Bruin Lake Campground

Wonderful place even when it’s packed. Harder to get reservations over the years but always a great place to stay. Awesome bathrooms newly renovated. Nice spots. Mostly paved in the lower sites. Nice swimming area however no beach sand. Just a grassy area. Public boat launch on Bruin lake. Bruin lake connects to a few more lakes creating a nice chain of lakes. Half moon at the end of the chain is a great all sports lake. Awesome fishing. Sites have electric, no water. There is a dump station. Wood and ice available for purchase and a few vending machines. Nice hiking trails. They do have a few hike in yurts and hike in camping sites. Decent parking places for those hike ins.

Seasonal campers run amuck

Very large campground. Owners are semi friendly with a hidden bias for those whom they like. Tons of seasonal campers. A obscene amount of drama between the seasonal campers. 90% of lake sites and pond sites are seasonal so don’t expect water front sites to be available. Rules are only enforced some of the times. The quiet hours are supposed to start at 11pm but not enforced. Many golf carts but they do have rules that you must be a licensed driver to use a cart in the park. Grass is unkept, bathrooms are discussing. Lake is mostly unusable due to being extremely shallow and weedy. Not a good fishing lake. There is a pool which seems ok. There is WiFi but it’s not worth the money. Never stays connected. But you can use a box from the office to get better signal if you want to pay for it. Many money grabs. Not really worth the cost if staying more then a day or two. Kids have a playground which is good because they are not allowed scooters, hover boards or anything motorized, bikes only. Overall I would not recommend for a family get away.

Best place on the ST Mary’s river

What a awesome location. I have been visiting this place for over 15 years. I absolutely love it here. You get to see the ships go by day and night. The shower house are always clean. In the fall when it’s freezing cold the shower houses are always warm. Fresh coffee and cappuccinos in the office. A game room for kids. A laundry room and a few things for sale in the office. All around I absolutely love this camp ground! See ya in September!

REVISED 5/30/2023...I have been coming here a long time, enough is enough.

I have revised my original review on 5/30/2023

When we started visiting this campground in 2015 it was a cheap little place to just get away. The owners seemed a little rough around the edges but the place seemed decent enough and we just kept to ourselves and utilized the lake. We acknowledged there was nothing for our kids to do. No shore fishing, no swimming, no real play area. No hiking trails. No frills…. We acknowledged that they showers/bathrooms were gross but we made the excuse "its a small campground not far from home, its cheap, its fine"…. However, as the years have rolled on we have found ourselves making excuses for the poor treatment that the owners give others and the hike in pricing being a bit outrageous for what you actually get. Every single time we have left we ask one another "Why do we keep giving these people our money?" "Why are we loyal to a establishment that treats people so darn poorly".  They raise the price yet nothing about this place changes. There has been ZERO improvements to anything in this campground. No updates to the crappy power hook ups. No changes to the confusing water hook ups. No alterations to the dark scary bathrooms. Nothing has improved. If anything it has gotten worse. 

But we keep making excuses and coming back for the lake and because "We have been coming here for years". 

In 2015 the boat launch fee was $5.00 to use the launch. That was in addition to your camping fee's. It then went to $7.00 and then $7.50 and now it is $10.00 just to drop your boat and or Kayak into the lake. 

In the 8 years that we have utilized this park and lake we have never been given any lake rules other then it is NO WAKE. NONE. Fair enough. 

We have used the lake well into the evening hours. Staying out as late as possible for those dusk bites on topwater baits. And then exiting around dark which is usually around 9pm. 

On our last trip to the lake we got there early afternoon, paid our $10.00 and the only thing we were told was to ENJOY OUR TIME ON THE LAKE….. BUT apparently there was a rule change we were unaware of? OR maybe an unspoken rule. 

As we wrapped up our fishing day and got back to the launch nearing 9pm. Out walked a man from the campground office. He was HOTT MAD…. He stated the launch closed at 8pm. Confused as ever, my husband apologized and asked if that was always a rule? Or was this rule posted somewhere on a sign? Or written down on something? To which the man stated that we were being rude and disrespectful. My husband apologized again and asked if this was on a sign somewhere. The man stated "Oh yea, we will just go ahead and make a sign just for you. I guess we just can not have a boat launch here anymore if you are not going to respect the rules". So my husband apologized again. We got our boat out of the water and left….. To that I say, ok smart alec. Its been 8 years of visiting this less then impressive once trailer park turned campground and never not once while you were taking my money FOR THE BOAT LAUNCH has anyone ever mentioned a closing time for the boat launch. WE ARE RESPECTFUL PEOPLE. WE FOLLOW THE RULES REGARDLESS IF WE AGREE WITH THEM OR NOT. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE. And you are fools for treating people the way you do. I can no longer make excuses for your treatment of others. 

People will stop being loyal the more that you treat them poorly. The snappy attitudes and lack of hospitality will not go unnoticed. They will pay more to visit somewhere that treats them with kindness and understanding. Its a shame you do not see the issue with the way you speak to others. 

Just incase you are unaware "hos·pi·tal·i·ty noun the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers."

See attached image of this poor attitude posted on Facebook that we are referring to.