Wilderness State Park — Attraction in Bliss Township

I went camping in the rustic campsite, 118/U here in late May and overall, the experience was decent. As someone who has gone car camping a lot, this was my first time doing a more rustic site and it wasn't much different. The walk from the car was easily done and there were marked spots for everyone to park. At the time, the park was busy in the RV sites, but the rustic ones were mostly empty, however, we still had neighbors a few days. The bathroom/outhouse was nice, there was always toilet paper and the rangers would restock it and sweep every other day which was very kind of them to do, it honestly rarely even smelled bad in there, which for a vault toilet is kind of impressive. From site 118, it was probably the shortest walk from any site to get to the toilet, but for the others, it may be a bit of a walk, plus no lights so bring a flashlight at night. Also, no shower so either you can swim in the lake (good luck if it's cold) or you can potentially pay to use the other showers, which I've heard is possible but did not try.

The bugs at this time of year were bad, even with the lake being so close, there was a constant buzz in the air from the swarms. This is probably due to the time of year (everywhere in MI/WI had bag bugs apparently), but it was a lot to handle, leaving after 4 days with over 15 mosquito bites, which wasn't too bad.

Speaking of the lake, the walk from the site to the beach was great, not too far and very scenic. Every site does have a path to the beach, there are just a few that have shared paths that connect, no big deal. The sites themselves are pretty big, even the ones next to us, but I was a bit disappointed by the lack of privacy and shade in the site. Despite being surrounded by trees, our site had practically zero shade for most of the day and even though there were trees, you could pretty clearly see your neighbors while sitting at your campfire. Another detriment was even though it was still early spring, I expected the site to have some grass, since the picture very clearly showed greenery. However, it was dusty and dry in pretty much every spot, there wasn't even a chance that grass would grow there. This was a bit disappointing for me and everything ended up with a layer of dirt/dust on it afterwards. However, if you go on a time where it isn't as buggy or hot (it ended up getting towards upper 70s-low 80s, and that was already way too hot for me), I think this place would be fantastic. If you do go on a hot summer day, try to get a shady site, otherwise you may be miserable, even with the beach. The sunset views were top notch though and looked amazing every night.

Some things I noted about other sites in case anyone wanted to know, site 117 was smaller, but had a lot more shade and a pretty private walk up. Site 116 was good and a bit higher up, but had a clear view to the RV campers and the road, so although it's a beautiful spot with a great view of the water, don't expect privacy. 119 is a handicap spot, but it was nice enough, lots of sun like 118. 120 & 121 were nicer ones that were a bit farther from ours, but were much more open to the water, which made it sunny but nice if you enjoy the beach since the sites were basically on sand. 123-125 were all much more forested, so they had a lot of privacy and space, especially site 124, however, none of these sites have direct access to the beach. If you go and there isn't anyone using 119 though, you can just use that path easily enough. Unfortunately the other rustic sites were all the way across the RV camping area and we didn't care enough to walk there so I can't remark on any of those. The rest of the park was relatively spread out, so if you expect a normal campsite vibe, you probably won't get it. There aren't playgrounds or parks, it's just sites and the main road so definitely bring stuff to do or you may be bored.

Overall, cool place, but probably won't be back unless it's for the late summer or fall and if I do, might not do rustic since it wasn't the...

This is our yearly must visit Campground. The pines campground is essentially an RV Park. Most if not all spaces have a paved “driveway” that is quite large. Also seemed fairly buggy and is not beach front. Some of the sites, 189, 187, 186 are quite large. Lakeshore campground is crowded, IMO and bathrooms are due for an update. West side is under construction this year, I’m hoping they don’t do something stupid like pave all the sites. Looking forward to a fresh bathroom though!

The best sites however, and the only ones we’ll use now, are the walk-in sites. Sites S-Z and AA-JJ. Obviously no electric and most are a very short “walk” like 10-20 feet. You are allowed to wheel a wagon in from your car. You have two labeled parking spots, no trailers or RVs, tent only. Don’t be that jerk who is too cheap to get enough campsites and have like 5 cars. This is not for you. Most have a direct beach view where you can walk from your site right out to the Lake Michigan beach (big stone bay, usually very calm waters). S-Y all have some or quite a bit of beach view. U, T, and S are slightly wooded but wonderfully private from the drive and large to huge in size. W and V are closer to parking and smaller or more obstructed lake view. Good if you don’t walk to walk much, bad for privacy from everything else. X and Y offers good or almost total beach view but are incredibly sunny. Also being right on the blowout dune edge are more exposed to wind. Only a very sturdy sunshade will survive. Y is the most exposed. No spot for a hammock there. Z, AA and B.B. are all more wooded, large private sites. CC-PP are all lake view with most have enough trees for some shade, hammocks, clotheslines but still private from the parking/drive. The east walkins are often a walk up a slight little hill but you do have a longer walk for water and more sites for the one outhouse. The map marks restrooms at the contact station but these have always been locked, IME. MM-JJ are all wooded, private and slightly buggy. Would be great for group camping together. Has a truer “Camping in the woods” feel.

Also note there is a dog beach by the day use beach and it is the ONLY shore area that is open to dogs. NO DOGS ON ANY OTHER BEACHES/SHORELINE. There are signs everywhere but people still mess this up. The park hosts nesting sites for endangered plovers, which are vulnerable to being attacked and killed by dogs. They take this very seriously!

There are also no electric, fire heated bunkhouse style cabins...

I stayed for three nights at rustic walk-in 118 in early August 2024. I had to book the site six months in advance down to the second. This park in general seems hard to get a reservation anywhere and anytime, especially for any decent site. I chose a walk-in site, because I knew how crowded and noisy the Lakeshore and Pines campgrounds were from a previous visit. If you want a peaceful and quiet camping experience, try the walk-in sites. It was hard to find any information about the walk-in sites, and the park map online isn’t helpful. You’re actually right up against the Full Hook-up campground, and none of the sites are really private or require any long walking. None of them are actually lakefront sites but some simply have a distant view. It was about a 100-yard walk to the beachfront, and this section of the beach is relatively isolated.

From the website photos and description, site 118 looked big, level, sunny, and grassy. In reality, it was uneven, very sandy, shady, and probably wouldn’t be spacious enough for two regular tents. I was camping alone, and there was only one small plot of sand to put my tent, which was still slightly not level. Site 119 was also very close, and there was a lot of foot traffic since my site was closest to the outhouse. Overall, the rustic sites were still much better than the others. It was mostly peaceful and quiet—no kids, no dogs, and nobody was rustic partying. It was a short walk to the Lakeshore campground to use those restrooms and showers.

The park overall is very nice and one of the best state park I have ever visited. The beach stretches for miles, and the water was very clean. It was a very nice beach to sunbathe, swim, and relax. I walked all the way to the end of Waugoshance Point, which is a long and rocky beach where you can see distant views of Waugoshance and White Shoal lighthouses. It was a very nice journey. There are numerous hiking trails, but some of them were closed for repairs while I was there, although I attempted a few trails further away from the campgrounds. Cell phone service...