Trekers

This is a rustic state forest campground with only 8 non-reservable sites. The sites have decent distance between them and vary from tucked into the trees (away from the lake) or more open (near the lake). Several sites have views of the lake, and a couple have direct access to it down small paths. The sites are large enough for most rigs, even though the DNR recommends smaller trailers.

Big Mud Lake is a decent size and is nice and calm for kayaking, etc. There is a boat ramp near the campground, although Site #6 has a small path down to the lake with a shallow spot to use for putting a kayak or canoe in and out of the water.

There is a 2.5-mile-long connector from this campground to the Green Pine Lake Pathway -- it's a total of about 9 miles of trails that connects you to three different lakes.

Mosquitoes came out a bit at night, but weren't bad overall and didn't bother us during the day in the campground. (Can't speak to what might happen on the trail.)

Cellular service for Verizon is awesome, service for Google Fi was decent.

If you can snag a spot here, you're in for a nice peaceful time but can still stay connected if you need to get some work done in between your forays into the woods or out onto the lake.

This is a small campground with the St. Croix River on one side (pretty) and Highway 8 on the other (a bit noisy at times but not terrible).

Sites aren't very private and you're rather close to neighbors but it's a relatively quiet place due to the small number of campsites. They have a mix of electric and non-electric sites. The ones directly on the river are non-electric.

Bathhouse is old and showing its age, but seems to work well overall.

Cell service was spotty at times but stayed solid enough for the most part for decent service. Not good or great service without using our cell booster.

The main draw here is either the canoe rentals in the campground for the river or visiting the main park area with the glacial potholes, which are really neat to see. (Definitely go check those out.)

We'd stay again if passing through.

The state park is located within the boundaries of the Indiana Dunes National Park (formerly National Lakeshore), so don't get confused by this. There also is a national park campground, but it's closed in the winter.)

This state park has a nice layout because the sites seem to be staggered so that they don't back up to each other. Also, there is a good buffer space behind the sites and decent space between each site.

All sites have 20- 30- and 50-amp service available, plus almost all are a combination of a concrete pad and asphalt apron. Note that just because they're paved doesn't mean all of them are level. Each site has a fire pit and it appeared they all have grill grates on them.

One nice touch is that some sites have wider asphalt aprons so if you have a longer rig, you can put your towing vehicle or your towed vehicle off to the side once your rig is in place. Also, the ADA sites are nicely laid out with larger concrete pads so that even the fire pits are in the concrete section for ease of access.

Note that after Nov. 1, the water is shut off and bathrooms are shut down until spring, although there are vault toilets available.

You will hear a pretty regular stream of train whistles at this campground, but they aren't so loud as to be disruptive.

You can hike to the 1929 Dunes Pavilion and a large beach on Lake Michigan. The best hiking activity, however, and also easily accessible by walking from the campground, is the series of dune trails. The Nature Center, which sits between the campground and the trails, has some good visitor's information about the dunes, the flora and fauna, and the history of the area.

Once you finish seeing what you want in the state park, there's still the entire national park to see. Plus, there's a multi-use trail that runs for 9 miles along the state park and into the national park.

Cell service for Verizon was two bars but speeds seem to be good. Less signal and speed for Google Fi, but not terrible.

This place makes a good basecamp for Carlsbad Caverns NO, Guadalupe Mountains NP and more. Even Roswell is less than 90 minutes away and Living Desert Zoo State Park is close, too. Staff does a good job with upkeep and the bathrooms seem new, they are really nice. Laundry room well maintained, as are the sites, which are mostly level gravel. Road noise near front can be a bit annoying, but the front sites seem bigger and nicer, so worth the trade-off.

Consider visiting in the winter for some unique views, with fewer people and no bugs! Find out more at https://trekers.org/state-park-tahquamenon-falls/