St. Ignace-Mackinac Island KOA

We stayed here as a family in June of 2018. Accessibility is great, and the layout of the campground is good. We had a nice shaded spot (28) and had no complaints about the site. Verizon cell service was decent. However, our disappointment came with the fact that we chose the wrong summer to come. The pool was closed all year for renovations, and they were remodeling the camp store and laundry facility. What most stood out in memory is that the camp store was EXTREMELY poorly stocked and can hardly be called a store. Other than that, it was okay.

My guess is that any visitors this coming season for 2019 would have a much better experience assuming the remodel is complete and the pool back open.

Access for decent size rigs is very good and the whole site is perfectly flat. It wasn't that crowded the weekend we were there in mid June and so noise level was also very good.

Whoever was doing the construction should be fired. Trenches everywhere. Uneven and narrow sites. Difficult to park level. Hazardous to camper. No rhyme or reason to electric or water hookups. We think the area we were assigned might have been part of expansion but not completed prior to our arrival.

Talked to people couple sites down and their reserved spot was given away for a 5 day stay!

Guy filling in trench said he used to work there but quit it was so bad.

Would NEVER return. Lesson learned. Do due diligence.

We were parked so far we could not access WiFi.

We had to change sites, The neighbors sewer is literally one foot away from your table! The fire place was to close to the camper we couldn’t start a fire! Not all sites are Like this but a lot were. Pool is very small, putt-putt golf was in very bad condition needed a lot of repair! Our kids had a nice time and didn’t notice a lot of the things. You can tell they were trying to pack as many people into this campground as they could.

Check in was smooth. They even offered me discounted tickets to the ferry to Mackinac Island. The tickets were $2 off and they told me how to arrange a shuttle pickup that was really easy. Most of the sites are drive through and level side to side. There are a lot of mature trees so a lot of shade. This was Fourth of July weekend so it was very full but there were still some empty sites. All types of campers were accommodated. I had water and electric (50/30/20 amp). Fireworks are not allowed but that didn't stop the campers next to me and a fight ensued. Most everyone else was respectful of quiet hours. Dump station is conveniently located. Many people were enjoying the pool, miniature golf and pet area (fenced in). The location is close to the ferries, Castle Rock, the Mystery Spot, Deer Park and a short drive over the Mackinaw Bridge to Michilimackinac Fort, the historic lighthouse and the coast guard icebreaker Mackinaw. Restrooms are centrally located and well maintained. No antenna channels.

Decent spot for us near the Big Mac bridge that allowed us to be within driving distance to the things we wanted to do in the UP. The campground Wifi was strong enough it let us work remotely most of the week without interruption and only went down for about 15 minutes during our stay.

We had a site in the rear lot due to our last minute reservation which doesn’t have full hookups but not a big deal for us. As others mention the trenching issues are obvious and unsightly but doesn’t actually detract from the use of the site. Being in the back lot ended up being a benefit for us in that while the spots didn’t have full hookups, they were mostly empty outside of the weekend where as the full hookup lots near the entrance were packed full.

Bathrooms were clean, we didn’t use much but they seemed to be cleaned regularly.

Tested cell connections on our pepwave router with external antenna across all 3 networks and had stable data on each even though we didn’t really use it much due to reliable campground wifi.

Got about about 20 channels over the air antenna and about 20 channels on the campground cable. Didn’t watch much but there was a previous comment about nothing being available which wasn’t the case anymore.

Not much for shopping on the northern side of the Big Mac bridge in St. Ignace. There are a few small hardware stores and a small grocery store. May want to consider getting supplies on south side of bridge before passing if you need and don’t want to pay to go back and forth as the toll is $2 per axle one way each time you cross.

We could not level our 38’ class A coach. Site 75 was very unlevel. Could not open main awning due to a tree blocking it. No sewer on this site. Front dump station had a pool of sewage around it. WiFi unusable at this site. Sites tightly packed in this park. Fire ring on the left side of our coach was 4 feet away. Had someone used it, we would have had a scorched coach.

Stayed two nights here. Was able to buy tickets to the Mackinac Island ferry and it was close by. Great swimming beach just 10 minutes past the KOA on Lake Michigan. We played putt putt one night as well! Not many sites with full hookups but two dump stations.

It’s a pretty big koa with lots of trees. Clean. A bit rustic and/or need of tlc. Some sites are really tight for big rigs.

Very quiet.

Cell coverage Is iffy….

Stayed here in Aug of 2021. Catching up on reviews.

THE GOOD
Clean campground.
Location: Close to groceries, restaurants, and gas.
Sites: Nice spots in the trees.
Amenities: They do offer pump-out services, just in case you are not at a full hookup site.
WiFi: Campground WiFi was actually not bad, even when the campground was full. We were able to work on it.
Cell: Verizon was slightly stronger than AT&T, but both worked well.

THE BAD
Sites: Not the worst but really not level. All grass/dirt sites.

WORTH NOTING
Our power pedestal went out. The campground did their best to give us a temporary scenario, as the issue was specific to our pedestal, and not the campground as a whole.

Checked in 7 days prior to the closing of the campground for the season. The night we came in was cold and rainy. Grabbed our info sheet from the after hours box and headed to our sight… only needed one yellow bock under each tire on one side so not too bad for finding level… our site was a premium patio with fire pit site and it was perfect for us. My only complaint is that the fire pit needs better airflow. Due to being late in the season the staffing/ store is a little short but still very accommodating.

If it wasn’t for the fact that we are so late in the season I might of done some searching to find a different location but this was very convenient and still more then did the job.