Private, spacious, with amazing beach. Just beware the sumac

Drive-in first-come first-serve camping through the Department of Natural Resources, this was my favorite place in Michigan's upper peninsula so far to tent camp. It offers a variety of twenty or so spacious sites for different camping needs - groups, RVs, or private. Multiple paths through the woods reveal sandy beaches and crystal clear water on Lake Huron.

We showed up to near max capacity on a Thursday night  and were lucky to grab site 14. Plenty of dead trees were to be found in the surrounding woods for firewood. However, while our camp site was clear and covered in pine needles, the edge and woods were packed with poison sumac - which we were warned about on the information board. Standing water was to be found in the woods around each site, which made for pretty thick mosquitoes throughout the day and evening. With a good campfire and bug spray, I felt able to deal with them.

The sandy beach was beautiful and so peaceful! Small rocks in the shallow water make it slightly uncomfortable wading in, but once you get past the small grouping of rocks, it's very sandy lake bottom to swim and play on. You can hear the lake waves hit shore from your camp site in the morning and it's a wonderfully relaxing sound to wake up to.

Multiple vault toilets were well stocked with toilet paper. A large dumpster is available for trash. A pump is available for water, although I did not test the quality of it and used my own bottled water. 

In the town of DeTour Village, a 10 minute drive from camp, you can find ice, bottled water, a grocery and a couple of restaurants.

I loved my time here and would absolutely return.

Last resort for tent camping. Great showers though

On a last minute camping trip to Michigan, we were looking for places that didn't require reservations, so I felt very lucky and happy to find tent sites available at this campground on a Sunday afternoon. Nearly every spot for RV camping was occupied. Of the eight or so tent sites available, only two were occupied. 

We were given our choice of tent site and settled on site 5 because it was the furthest from all other sites. The grass was solid enough to drive our car across, but there were several questionable spots of swamp we had to be careful to avoid. Site 5 sits next to the playground, which looks like it hasn't been maintained in years. The foliage around the lake was too tall for us to be able to see the lake from our tent and too thick, plus the swampiness of the land, to be able to walk through to access the lake. 

A nearby boardwalk was damaged and blocked off to foot traffic. The paved drive within the camp site was where everyone seemed to be spending their time, riding bicycles or roller bladeing in circles.

Four or five showers are available on site, with separate flush toilets for men and women. Firewood was available for purchase, as well as ice and vending machines. 

The showers were great to have. However, with no easy access to the lake, not much of a view, being very crowded and catered towards RVers, I would only stay here again if I had no other options, as a tent camper.

Spacious and serene

THANK YOU to the camp host at Twelve Mile campground for letting us know about this site! We were from out of state on a last minute trip and out of options for where to stay with no reservations. I'm very thankful to the state of Michigan for having first-come first-serve options like Kingston Lake!

We were lucky enough to grab a site immediately near check-out time on a Monday afternoon, in a prime spot with walk-in access to the lake. The sites are well spaced with decent privacy. Our two-person tent occupied maybe a third of the available space on the site. Most sites I think could accommodate multiple tents and vehicles. Drainage and elevation for our site was great - no standing water or mosquitoes.

There were plenty of vault toilets that were all stocked with toilet paper. The pump for water - as someone else said - was very brown and we opted to use our own bottled water instead. Our site fire pit was very full of ash, which we had to empty some of to use. I'm not sure if the state park employees empty them regularly. Four trash cans next to the information board offer a place to dump garbage, but were near capacity.

The lake was clear enough and very peaceful. The boat ramp nearby was always busy with activity of fishing or kayaking, but not near enough to camp to be too noisy. 

The best review I can give is that I would stay here again!