By:
Submission
FROM I-94, CHICAGO: Exit on top IL-137 East. Stay on I-137 for about 4 miles to Naval Training Center. As you approach the overpass, stay in the right lane that goes under it. At the traffic light, turn right and continue on past the next light to the end of the road. As the road curves right, make a right turn into Gate 5. This is the gate RV's must use. Once through the gate, you will go straight on the road to a T intersection. The name of the street is John Paul Jones. Turn right, then at the first road, Zeigemeier, turn left and follow the road down the hill to the campground.
Map to 2423 MacDonough Drive for check in site.
Map to the corner of Farragut Ave and Sheridan Rd for the Main Gate.
If you're pulling in for the view, it’s great here! All else is terrible.
The three services RV’s need, fresh water, dump out, and electricity, are all in three different locations, a mile+ apart. We pulled up one place to do our dump out. Drove elsewhere to fill the fresh water tank. Then drove elsewhere to get to our site and plug in for the night.
The Check in location, bldg. 62, the hotel/lodging check in, is really hard to find because prior to and at arrival on base, there is no guidance about this or where it is.
Staff is clueless, grumpy, and unhelpful.
Check in is on hill above the Camp. It's hard to find, but the camp is not far away. Although its a steep drive down to the camp.
It’s very disappointing to see a MWR facility in such a state of disrepair. Our military members deserve much more that what I’m looking at here. The gravel road surrounding the RV park if full of pot holes which are filled with water. The pit toilet restrooms have rusted out metal doors. The grass is overdue for a mowing. Come on Navy MWR, you’ve dropped the ball. Fix it!
I was not expecting much as the reviews were very bad, but I like to save my opinion to experience things for myself. Which I did, and here are my thoughts.
1. Full time campers with their sites full of junk. *see photos. One guy even had an inflatable hot tub, which I could not figure out where he got the water from as all the sites are without water and sewer.
2. Pit toilets were nasty dirty and not cleaned once during our stay.
3. Campsites so cramped you could hear water running in the next RV.
4. One full timer had his black/gray tank hose emptying into and open home depot bucket.
5. Showers are dirty and in another building a mile away.
6. Lets not forget the loop road! Pot holes as big as a crater. Third world countries have better roads than this.
This Naval Station is absolutely gorgeous. Chock full of historic buildings and so well preserved. It was utterly shocking to see this gem of a base have such a poorly maintained and embarrassing campground. The view from camping was stunning and should be capitalized on. The CO should be ashamed for not overseeing better management.
Park has a ton of potential. However, staff has no pride of ownership and no work ethic. Watched an electrician fix a 20amp outlet and he left his trash on the ground when he was done.
Simple RV Campground stuck out on the beach of Lake Michigan at the Great Lakes Naval Trng Station. You would think that a base dedicated to instilling pride in it's recruits would find it easy to care for this small 20 spot FamCamp.
20 electric only sites. No water, no sewer. They are both available but 1/2 mile from the park and they aren't in the same location and the dump station is difficult for big rig access. It would be easy to solve by adding sew/wat to the sites.
Access is pretty easy but the road in the park is gravel and not cared for. Potholes galore. Big rigs beware. Also, each site suffers from lake affect issues. Meaning, when it rains a lake is formed in front of your rig. All of these are easily solved with #1 asphalt or #2 a grater from time to time.
All that said, this is a beautiful location with tons to do. Which is why it got a 3 rating. It just needs some TLC from the NAF staff that "should" keep it "spit and polished" like the recruiters who are trained here. Come on, show the military personnel, veterans and civilians who visit your base and enjoy your grounds some pride in ownership.
Come on Great Lakes...show us how it's done!
