Silver Lake State Park

This is a good-sized campground with loops on either side of the road. None of the sites offer much privacy and in the busy season you can feel pretty packed in. But the location is awesome due to its proximity to the Silver Lake Off Road Vehicle Area, Lake Michigan, Silver Lake and the Little Sable Point Lighthouse.

If you are into off-roading across sand dunes, this is the park to stay at, although this isn't by any means a quiet place to getaway. In addition to the dunes, which are available to off-road vehicles and pedestrians to enjoy, there's another part of the park that has a cool lighthouse from 1874 and there are some nice views all around the park.

Cell service was decent on Verizon but non-existent for a Google Fi phone (which uses Spring and T-Mobile towers).

Make sure you check your rig size against the site you are planning gon reserving as many sites have odd shapes or require some maneuvering due to the placement of trees and fire pits. Also, be aware that the road through the campground is quite narrow so you'll need to take your time and, if at all possible, arrive when you still have daylight available to see everything.

Note that 20 and 30 amp is available at all sites, but you often are sharing a power pole with several other sites.

Bathrooms were in good shape and offer unisex shower stalls outside the restrooms, which is always nice.

Stayed here 09/05/2019; we did not have reservations but they accommodated us. Nice campground, they were out of firewood - but there are locals up/down the road selling wood very cheap. Big playground and beach, views are beautiful. Large grocery store across street with wood and propane. Despite reviews here, Verizon gave us 2 bars of coverage (good enough). Showers and bathrooms are clean (did not use but checked out). Easy to get into sites (we have 32 foot), our site #18 was right next to a busy road unfortunately. Dog friendly. Rode our bikes up to the light house (cool!). Sand dunes are within biking distance and absolutely amazing! I wish we could have stayed here another night.

We camped here July 5-9. The 4th of July crowd was gone and the campground was fairly empty. But filled back up on Friday night. I have large Jayco (28BHBE) and am quite experienced at maneuvering/parking it. Some the the hairpin turns forced me to back up/readjust. Cars and ORV's are parked everywhere which leave little room for maneuvering.

Some observations:

- Filling station is on the east campground (where we were staying). This was fine, but it can be tricky to get into as the turn in is tight.

- Campsites are sandy, on top of each other, and can be tight; so get comfortable with that.

- Campground is actually quiet most of the time with the exception in the morning when people are firing up their ORV's for the day. Beyond that, the grounds were quiet throughout the day/night.

- Town is bike riding or walking distance; kids enjoyed the golfing, go karts, etc. Mac Woods Dune Ride is a must

- There are plenty of sites to accommodate large RV's, however, getting to those sites can be a challenge.

- Park was clean, for the most part. Bathrooms could use a refresher compared to other Michigan State Parks.

- Verizon service non-existent unless you go 3-4 miles east/north of the campground.

If you're into OHVing, this place might be for you. Silver Lake State Park offers 450-acres of off-roading. Even if I was an OHVer, I probably wouldn't stay here. Sites are cramped and when the campground is full it feels overly crowded.

For example, one afternoon while I was in my trailer, I saw my neighbor go behind his tent to relieve himself. He didn't realize he was in plain view of my window.

The showers, on the other hand, are acceptable. They're private and the water was hot.

Verizon doesn't work without a booster here, and with a booster, I was able to get between 1-2 bars, but could use for voice only, no data.

AT&T - DOWNLOAD: 18.53Mb/s, UPLOAD: 2.58Mb/s

Aside from their waste dumping station backed up the park is fine, easy bike ride to town and Silver Lake Access is close. Be aware that many Dune Riders stay here and you will hear engine noise during non restricted times when owners are tweaking or repairing their buggies. Visit Hart, Michigan while there. Try Morat's Bakery 69 S State St. for some awesome donuts and Cheese Danish. They have Free WiFi.