Sand Creek Campground — Hotel in Chesterton

We just spent two nights at Sand Creek Campground--$40 per night for a tent site. The sites were large and in fair shape. Picnic tables were worn and tired and the grass needed to be mowed, but otherwise, acceptable. Driving in, we were a little nervous; the sign was dilapidated and a giant white cross greeted us at the entryway. As it turns out, the campground seemed to be in various stages of renovation (I guess, fixing the sign didn't make the list). Bathrooms were newly renovated, but FILTHY.

Bathrooms in general were an issue for this campground. The first night, we considered just using "nature's facilities" rather than braving the family bathroom--blood, feces, and urine were all over the toilet and the floor was drenched and reeked of urine. In all the campgrounds we've been in, we've never seen such a filthy bathroom. AND there was no hand soap! There weren't enough bathrooms for the campground--three stalls each for men and women near the pool and the two handicap/family bathrooms. Perhaps, it was constructed for RV and trailer units who don't need bathroom facilities. Either way, it made for some agonizing waits to use the toilet, especially with two young daughters. The larger restroom had a slippery concrete slope into it. Because it's next to the pool and also housed heated showers, the concrete was constantly wet and super slippery. My daughters multiple times nearly fell on the slope, but I luckily caught them. Again, the toilets in the larger restroom were disgusting, with feces and what appeared to be vomit splatters--maybe a camper was just having a really rough night and was visiting all bathrooms leaving her mark?

Quiet hours were not enforced. Neighboring tents played music well after 3:30am. My daughters and I slept through it, but my partner and our family members said it kept them up.

The pool was nice. A previous reviewer said it was a swamp, but it was very clean when we visited. The owner did come around and suggest that it had just been repaired (and she recited a bunch of rules to us as well), so perhaps that was the issue a month ago. Either way, the pool was nice and warm. However, there wasn't any pool furniture. We ended up just putting towels on the concrete. Another pool complaint: it said it opened at 10am, but on Sunday it was closed. We checked again as we were leaving and it was still locked. I'm not sure if this was some sort of religious observance (see my next paragraph for further note on this), but it was inconvenient, as our kids had hoped to swim one last time before leaving.

The place is run by a family of fundamentalist Christians, or so we think. We don't have any problem with people practicing their religion, but it would be nice to know ahead of time if the owner's religion will impact our stay so that we can make an informed choice about whether or not we want to stay at their facility. As my cousin and I were leaving the pool, the owner stopped my cousin and I and informed us that we couldn't wear our "bikinis" at the pool "you know, for the men's eyes." We were told we couldn't return unless we put on one-piece swimsuits. She clarified, it was okay for our daughters to wear two-piece suits and the men to wear "normal" suits, but we had to cover up. Mind you, we are both physically fit athletes and we were wearing conservative athletic two-piece suits. We understand that some religions hold women to different standards and pretend women are the reason men fall into lusty temptation, but, again, it would be nice to know this before we pay $40 a night. Had we known these were their policies, we wouldn't have stayed at their campground.

Finally, good luck getting in touch with these folks. They never answer the phone and the office was always closed. If you need ice or firewood, buy it ahead of time.

Overall, would not recommend this place and...

We came up to camp with friends; our friend who lived locally made a reservation for 3 sites, to be close together; on RV site and two tent sites. There were going to be three families - ourselves and my parents, driving up separately; one family; and another family and their niece driving up separately. Three sites, three families. Checking in was terrible; we tried multiple times to explain what was going on. The person manning the desk did not have much information about the reservation and did not understand what was going on; they had no knowledge of anything that was said when the reservation was made. My parents checked in first and paid for the RV site. We arrived next, and had to pay for another site - not the one we would use, we were going to be with my family - before we were allowed to go back to join them. It took another visit to the office before we could set up on the single campsite our family needed. The next friend checked in and paid for a site - there's the three sites we had reserved and that we used. The next family checked in and they were made to pay for yet another site before they could join us. That's four sites. We used the three sites we reserved, and are going round and round trying to get reimbursed for the unneeded, unwanted, unused extra site.

The pool was closed, despite the dates being within the time period marked "summer season" on the website. My parents' site (we didn't get a full RV hookup, just electric hookup, so that the sites could be closer together) didn't have electricity; after yet another trip to the front office, they were able to run a cord to the next site over to get power.

There were pros. The campground is pretty, and was quiet. It felt safe. The restrooms were clean and never ran out of TP. There were not too many bugs (We've stayed at places that were mosquito havens; not a single bite here; that was nice.) The roads around the campgrounds are well-maintained. A friend who plays guitar was able to borrow a guitar from the front office; that was a kindness.

Still, for the awkwardness and difficulty of dealing with reservations and extra charges, would...

This place is very run down compared to the pictures. The place could be a gold mine if it was taken care of - the bathhouse is in need of repairs, flooding showers, ventilation is horrible, it smells of sewer, the shower heads need replaced, there's not enough hooks or shelves in the open room or in stalls, no in-shower benches. The cleanliness of the shower house -not maintained enough. The pictures show a clean functional pool- that's false- the stagnant pool is unacceptable, full of black water, and has been out of service for years according to staff. The dilapidated RVs sitting around the grounds should be removed. It looks extremely trashy and unwelcoming. No tent pads and it's hard to tell where RVs are to be parked. No up to date or clearly labeled water sources throughout the area. The benches are in poor rotting condition. Trash is piled up and litter throughout the area, I'm not sure why it wasn't disposed of by management or staff. The noise level wasn't regulated and a loud speaker announcement for quiet hours was disturbing and just plain lazy. It's a shame management doesn't care or take better care of the place. My biggest concern was the lack of a peaceful environment, after being told it was quiet hours no one seemed to care, with loud partying and constant vehicle noise, flashing vehicle lights on campers tents, slamming of car doors at all hours and management did not put a stop to it. They also allow very large groups of people. This had to be one of the worst experiences I've had. I've camped across the country and have been to many grounds with different management and I would never recommend this place to anyone. Not only was I appalled at the conditions and lack of concern management had but I witnessed others complaining and stating that they were also upset and leaving. They run this place like it's an hourly motel. Nothing is enforced, the place is dirty and unkept, no one respectable wants to stay there because of the allowed disruptive behaviors that go on. The only thing that looked decent were the cabins but I didn't...