Best in Tent Camping Michigan

Best in Tent Camping Michigan
Matt Forester
2011

This guidebook is part of a series by Menasha Ridge Press for car campers who want a more nature-centered experience and who aren't looking for a slab to level their RV.  I've used several books in the series and have found some great campsites, so I was happy to see the Michigan book released.  The book divides Michigan into five regions: Southeast, Southwest, Northwest, Northeast, and the Upper Peninsula.  As might be expected, the book recommends many campgrounds in northern Michigan and the UP but there are some close to Kalamazoo.  Each chapter includes a description of the campground, a map of the sites, and recommendations for the best individual sites.

Best Tent Camping in Southwest Michigan
1. Warren Dunes State Park Rustic Campground
2. Yankee Springs State Recreation Area: Deep Lake Rustic Campground
3. Pines Point National Forest Campground
4. Highbank Lake National Forest Campground
5. Tubbs Lake State Forest Campground

The book has a Facebook page and is available from Amazon and other booksellers

Grand Haven State Park

Grand Haven State Park has a great beach and it's very popular on summer weekends. Crowds of visitors stroll the wide walkway along the Grand River between the state park and the downtown restaurants and shops. The beach itself is wide and long with plenty of nets for beach volleyball, an ice cream stand, changing rooms, and lots of smooth sand. The park is right at the edge of town so it doesn't have the wooded dunes that some other Lake Michigan parks offer. It doesn't really have any grass-- just one big beach.

In May, the park hosts the Great Lakes Kite Festival, which I really enjoyed.

The state park campground has a great location but it's basically a parking lot on the beach. The RVs are packed tightly, with just a line painted on asphalt to separate campsites. I wouldn't want to camp there with my tent.


Grand Haven is a little over an hour from Kalamazoo.

Grand Haven State Park
1001 Harbor Avenue
Grand Haven, MI 49417
Phone Number: (616) 847-1309

Michigan's Best Campgrounds

Michigan's Best Campgrounds:
A Guide to the Best 150 Public Campgrounds in the Great Lakes State
by Jim DuFresne
2005

Like the author's other popular guidebooks, this guide offers descriptions, complete with maps and black & white photos, of outdoor opportunities throughout the state. This book's focus is on camping and it includes information on when each campground is likely to be full or closed. It also gives suggestions for nearby outdoor activities. Kalamazoo falls in the book's "Heartland" region and many campgrounds close to Kalamazoo are in the "Lake Michigan" region. Here are a selection from those two areas:

Best Campgrounds near Kalamazoo

1. Cold Brook
51 sites Modern/Rustic
"Coldbrook has both modern sites and a rustic loop, each on a small peninsula of their own on the southwest corner of Portage Lake."
Swimming, fishing, hiking.

Cold Brook County Park
14467 East "MN" Avenue
Climax, MI


2. Deep Lake
120 sites Rustic
"Deep Lake is a very scenic section of Yankee Springs."
Mountain biking, fishing, hiking.

Yankee Springs Recreation Area
2104 Gun Lake Rd
Middleville


3. Warren Dunes
185 sites Modern/Rustic
"This facility is two loops in a wooded area on the backside of the dunes, offering shade and surprisingly, for the number of sites in it, a small degree of privacy between campers."
Beach, hiking

Warren Dunes State Park
12032 Red Arrow Highway
Sawyer


4. Grand Haven
174 sites Modern
"Sites at Grand Haven State Park are little more than a cement slab with no trees, no vegetation to keep the blowing sand at bay and little privacy from your neighbor who is but four feet away."
Beach.

Grand Haven State Park
1001 Harbor Ave
Grand Haven, MI


5. Hoffmaster
293 sites Modern
"The loops are well forested in hardwoods and pines and being dune country the sites are in a sandy area covered with needles but little undergrowth."
Beach, hiking, interpretive center.

PJ Hoffmaster State Park
6585 Lake Harbor Road
Muskegon


6. Muskegon
110 sites Modern
"The Lake Michigan campground has 110 sites on a loop of several lanes. The pre-motorhome era facility is neither level nor is it easy to pull trailers into many of the sites and large RVs are sent down to Muskegon Lake campground at the south end of the park."
Beach, fishing, hiking.

Muskegon State Park
3560 Memorial Drive
North Muskegon


7. Pioneer
213 sites Modern
"The sites are close together but most of them are well shaded by red pines."
Beach.

Pioneer County Park
1563 N. Scenic Drive
Muskegon


8. Henning
60 sites Modern
"Henning Park has 60 modern sites that are situated close together in three loops in an open grassy field."
Canoeing, fishing.

Henning County Park
500 Croton Road
Newaygo


9. Newaygo
99 sites Rustic
"Newago is one of the few units of the state park system with a rustic campground and where there is actually a little space and privacy between sites."
Fishing.

Newaygo State Park
2793 Beech Street
Newaygo


10. White Cloud
104 sites Modern/Rustic
"If the White Cloud City Campground has the look of a state park to you that's because it used to be a state park."
Hiking, tubing.

White Cloud City Campground
620 E. Wilcox
White Cloud

Available from Amazon and other booksellers and libraries.

Markin Glen County Park

Markin Glen County Park was donated to the public by the Markin family, founders of Kalamazoo's taxi manufacturer Checker Motors. The west section of the park is one of my favorite places for Spring wildflowers. The east section of the park has a swimming beach, RV campground, picnic shelters, and paved trails.





5300 North Westnedge
Kalamazoo, MI

$5 admission or season pass.

Coldbrook County Park

Coldbrook County Park offers one the few public campgrounds near Kalamazoo. It has separate loops for rustic and modern camping. The park also has a swimming beach, picnic area, playground, boat access to Portage Lake, and a popular frisbee disc golf course.





14467 East "MN" Avenue
Climax, MI

$5 Admission or season pass.