Timber Ridge RV & Recreation Resort

This is a very family-friendly campground with an awesome camping vibe! It is a very large private campground. The amenities for kids are great: heated pool, organized nightly dodge-ball and volleyball games, big playground, dirt bike trails, snack shack and ice cream bar. It didn't get dark until 10:00 at night and when it did...the campfires were crackling, most campers had lights strung, kids were biking and giggling around the fires...I felt like this was the epitomy of old-school camping. We absolutely loved it! In many campgrounds you will find an assortment of campers...and it is easy for just one camper to ruin your experience. Here...it was like everyone had kids and they all wanted good clean family fun. Just what we needed...its highly social camping, but perfect for the kids...It's only 15 minutes from downtown Traverse City. The location is great and highly wooded for such a big campground. It's an older campground, so the sites are dirt and not a paved, new and shiny place....but that is part of the charm. Only bummer is, check-in is not until 3:00, which is too late in my opinion for a campground. Reserve early...this place fills up. If you plan to travel in this area in July...go cherry picking (many places close by), but be aware it is very busy during the Cherry Festival.

We chose Timber Trails because of its proximity to Traverse City. The entrance has plenty of room to park while checking in. The process was fairly quick and easy, they issue you a key card to get through the entry gate. Most, if not all, of the sites are pull thrus, so it was easy to get into our spot. The pad is gravel and our site had a cement patio with 50 amp and full hookups. We had a little trouble getting the RV into a level spot, but we managed and didn't need blocks. The rest of the site, and most of the campground, is dirt, which made me really appreciate the cement patio. Lots of tall trees around, but no privacy. You have ample room for slides at your site, but you are still pretty close to your neighbors.

There is one paved road that runs through the park, but several unpaved roads. Lots of dust if you are on one of those roads. The park is huge, but the pool isn't that big, so you end up with lots of people in the pool. There are also cabins and we noticed a yurt go up just down from us (it was occupied, but we didn't see it on the website).

We had no wifi at our site, but we had 2-3 bars and LTE on our AT&T phones and 4 bars and LTE on our Verizon Jetpack. There were too many trees for satellite, even our portable one, but they had cable so we could watch the Olympics.

This is a super busy campground on weekends, but it clears out during the week. It's very popular with families with a lot for kids to do. They have a pool, that was quite busy while we were there, a bicycle course, dodge ball games and four wheel peddle bikes to rent. They also have various activities for the kids, like a glow parade (allowing them to sell glowy things), and some crafty activities. We also saw a wedding taking place, so a lot goes on here.

We really enjoyed the area; Traverse City, Charlevoix, Leelanau and Mission peninsulas. There is a lot to do here and some great food. The closest restaurant is Peegeo's and I can recommend their chargrilled wings, awesome! But, our pizza was a little soggy and the lasagna bland. Still, go for the wings!

We wanted to extend our stay and checked with the office. She said that Friday was full, but we might be able to get two extra days at the same site if she could move things around. I was impressed, she made the effort and we stayed until Friday. By then the campground had filled up again.

It's not my favorite place, pretty dusty and lots of kids, but the location was nice and we even had an ice cream from the store. I would stay again if we returned to the area.

This a large campground that is good for tent trailers or class A. They also offer tiny cabins and yurts. Nice pool and lots of activities for kids. This year some where not offered because of COVID. They have a pond with a beach and it is connected to several miles of mountain bike trails. Campsites are mostly sand/dirt with a concrete paid for the picnic table. Some sites more level than others. Overall good experience will return. Not much luck with service on ATT. WiFi was available at the lodge only.

Paid $35 per night for 2 nights after our Passport America discount. Not sure it would have been worth the full price.

Full hookups. 50amp, water (55psi), and sewer. Cell coverage for AT&T and Verizon were both adequate to stream and work.

The check-in process was a bit slow. We kinda expected that since it took us a dozen calls just to get someone to pick up the phone to make a reservation.

We were first in line at check-in and spent at least 10 minutes going over all sorts of rules and information. Luckily we showed up at 3:05pm because they charge $25 for "early check-in" any time before 3pm. We're full-time RVers and have stayed at nearly 140 campgrounds and that's the first time we've seen something before 3pm called "early" and that's a pretty steep price for check-in. Our entire section of the campground was empty. Our neighbors actually showed up at 2pm and opted to wait an hour in the parking lot to go to their un-occupied site rather than paying $25.

But besides the check-in, the campground was beautiful. Plenty of tree cover. The roads are paved and easy to navigate. Many of the amenities are closed for covid but there were still people riding around on their bikes. Definitely a bike-centric park with trails and bike paths around.

It's not located next door to Traverse City but it's not far to get to most things.

Campground was fully booked for the holiday weekend, which is understandable. What we did not expect we’re all the golf carts, gators, and can ams CONSTANTLY on the roads. If you are looking for quiet neighbors who adhere to decorum, who know they shouldn’t burn garbage, and who simply realize that we are all just feet away from each other, do not come here. If, on the other hand you enjoy being outnumbered by bikes, golf carts, electric scooters, and motorcycles, if you need your children to disappear and run unsupervised way past dark, and you like being packed in like sardines, this place is for you. We are leaving a day early, it’s that chaotic all day long. Also, we supposedly have 1 of 4 “super sites”. I was told we’d have 50amp, water, sewer, a patio, and cable. We have all the utilities except for cable, the “patio” is a nasty, small slab of concrete. The site is so eroded that our Anderson levelers sank into the sand, we had to make up for 5 inches on one side. A nice staff person brought us some wood boards that did the trick. For almost $100/night, the site should be level and pristine.

Had a blast camping at Timber Ridge. Make sure you are there over a weekend as they have all kinds of activities for kids including a lake to swim in with inflatables, dodgeball, a pool, and jump pad. Verizon cell service was good but those camping with us who had AT&T struggled with getting a signal. Will definitely come back.

Plenty of adults for the kids and adults 100% worth the price explored Traverse City and kicked ourselves in the pants for not booking a full week there they have a man made lake plenty of walking and bike paths the sky is beautiful at night well worth a week at this campground!