Timber Ridge RV & Recreation Resort — Hotel in East Bay Township

We really enjoyed our week long stay here at Timber Ridge. There were a ton of activities for kids (that start on Friday and go through Sunday). The tree canopy was great, T-Mobile service was great for streaming, and overall, staff was awesome. Pretty quick drive to anything Traverse City related and about an hour away from Sleeping Bear Dunes which is MUST visit if you plan to head this way.

Pro's: Best mountain bike/bmx track we've ever seen at a rv park. My boys spent HOURS on those well groomed tracks. Ton's of weekend activities for kid's. Dodge-ball on Thursday/Friday/Saturday evening were a highlight for our kids. You had pickelball, rc car racing, candy canon's, swimming, bike riding, playgrounds, etc... etc... Relatively small pool, but a huge maintained/treated pond with swim beach and inflatables for kids to play on. Ice cream/candy shop and camp store on site. Gated with key card entry. Close to everything, but treed so it makes you feel far out. Great T-Mobile service - Starlink wasn't needed. May be tricky if you need to use Starlink because of the canopy of tree's.

Con's: Good amount of seasonal RV's and tiny homes. Most are in good shape and well taken care of. Some could use some better upkeep. Everyone seemed very respectful. If you struggle to level your RV, good luck here. Not sure I saw a single level site .... Most are pitched front-to-back while others are pitched side-to-side. This looks to be like the most critical issue with most campers. Just know going into it, your site may very well be a struggle. You can only reserve and actual "site" by going with one of the premium sites. If you reserve a deluxe site, you're at the mercy of the camp host putting you in a spot. Many sites have a tree at corners of the sites making turning in to said site very tricky. Thankfully, ours did not have a tree on these corners.

Overall, we'd love to say here again, especially if we still have our kids with us. Everything from fun hikes, to good drives, to Costco are convenient. Traverse City is a beautiful small & old Michigan town and Timber Ridge RV Park remains a favorite...

If you are considering Timber Ridge and your child is school age or older, think VERY CAREFULLY before risking your money. Our child got in an argument with 3 other kids (siblings) and one of them hit him very hard in the head. My child didn't fight back; however, he yelled some stupid threats at the kid to get left alone. Management came to my site asking my kid what happened and he told the truth and apologized. Management claimed that they wanted to work things out between our families so "no one had to leave" and brought me together with the other parents to talk. The father was very aggressive and angry, so I asked to step aside and call my husband. In the 15 minutes I was on the phone with my husband, Timber Ridge Management did a 180 from "We don't want anyone to have to leave" to "It's our policy to send home any child who makes threats no matter who started the fight" (which made me wonder why they had asked me to talk to these other parents at all, if they were going to evict us all along. Wouldn't it have been easier just to keep us apart?). We were kicked out of the park after 4 years of being regular patrons and never causing a problem there. The official position of Timber Ridge Management was that it mattered more that my child THREATENED to hurt these children (when he had no intention of doing so) than it mattered that they had ACTUALLY hit him. If you regularly camp at Timber Ridge, make sure your kids know that hitting a kid will get them in less trouble than yelling something at them. Mine sure wishes he would have just hit back. Also be aware that honesty and politeness (yours or your child's) will not help you if there is a dispute with another family. Management will side with whoever is the most threatening and aggressive. My child just learned a lesson about honesty, and it is not the one his father and I were trying to teach him. I'm pretty sure he won't be dumb enough to admit wrongdoing or apologize ever again. I...

Great location, big campground, and lots to do. We will definitely be checking it out again!

During our stay we did have one problem with neighbors who thought that it was their own private campground. Not just loud, but playing music so loud and singing with it that we could hear it over fans in our camper. Very unruly and drunk. We contacted the after hours number and the gentleman in charge of it that night was not super helpful. Our neighbors were breaking every rule in the policy and he did nothing about it. We were not very happy.

BUT. We did talk to the manager the next day and she was very apologetic about the incident. She was very pleasant to talk to, and did everything to make it right. I truly believe that it was a fluke and that it normally would have been a situation that was taken care of. The manager did everything to make it right, and while at first we were considering not going back, she definitely won our business back.

It really is a nice campground, and if you have kids I bet the summer would be a super great experience for them there! So many trails, and the lake, and different events and activities.

Most of the staff was excellent. The gentleman who checked us in was friendly and nice to talk to. When we had problems with our neighbors letting their dog wander during the day, one lady stopped right in the middle of sweeping to go and handle it which was awesome. The Manager (Ella I believe) was great to talk to and work with.

I mention the bad incident only to remind people that no where is perfect. The night guy should have been on it, and probably due to having a bad day or night wasn't. But they did make it right, and were understanding and apologetic.

It's a great campground, especially if you can go in the fall it's nice and quiet. I recommend giving it a try, and have already been recommending...