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Union Bay-Porcupine Mountains State Park is home to a seasonal campground that is available to visit from mid May to mid October. With a limited window of time, it’s well worth planning your trip in advance, as peak season can bring a gaggle of campers and tourists, making priority campsites difficult to find. The initial weeks of August are almost always packed, thanks to kids and college-students trying to camp before school starts again.
Subsequently, if you want smaller crowds but still want to enjoy the sun, try to reserve a spot during the latter end of August. This is also when the Porcupine Mountains Music Festival happens, giving you a great event to check out. Regardless of your needs, during camping season you can call the campground where staff will provide details on sites that you might not see at the Reservations Center or online. If you can’t find what you’re looking for online, give them a call!
If you happen to forget a thing or two, there’s the Porcupine Mountain Outpost store right outside the entrance to the campground. It's open from May through mid October. There you can find souvenirs, camping supplies, and even clothing. You might find the occasional pre-made sandwich, but besides soft drinks and milk, there are no real groceries here. You’ll have to travel all the way out to Ontonagon (25 miles away) for groceries. That said, you can make the trip worth if you if you grab a bite to eat at Syl’s, a legendary diner famous for its repertoire of comfort food classics.
The campground itself is moderately sized, with 99 sites available for RVs and tents. One of the draws to the campground is that all sites have at least 30 amp electric hookups available. One of the most common complaints here is due to the limited amount of pull-through sites, with many options too small to accommodate larger vehicles.
Porcupine Mountains State Park is uniquely known for its hybrid existence between contemporary and antiquated beauty. The park is extremely modern, thanks to the updated facilities and well maintained grounds. However, it skirts the line with a true wilderness feel, owing to the rustic touches, and charming yurt cabins, available for overnight accommodations as well. Whatever your intent to visit, there’s no mistaking the quant appeal of this Michigan state park.
Nice campground. The bathroom and shower rooms were clean. Tons of mosquitos but maybe we were there at the wrong time? Good size sites but not a lot of privacy between sites. Some sites overlooking the lake had a great view but those were also the most crowded sites.
Amazing campground right on the water! Had good facilities, shower house & bathrooms, even a playground area. We snagged campsite #29 and it was large for our tent but unbelievably close to the water. Fire pit situated just right for sunset. Just know that lake superior is loud at night, but we enjoyed the white noise.
Do not camp in the middle circle, they smash you in like peas in a pod. There are no trails from the campground out so you must drive to get to the trails. They put camping next to the lake which is nice for the campers there but the rest of the camp is out of luck seeing the lake unless you go to the boat launch. Wisconsin has nicer state parks. Lake of the clouds is ok. Devils Lake in WI is much better, it has beautiful bluffs all around the lake you can hike around it.
I have stayed in a lot of campsites and this is one of my least favorite. Primarily because there was no separation of the individual campsites and it felt more like a parking lot with all the cars and RVs instead of being out in the wilderness. Now if you are lucky enough to get a spot directly on Lake Superior it would be great but otherwise the campground is nothing special. The amenities were good/clean and it is the perfect location for exploring Porcupine Mountains State Park but as a campsite, it comes up short.
