Wilderness State Park Campgrounds

Wilderness State Park is located just west of Mackinaw City at the "tip of the mitten." The park's 10,500 acres including 26 miles of undeveloped Lake Michigan shoreline and offers a huge variety of year-round activities. 

Due to the park's popularity, the 250 modern campsites, six rustic cabins, and three rustic bunkhouses are often reserved well in advance during the popular summer months. Reservations are available and encouraged. There are two main campgrounds, Lakeshore and Pines. The Lakeshore Campground places visitors within a stones throw to the beautiful Lake Michigan beaches. The sites closest to the main road offer some protection from the wind and sun with tall pine trees interspersed. Both the middle isle and beachside locations are quite exposed to the elements. The second campground, Pines, is located a quarter-mile walk to the beach. This tightly spaced campground has paved parking slots and is more suitable for those with RVs or trailers. 

Both the Lakeshore and Pines campground sites offer electrical hookups at each parking slot with varying amperage by site. Additionally, each site has a single picnic bench and campfire ring. A general store sells firewood and basic camping supplies. The campgrounds have spigots with potable water.  Community bath houses contain flush toilets. With continual use, the bath houses can look well used at the end of the day dispite the park's efforts to keep them clean. The campsites are tightly spaced, as is typical for modern campgrounds. An amphitheater near the pines campground offers ranger-led activities during the summer.

Other lodging options include tent-only rustic walk-in sites that offer a bit more space than the modern campgrounds. The walk ranges from 20 to 200 feet. Additionally, the park offers six rustic cabins that have bunkbeds for sleeping four to eight people. Each cabin has a wood burning stove with precut wood available. A well hand-pump is available for potable water. While the park's website says it is open year round for camping, it is only the rustic cabins, typically used as a base for hunters, that are open year round. The final camping options are the numerous rustic backcountry campgrounds as well as the backcountry Nebo Cabin; all require a permit for overnight use and require greater than a 1-mile hike to reach.

The park featuress a modern dump station for RVs up to 45 feet.