Twelvemile Beach Campground — Hotel in Burt Township

I would give it 0-stars, if I could. Perhaps this is a nice campground, but I was unable to stay here on a weekday, non-holiday non-weekend-holiday, early August night because the campground had filled for the night already at 8am, and I arrive at noon. So needless to say I was unable to visit the campground. It was my first time at the park.

I then spent nearly 2-hours driving around trying to find an open campsite. The two closest campgrounds, Hurricane River upper and lower were also filled. I back tracked to a state campground, which was also full. I got the last site at the next nearest state run campground, (Ross Lake) but ended up paying twice as much to camp there as it would have cost me at the National Park Campground, due to the "Michigan Recreation Passport". (About $60 for two nights.) (That campground was nice, but the site I got wasn't that great...but it was better than driving around aimlessly trying to find open sites elsewhere.)

As I talked to fellow campers and park visitors, they all went through the same process as I did to try and find a site.

The NPS should have several electronic signs scattered along Pictured Rocks main road listing which campgrounds have spots available and which don't. Either that or they should set up a reservation system. Much time, energy and frustration...

What a great place to camp! We arrived on a Wednesday (July 4th) at 10am and there was only 2 spots available which we expected with the high demand of the 34 sites. Over the next couple mornings there was 5 to 10 open sites available each morning. There are post at each site that says when the campers are planning on checking out. The bugs were really bad our first night, but from what I hear is normal during this time of the year, but over night northern winds came in and blew them inland. The weather was amazing 80's and 50s at night. The camp site was great, I really liked the fire pits and how they adjust easily, there was also a picnic table and lantern hook. There is running water but we didn't use it because we brought enough for the 4 days we were there. I would recommend that everyone would stay here, if you don't find a spot then there are several other camp grounds close. If you need firewood there are several local people that sell it within 5 miles of the campsites. And there is a county store 10 or so miles...

We stayed here the summer of 2018 back when it was drop in camping, we were able to nab a lakeside bluff spot by arriving bright and early on a Thursday morning, catching another couple packing up to leave. We lucked out for sure, we had a gorgeous view of Lake Superior and could hike down the bluff down to the water. I also didn't feel like we were stacked on top of others. If you can nab a lakeside spot I cannot recommend it enough.

They had a little bulletin board with happenings and announcements for the surrounding area. We attended a Black Bear education session held on the campgrounds one evening, that I'm sure was targeted towards kids, but was nonetheless interesting!

We were staying here for an extended weekend while we explored/kayaked the pictured rocks shoreline. We walked over to Hurricane River on one of our hikes and it was another decent spot but seemed a lot more crowded/compact. If you're doing the same I would say this is...