the west side of the park a lot noisier than the east. The separate south campground was closed for repair, so I can't speak to that. Be aware that in summer, thousands of tentworms will be on virtually every tree, often falling on you when you're sitting around. They get on your awning, so be careful before rolling it up.

Great park with a lighthouse

East Tawas is a place I've visited most of my adult life. There's some walking trails here, the lighthouse is a close walk/bike from anywhere in the park. Getting to town is a few minute drive, or a very long bike ride on the road.

Like most Michigan State Parks, your site has electric (30/50) only. Water spigots are located in various spots throughout the park. I advise you fill your freshwater tank at home, or when you arrive, at the dump station.

There's a few ADA sites with concrete pads, all others are grass. Comfort stations are in good shape.

Beaches are, like most in Michigan, eroded due to high water levels, but still useable.

You can watch sunrise on the Lake Huron side, sunsets over Tawas Bay.

I've never really interacted with staff here, but never needed to. Park is clean. There can be lineups at the dump station.

A few sites are pull thru. Most back-in.

If you have a vehicle, there's many places to see in the area, like Lumberman's Monument. Tawas has a nice farmers market, worth a visit for fresh veg and other items.

Good state park

Like most Michigan State Parks, you get electric (50/30) at your site, period. There's public water available at various spots, but not at your site. Rangers are a good bunch here, friendly, helpful and work to keep things in line.

Most sites are very sandy (the whole place is ancient dunes), but dries pretty fast after rain. Dunno what one review is talking about, this place has tons of trees & shade in probably 90% of the park.

Beach is across the highway with a pedestrian bridge. Water levels have eroded most MSP beaches, but this one is still usable.

There's a couple concrete ADA sites, often occupied by non-ADA campers. ADA sites are pull thru.

Bathhouses are ok. Nothing fancy, but have been clean in my experiences.

Can get a little loud on weekends and holidays, but during the week it's mostly peaceful.

We stayed 3 times last year, and have already booked again this year.

Nice campground

Nothing really bad. Lots for kids to do, sites not completely level. Pizza was good. Propane fairly priced.

Good cable, easy hookups. Most sites have dual sewer connects, makes it easier.

One drawback.. I assume owner was riding two different motorcycles, and a gator, so a little noise then, but mostly quiet and nice at night. I would stay again.

Road leading in is VERY narrow, don't know how two rigs could pass each other.

Get a patio site if you can, they're very nice.

Very basic

Grass sites, fairly level. LOTS of red ants on my site, got bit pretty good. Rained overnight, and my site was fairly swampy when I was packing up. Was quiet, could hear some road noise, not bad though. Some permanent sites. I'd recommend this only for a night. Was cheap.

No picnic table or fire pit. Basically parking site. Cable TV ok, water power and sewer ok.

Not bad, needs more cleaning

My site was covered in dried mud, cigarette butts all over. They don't seem to clean the sites much. Showers/restrooms need better cleaning. They allow local traffic to cut thru park, I can't imagine why, and it's fairly non-stop all day. Never seen a park do that. Speed limits (5MPH) rarely followed. Fire pits and picnic tables oddly located about 25' from the back of your pad. Sewer/water can be a reach. (I needed 20' of sewer hose, 25' of water.) Electric is right on rear corner of pad, driver side.

The good: Sites are concrete pads, level. Staff friendly. Saw rangers often, but they never warn people to slow down. Nice lake. Multiple playgrounds for kids. Paved walking trails. Paddle boat rental. ($10/hr). Plenty of room between sites, easy back in. Firewood avail.