I really wanted a day out with my dog and decided to check this place out. The day pass was around $12 (not bad at all in my opinion) and there was a lot of space to kind of distance ourselves from other people who came for a visit as well. It was my first time here and my experience was great up until the weather changing but I would love to be back given the chance ! read more

Dodge #4 State Park - Beaches Near Me - Waterford, Michigan

Excellent beach with tons of park space and a dedicated dog beach! Came with our pup in early September and it was still so warm and perfect! We loved the fact we could let our pup enjoy the water and beach along with us without getting nasty stares Parking is plentiful but there aren't any showers to rinse off, but we used the sinks in the bathrooms to rinse as best we could. Everything is very clean. read more

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Dodge #4 State Park Came here many times. No issues. Not too large. Simple. Hidden too. Great place for pictures, picnic, party, swim, etc. Highly Recommended read more

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Beautiful Park with over zealous Rangers who choose to micro manage the people who are only enjoying their day! Dog area of beach is nice: totally selectively managed! read more

The greatest place to see cass lake! A spot for kayaking, boats, swimming, dogs, lounging. There are even areas you can rent out for a party or family picnic! They are always improving adding more lights, pathways, very accessible. read more

Dodge #4 State Park - Fall - Beaches Near Me - Waterford, Michigan

Amazing park and had a huge sandy beach for the dogs. Plenty of parking as well. Workers were extremely helpful.

I literally grew up at this beach. I have been coming here for decades. Back in its heyday, the beach was always super crowded, they had a lifeguard, they had a fun snack shop/ beach shop. Then, over the years, the attendance went way down and the beach eroded. I remember bringing my children here to an abandoned beach where we were practically the only ones there. But now, things seem to have changed. I am not entirely sure if it is due to the pandemic and there is less to do, or if people are rediscovering this beach, but Cass Lake Dodge Park seems to have made a small come-back. The sand has been replenished. The water gets tested regularly (unfortunately it was closed the other day due to e coli, but the problem seems to have resolved itself). Families are making their way back to this park. Since we have frequented the beach several times this summer, people seem to social distance and for the most part respect each other's spaces. It is a fun place for friends to hang out, families to picnic outdoors, volley ball and sports, and fun water activities. The water out to the buoys is very shallow. They have reopened the bathrooms. I have seen crews cleaning the area and maintaining the grounds. I am very impressed with what I have seen this season. Since it is so nice out, and options are limited, this park does tend to fill up, especially in the evening hours. When it does get crowded, I have seen staff direct traffic and let in the appropriate amount of people. The parking lots can fill up, so come early if you are going to spend the day here. read more

I'm sure all my pictures explain it all. A very nice park on Cass Lake to launch a boat with 3 launchers areas. Lots of parking in different areas, Unisex bathrooms, gross. Lake is Well maintained by police officers on the water checking ID, in which they pull you over if they think you're underage drinking your radios are too loud or your speeding too fast on the waters but well maintained by Authority. As in my pictures a lot of people party connect their boats near the Sandy shallow areas to walk and talk on the water, drink play Frisbee, dogs are in the water, swim or float on rafts to nap and cool off in cold water on the Lake. and yes people do their business in the water, gross unfortunately but I did not swim. The cold water to touch so I put my feet in at back of the 27ft boat. Stayed on the boat in and out of the Sun and people watching. There are nice areas also just to fish at this park for bluegill or Bass. the areas to fish are more crystal clear water and deeper. We saw 7 pontoon boats connected together with loud music, heavy drinking and hookah smokers which to me was not my taste in party time. So if you know people on the lake you connect with your friends have a nice safe time if not then there's other areas just to enjoy to water ski, parasail, jet ski and a beach to swim, park has 3 different areas, to have picnics or reunions with but you have to have a pass to get in or pay to get in for the day. As I said a friend has a boat, and he lives off of Huron Road in Waterford so we went and enjoyed ourselves on his boat and got to see a change of scenery in his City and the area where he enjoys boating 2 miles away. read more

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Beautiful park. No one was attending the gate booth so we could buy a parking permit, so that cost us a lot of time we could have been enjoying the park. read more

It's a great place to chill, bbq, tan, have a birthday party. It's convenient because it down the street from me 15-20 min drive. But we decided to kayak from Marsh bank to Dodge Park. It was awesome going. But when we left the current around 5pm was a little rough. The boats and jet ski were coming and going which made us feel we weren't going anywhere. Over all park is clean and great for family with children. We love it!! read more

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If your going for the little trails then it's good. If your going for the beach beware it is sooo dirty. Beside people leaving actual trash all over the grass, and the sand looking like a giant ash tray and full of dirty band-aids... today there are empty whip-its (used to get high) tossed on the ground. Then while my child played in the beach sand she grabbed a TAMPON! We ran to the bathroom to wash up and both the men's and women's restrooms were out of soap. There is also a TON of bird poop on the edges of the beach. They really need a sand sifting machine. It's honestly becoming a huge health hazard and unsafe. read more

We have lived in Waterford for a few years now and never have checked out the state parks. This year we purchased the Passport to visit the parks and decided to check out Dodge #4 over Memorial Day Weekend. There was a long line up to get into the park, of course it was to be expected. Once in the park there are three paths you can go. The right path take you to the boat docks and if you follow it around, you will come to a nice area you can setup a chair and relax. There were several dogs and kids around - they seemed to be enjoying this area. The middle path is for the picnic pavilion. This is where we parked since there were SEVERAL spots available. We brought our dogs here to take them on a little hike on the trails. They seemed to really enjoy it. While we brought our own bags for doggie droppings, it was nice to see they offered bags are several spots as well. Nice way to help keep the park clean. The last path you come to before you leave the park is for the beach. This area was REALLY crowded. We didn't check out the beach since dogs weren't allowed there and we didn't want to leave them in the car. On the next hot day we will check it out without the dogs and see how crowded the actual beach is. read more

My friends and I love going here. We go here all the time. It's always lovely and it's always a good time

When looking for more interesting things to do in Michigan we noticed Cass Lake/Orchard Lake and several bodies of water surrounding on the Map and wanted to go visit as soon as the weather was nice enough. It is an interesting drive in the Metro Detroit suburbs to this area, out of no where you feel like you are out in the country with Cottages and Lake feel even though this area is located within the suburbs. This Park is a beautiful oasis with a beach, great views, and also and area with trees and a forestry type of feel. I would suggest checking out the entire area outside the Park, take a drive around Keego Harbor, and around Orchard Lake and enjoy the vibrancy and beautiful sites. read more

I had a rather poor experience here today with the family. We went out for a day the lake. Decided to picnic near the lake and cast a line in. Not only 30 minutes of setting up shop, a park ranger decided to begin hassling us. Claiming that we were not "aloud" to fish there. There were no signs posted here stating no fishing. I don't understand why this individual decided to take it upon themselves to police us. It was an overall poor experience and upset the day. I'd choose to go somewhere else to enjoy Cass. read more

I took my dog here to play in the lake and she had a great time! I was a little concerned about having to have her on a leash in the water but it was not bad at all! I'm so glad I found this place because now I have somewhere I can take my dog to go swim! The only thing I would say they could work on is having doggy bags incase your dog has to go potty. I noticed there were doggy bag stations but every one that I went to was out of bags unfortunately.. Overall though, great place to take your dog to go swim or lay in the sand and what not! read more

Came here to visit on a colder day to do some shore fishing and wasn't impressed with this small park. The shore fishing consists of one small pier that I imagine would be impossible to get a spot on a busy day. The pier sat on top of a blob of underwater plants in a shallow area that made fishing difficult. We walked around the entire park in about a half hour, and there wasn't much to see. It seems like this park exists solely to provide a boat launch and small beach for Cass Lake. We drove 45 minutes to get here, as there are a number of side streets you have to go down, and it wasn't really worth it. read more

Dodge #4 State Park - Beaches Near Me - Waterford, Michigan

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Incredibly inefficient and poorly-run operation. At 4:00pm on a hot day, they had a constant lineup of cars at the gate, and they had a guy come out to each car and say "Sorry we're at full capacity. We're not letting anyone else in the park." So I asked the obvious question..."Can't we just wait for people to leave, in like a waiting line or something?" But of course he just said "sorry we can't let anyone else in" and the equally-useless "manager on duty" at the gate just yells towards the cars "no one else is allowed in the park!" So...you just close an entire state park because you're busy? Whoever supervises how that park is run should be seriously re-evaluated as the head of operations. I'm definitely not going to waste my time coming all the way back out here next time, I'd recommend you save a trip as well read more

My family and I have enjoyed this park for many years and in so many different ways. I would definitely recommend checking it out if you have never been there. I always prefer the weekdays, as the weekends tend to be pretty busy(especially when the sun is shining and the temperatures are warm) read more

Went here for the first time last weekend. It's a small state park, had minimal walking area to bring the dog, but kept us busy for a few hours. Most of the real estate is beaches, which looked really nice. Would go back, without the dog. Beaches are not dog friendly, but were clearly popular. read more

Really nice was a kid tried to make a sand slide under our stuff but good park go over bridge for beach

This park is so pretty to walk through. As with all state parks, $6.00 daily entrance fee or $24.00 annual pass required. The beach is very small, not the greatest, but the water is clean. The swimming area is marked for safety. There is a nearly brand new and clean (very important!) beach house with plenty of potties, automatic sinks and dryers. There is an independent hot dog stand, but I'm not sure of the hours. A great place to sit and relax, have a picnic, or play in the water. read more

Visited with my family. My daughter enjoyed playing on the beach. However the water is not very clean. The worst thing is there is no shower (or it is closed). We could only go home with sand on us everywhere. read more

Conveniently close park! Very clean and well monitored area. One of the more busy lakes in Oakland county. Love the sand volleyball court. Enjoy spending sundays out here! read more

I visited here last weekend. It was very crowded and loud. The biggest problem I saw was the litter. It was everywhere and gave the park a dirty vibe. Kids were playing with plastic bags and broken cups in the water, people were freely tossing paper on the ground. It also seemed to be Hookah Central. I counted 5 people smoking them in the near vicinity. The beach is very small and I would suggest going on a weekday or in the morning to really enjoy it. It was just too crowded on a Sunday. The park has potential, maintenance needs to work harder during peak times at keeping it clean. read more

Comfy clean park that we enjoyed 3 days before the 4th, I love coming here the water was freezing though this will be our goto beach

Too busy in the summer and they won't let you have a beer. Not big enough for good snowmobiling. Seems like lovers go there for "parking". Cass Lake is a very busy lake. Not my favorite park. read more

We visited on Memorial Day weekend and had a great time. Lots of picnic tables, a sandy beach, and the remodeled boat launch is very nice.

This park is great for nature walking and the beach, however it lacks things for small children to do. A large playground for children would bring my review from 4 to a 5 star. read more

This is a fun place to hang out You can have a family get together You can go boating, fishing, swimming and hanging out in the sun

When I went there for a stroll last Sunday and today (a Saturday) it's been absolutely beautiful, the weather helped of course and it was not too crowded. I suppose it may be overcrowded in the summer, but my review is for the month of October :). read more

Dodge #4 State Park - footbridge leading to a great autumn walk by the lake - Beaches Near Me - Waterford, Michigan

Loveeee going to this beach! Close to home, newly remodeled last year, summer weekends they have kayak rentals for super cheap, and clean!!!! Yes, you can't drink or let your dog in the water... But that's why it makes it family friendly :) read more