Michigan has a huge number of campgrounds. More than 200 can be found within the state's extensive state park and state forest system alone. Dozens more are administered by the National Park Service at various facilities. Many counties maintain campgrounds at parks and recreation areas, and hundreds of privately owned campgrounds dot the state. Choosing a campground is a matter of deciding what area of the state you wish to visit, what amenities are important to you and what type of camping experience you seek.
State Parks and Recreation Areas
Michigan's state parks and recreation areas offer fine camping opportunities, with more than 13,000 campsites at 97 facilities. Many of these are very large, with thousands of acres available for public use. Most have improved campsites, many with electricity and water hook-ups for RVs, as well as modern bathrooms. There are also rustic sites. Approximately two-thirds have access to one of the thousands of lakes, ponds, streams and rivers in the state, affording opportunities for fishing, paddling and swimming. Many of these facilities line the Great Lakes' shorelines, allowing camping by the dunes and the beach, especially along the Lake Michigan shore in the Lower Peninsula.
Michigan's State Forest Campgrounds
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Energy (MDNRE) maintains 145 campgrounds in many locations in the extensive state forest system, mostly in the northern half of the Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula. All of these campgrounds are rustic with vault toilets and access to running water, but no electricity. Most will accept small campers and trailers as well as tents. All of these camps are located on either a lake, stream or river, giving campers access to very large areas to hike, fish, paddle and explore. Some located along the Shore-to-Shore equestrian trail have special facilities for campers with horses. State forest campgrounds tend to be smaller, more secluded and less crowded than other state-run facilities.
National Parks
The National Park Service maintains several facilities in Michigan; two National Lakeshores and a unique national park, Isle Royale National Park. These areas have dozens of campgrounds that offer some of the most unusual camping experiences anywhere in the country. Isle Royale is more than 210 square miles, yet receives less than 15,000 visitors per year, affording opportunities for solitude rarely found east of the Mississippi River. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore offers outstanding dune camping experiences. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore winds along more than 40 miles of Lake Superior shoreline, affording spectacular views and access to the Pictured Rocks, 200-foot-high multicolored sandstone cliffs along the shore.
National Forests
Michigan has three national forests, all administered by the USDA Forest Service. These forests consist of millions of acres of public land, and have dozens of campgrounds, with some improved campgrounds in each forest.
The Hiawatha National Forest has land that includes shores on three of the Great Lakes; Michigan, Superior and Huron. Hiawatha National Forest also includes the Grand Island National Recreation Area, a large island just off the northern Michigan coast from Munising.
The Ottawa National Forest, on the western end of the Upper Peninsula, has 22 campgrounds and is home to the Sturgeon River Gorge Wilderness, Black River Recreation area and The McCormick Wilderness, named for Cyrus McCormick, who invented the reaping machine.
The Huron-Manistee National Forest is in the Lower Peninsula and has more than two dozen campgrounds. This forest is home to the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area and Loda Lake National Wildflower Sanctuary, the only one of its kind in the country, and access to some of the best trout fishing in the country.
Other Camping Options
Michigan has 80 counties, and nearly every county maintains one or more campgrounds on county land. Amenities and facilities vary wildly from entirely rustic to very modern with Wi-Fi, electricity, modern bathrooms and showers, pools and more.
Michigan also has hundreds of privately owned campgrounds and resorts, mostly catering to RVs, but many allow tent camping as well.
A link in the Resources section leads to a county-by county map; clicking on any county leads to that county's website, where you can find information on county parks and campgrounds. Another link leads to a page of Michigan's hundreds of privately owned campgrounds.
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