Camping in Michigan is amazing and probably one of the best spots on Earth to do so! Well, at least, in my humble opinion. Seriously though, with the Great Lakes and its sandy, world-class beaches, thousands of inland lakes, rivers and streams, forest land, trails, fishing, etc., who could ask for more?
Sure, the Pacific Northwest and other western states have a lot of beautiful countryside to explore. Still, they also have animals higher on the food chain than us humans, as well as the dangers and frequency of wildfires that Pure Michigan does not have.
Yes, we have bears in the woods, but as long as you stay within the camping guidelines, you should be safe. Put it this way, I have been camping all over Michigan, cooking over an open fire, including deep into the national forests, for fifty-three years, and I have yet to see a bear.
Below are some of my favorite State and National Parks in Pure Michigan to visit:
- Huron Manistee forest in Oscoda, on the Au Sable River
- Manistee National Forest, Manistee, footsteps from Lake Michigan
- Ludington State Park, on the shores of Lake Michigan
- Lakeport State Park, on the shores of Lake Huron
- Proud Lake State Park, on the Huron River (close to home)
- Seven Lakes State Park, for Halloween camping (close to home)
- Algonac State Park, on the shores of Lake Huron (great pier fishing)
- Burt Lake State Park, on Burt Lake (which connects to the Indian River, connecting to Mullet Lake, which feeds into the Cheboygan River, which leads to Lake Michigan).
- Mears State Park, on the shores of Lake Michigan, minutes away from the world-renowned Silver Lake Sand Dunes
- Elberta Beach, Lake Michigan, in Frankfort
- Orchard Beach State Park
- Muskegon State Park on the shore of Lake Michigan (Over two miles of shoreline on Lake Michigan and over a mile on Muskegon Lake. A luge run is available for winter park visitors as part of the Winter Sports Complex)
- Tahquamenon Falls State Park (located in the Upper Peninsula)
If you want to camp in any of Michigan’s state parks or forests, you will need to make a reservation at the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Michigan State Parks and Harbor Reservation website at https://midnrreservations.com/. You must make the reservations no more than six months out, and even then, good luck, as our parks fill up quickly.
According to the DNR, “Tahquamenon Falls State Park encompasses over 48,000 acres and has 17 miles of Tahquamenon River frontage. The centerpiece of the park is Upper Falls. At over 200’ across and with a 50’ drop, the Upper Falls is the second largest waterfall east of the Mississippi River,”.
As a child, I camped with my mom, my same-age cousin, and my grandparents. My grandparents had a travel trailer with one bunk, a full-sized bed underneath, a kitchen table that converted into a bed, and another queen-sized bed. My cousin and I slept together in the top bunk, my mom slept underneath, and my grandparents slept in the queen bed.
Occasionally, when my aunt (who is ten years older than me and my cousin) came camping with us, she would sleep on the table bed only after my mom and Nana finished playing cards at 2 am!
Later, when my cousin and I were about ten, our grandparents upgraded to a larger, newer Shasta camper with two sets of bunks, a queen bed, and the converted kitchen table bed. Finally, we had our own bunks!
At around fourteen, my cousin and I stopped camping with our Nana and Papa because, as teenagers, we naturally wanted to hang out with our friends during the summer. Sadly, my Nana passed away when we were seventeen, so we never got a chance to camp with her again.
A few years after she passed, our Papa took that Shasta travel trailer to a seasonal campground about an hour away, put it up on cinderblocks, and built a deck off the front. My mom visited her dad there almost every weekend in the summer, and I went out there often as well, so at least I got to camp with my Papa a bit more.
Free camping in Michigan
When my cousin and I were about twenty years old, we started an annual Fourth of July camping trip with our friends and other cousins (as they became of age). We camped for free in tents on the shores of Lake Michigan, Elberta Beach in Frankfort, Michigan. Albeit, illegal camping, as long as we were respectful, took only pictures and left only footprints, no one gave us a hard time for being there.
Each year, our tent system became more elaborate, and it was sort of a competition to see who could come up with the coolest setup. Did you know that you need special sand stakes to have a tent on the beach, so it doesn’t fly away? Well, we learned the hard way! After that first year on the beach, we all had sand stakes.
We spent four years on Elberta Beach before we moved our annual Fourth of July party week to the east side of Michigan, in the Huron-Manistee National Forest, on primitive campsites along the Au Sable River. You must reserve and pay for these sites.
No toilets, no showers, no electricity, no running water – this type of camping is not for wimps! As you might have guessed, our setups became even more intricate to accommodate the rough conditions.
When we camped like this, it easily accommodated our large group of twenty to thirty people, and it was great for our dogs as they got to run free, no leashes. Keep in mind, our dogs were very well trained and knew how to “stay home”, which meant wherever we were, was home. Eight years later, we moved our party back to the west side and camped for free again in the Manistee National Forest – also primitive with first-come, first-served campsites.
Family camping in Michigan
Once we started having kids of our own, our camping style changed from a big, rowdy party to a more family-friendly, focused atmosphere with a lot of child-appropriate activities. We still tent camped and did the primitive style on occasion but started going to State Parks and family-friendly campgrounds more often.
When my youngest was about six months old, my uncle needed a spot to store his camper, and as long as he was willing to let us use it, we stored it for free. Overnight, we upgraded from tents to an actual travel trailer.
We had many amazing adventures and made a lot of great memories in that camper for about nine years. After which, I decided it was time for us to buy our own camper and give my uncle his camper back.
Finally, we had a camper that had everything in working order (my uncle’s was basically just a shell and got us off the ground). We had running water, a fully functioning bathroom, a stove and refrigerator that worked, and an awning that wasn’t hanging on by a thread.
A few years later, when my son’s dad and I got divorced, we had a lot of snow that winter, and my camper was damaged. The following spring, I went into the camper to find that mold had grown, and it was no longer usable.
The last couple of summers, I rented a camper and rented a vacation home to take my sons Up North. Since that was very expensive, this weekend I will be looking to purchase a popup camper that I can tow with my crossover vehicle and that I can comfortably manage as a single woman.
I am too old for tent camping, but still young enough to enjoy camping adventures in my home state of Michigan!
Camping in Michigan
In conclusion, whether camping in tents, in your car, or in an elaborate travel trailer, camping in Michigan is amazing, and you will not regret exploring our beautiful Peninsulas.