We were here just after Labor Day so the beach was pretty much dead which was awesome for us as we…read morehad the whole place to ourselves. The wind made it a bit too chilly to do much outside from walk along the beach but had it been a bit warmer it would have been a great place to go swimming or wading. I hadn't realized that nearby is also a dark sky park so I imagine you'll have some dynamite night sky gazing if you're there after sunset. I'd love to come back and take some astrophotography shots with my camera this coming summer. Also worth noting, not sure if this is the case in peak season times but the park has a solid public restroom as well. Very clean!

2020-07-25. Oak Beach County Park, Port Austin, MI…read more In Michigan, everyone boasts of the beauty of the mitt; the scenic scapes of the UP (Upper Peninsula), the old world charm of Mackinaw and Mackinac Island, and the great outdoors of the Grand Traverse County. But there's another part to every mitten, and today my travels took me here, to Michigan's thumb. Well, to what I call the Thumbnail to be more precise. The thumbnail I refer to is the coastal areas of Michigan's thumb, from Bay Port to the West, to Harbor Beach to the east. One thing this area isn't lacking are beaches, beautiful sand beaches bordering Saginaw Bay or Lake Huron. While many a property here gets a piece of the water, there are many pubic beaches as well. The beaches are smaller and encompass only a few hundred feet of waterfront, but they make up for it in how many there are within close proximity to one another. Caseville has a decent size beach, but is often very crowded, and with COVID still looming around, we decided to go further north to Port Austin. Our day began at Bay Port to pick up some smoked fish, then to the Port Austin Farmer's Market. After that I had 3 beaches picked out. Oak County Park, Veteran's Park, and Bird Creek Park. Bird Creek Park is a 1000 foot expanse of beach to the immediate east of the Port Austin State Harbor. From here, you would be able to see personal boats come and go. The parking lot has enough space for about 70 vehicles, and spaces fill up by early afternoon. Not finding any spots within social distancing guidelines, we moved to the west side of the Port Austin State Harbor to Veteran's Waterfront Park. It's about half the size of Bird Creek with approximately 500 linear feet of beachfront. This side has the breakwater, so if you're in to boat spotting, it's not the optimal side to be on. While these two parks are adjacent to each other with only about 500 feet between them, there is no direct path to get there on foot. You will need to drive from one lot to the other. The parking lot is proportionally smaller here with about 40 parking spots. Not having any luck at Veteran's we moved to my original choice of Oak Beach. During our journey west, we passed by several other beaches. 4 miles away is Port Crescent State Park. Being a State Park, a Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry. We had ours, but if you don't have one, no worries, you can purchase one at the entrance. The cost is $12 for the year + $5 convenience fee for not purchasing it when you renew your License Plate tabs. This beach is the largest of them all by far, and spans about 2 miles. There's one central lot, and despite the price of parking, many come to enjoy this beach. This was my backup beach, so we pressed on westward. The next beach is at McGraw County Park. A small pubic park with no pavilions and only about 400 feet of beachfront. After this one is our destination, Oak Beach County Park. This park is much bigger compared to McGraw with two large pavilions, a playground, 2 horseshoe pits, and about 700 feet of beachfront. Here, we were lucky enough to find both a spot on the beach and in the parking lot. In addition to the pavilions, fixed charcoal barbecue grills are scattered throughout the park for public use. There are restrooms with one shower stall in each as well as a rinsing well to get the excess sand off your legs before heading home. Still on the Lake Huron side, the water is much cooler and the water remains shallow throughout the buoy markers for swimmers. At spots there are pockets where the water does get about 5 feet deep, so if you have little ones, take care to make sure they don't wander off to far on their own. If you venture past these deeper wells, it gets shallow again (about 3 feet). The bottom is sandy so muddy waters are kept to a minimum. Overall a nice beach with nice amenities. 4 stars. The great thing about this beach park is that there is a nature center about a half mile away. The Huron County Nature Center has many hiking trails that are well marked and pets are welcome. Overall, Michigan's Thumbnail Coast boasts many smaller beaches which is quite a nice change from the densely populated ones of Metro Park and Stony Creek. The water is cleaner and cooler, a bonus on those really hot days. There is one more beach if you continue on the Journey to the West. Thompson County Park is very similar to McGraw County Park, with about 400 feet of beachfront and no pavilions or playgrounds. So don't give up if you can't find a spot straight away. Our day trip was to conclude with a stop at Rybak's Ice Cream, but they were closed due to COVID, so we checked out The Grindstone General Store and Blue Moon Ice Cream Shoppe. If you would like to experience more, come dine-with-me.yelp.com I'd love to have your company... Bon Appétit!

It is one of the most beautiful views of Lake Huron and the beach shoreline…read more Visiting this park on numerous occasions makes returning one more adventure to enjoy year around.

Not ideal for tent camping. This is the first state campground that I have stayed at, so I don't…read morehave anything to compare it to. We usually stay at more rustic campgrounds. The spaces were close together and there were lot of flies everywhere. There was a poop smell throughout the campground and the beach. With the campsites being so close together you could hear everyone "yelling at their kids" or partying until 2:00 AM. The bathrooms had dirty floors and the shower was gross. The beach was a nice short walk just across the bridge and to the other side of the road. There were lots of campers and many of them had lights on at night or hung lights outside their camper which created light pollution so you could not see the stars. Maybe you want to hang out with a bunch of strangers and listen to their business or their partying until the wee hours of the morning. If that sounds like fun then you should definitely come here. If you came for an outdoor experience, wanted to see the stars or hear nature then I would avoid this campground.

I went here for a quick day hike after kayaking to Turnip Rock. There's actually two trailheads-…read moreone official one with campgrounds and bathrooms, and one with a bridge over the river. I parked at the trailhead with the bridge, which does not have any amenities. If you're nervous about trying to find it, it's right next to the Dark Sky Lodge and Tavern so you can plug that into your navigation system. It's also well marked with a small gravel lot. When I went, the trailhead lot was full so I parked at a grassy lot across the street. The trail runs though the beach and forest ecosystem and it's pretty well maintained and well marked. It's impossible to get lost. As you go near the beach there's plenty of offshoot trails leading to the beach. Just watch out for ticks!

Absolutely breathtaking shoreline!…read more The only reason I didn't give 5 stars was because we only noticed one trash receptacle during our trip, and it wasn't near the parking lot but instead was appropriately placed next to a (closed) pavilion. It was overflowing, and I'll give them a pass because of the pandemic, but I was disappointed by the lack of trash cans and only one (closed) bathroom. The dunes were great though! A nice adventure and great place for a picnic! Also, heads up, there are signs that clearly state no glass or animals on the beach but plenty of people brought their dogs. Thankfully we saw owners cleaning up after their pups.

What a stunning beach! Everything about the Oscoda Beach Park was perfect. The sand was super clean…read moreand the water. Cute shops, ice cream, restaurants, and much more within walking distance. Dog friendly.

If you're itching for a day at the beach but can't leave the Mitten, Oscoda Beach will scratch just…read morethat itch for you, and leave you ready to come back another time! On a recent hot weekday, I found myself off of work with no particular plans. I had heard about how beautiful Lake Huron was, especially up by Tawas Bay and further north, and decided that today was the day to check it out. I grabbed my partner in crime, and off we drove! Just a few hours later we were at the short, and kept driving until we reached Oscoda Beach Park. There we were greeted with a clean sandy beach, clear water, and clean restrooms, all in a place that also boasted free parking. We set out our chairs on a quieter stretch of the shoreline, and enjoyed the beautiful day. I closed my eyes and listened to the seagulls calling from above, and the gentle roll of the waves as they hit the shore. Shore, I miss the salty waves of the ocean, but when you can't stand your cabin fever anymore, Oscoda Beach Park is a great place to go for that escape!

My friends and i stayed here July 21st thru the 24th, 2022. I was in my 5th wheel, they had cabins…read more Lake Huron campground was awesome. JellyStone, not so much. Overpriced for stays now, bathrooms flooding sewage, pool closed for sewage backup, I'm not a happy camper. They will not allow personal golf carts anymore, i had goose poop, cigarette butts, and the previous camper on my site left a good amount of their black tank contents on the ground. I paid $327.00 for 3 nights. For that amount, a person would expect a clean site. Big corporate campgrounds don't care about their property obviously. We used to camp here at least once a year for the past 6 years now. I can see why there were so many sites open now. Corporate greed has taken yet another nice campground down. We won't be back. (Why won't this site allow me to post zero stars? That's what this place deserves now!)

When we booked our site we asked to reserve a golf cart and were told we had to wait to get there…read more When we got there they said they were all booked and we had to do that while booking the site. The staff is very rude and unprofessional. Talked down to my Mother in law while she try to explain that we had been told to book the golf cart when we got here. When we went back to the office later we were told a different story that we needed to book the cart online. The pool was so cold the kids wouldn't swim. They needed to use the heaters, but I guess that cost too much money. The overall issue here is that the owners are money hungry and cheap. They pay their young staff the absolute minimum and work them too many hours which in turn makes the staff not care about the guests in the slightest. The power went out and the pool shut down because apparently the back-up generator had broke down and it "cost too much" to fix. It is sad because the park itself has a great location, great amenities and big sites. The owners need to learn that they could have a great thing here if they cared a bit more about the guest, take care of their employees more, spend the money on heating the pool when it gets chillier, and buy more golf carts with a policy all of the employees know. So, this is an add-on: I believe a manager of some sort came to our camp site after reading my review. Asked to speak to me, but I was walking the dog. He said he would be back at 7:00 to speak to me and never showed. We went to get ice cream and asked the front desk of he was coming or not. They proceeded to be rude yet again, surprise, surprise, and said "don't wait around and go ahead and leave your review my name is Tracie with an IE"! Guess I'll make sure to now leave this review on all our Michigan camping community websites and friends. All I can say is WOW!!! The owners are trolling our reviews and saying horrible things. My wife and I had to block them.

Tawas Point State Park was the destination for our annual friend camping trip this year. We try to…read morepick a different state park or campground each year and our friend had mentioned this spot. We camped in early May and it was pretty chilly - it got down to the upper 40s the first night and was a bit rainy. There was a strong breeze off the water which made it feel colder. But we still had a great time and the campground was at about 1/3 capacity. When we arrived, the employees at the check in station were really friendly and helpful. Like most campgrounds, they had plenty of brochures for the area and campground maps. They also gave us a birding checklist! They told us that it's a great area for bird watching, so we had fun checking birds off. We did not see all 230 birds listed, but quite a few. The campground has electric hookups at most, if not all, sites, and is fairly small compared to some other parks we've visited. The spots were mostly grassy and decently sized. There's not a ton of shade here, so keep that in mind for sunny summer days. One of the bathrooms was closed while we were there, but the one that was open was clean. Shower facilities are available, and there is a camp host that has books and games to borrow, as well as free coffee on weekend mornings. The highlight for our friend's 2 year old were the playgrounds - there is one at the campground and another near the lighthouse. There's a small beach at the campground and a much larger one near the lighthouse. I really liked the yurt and cabins - if we came back to this park I'd try to reserve one of those, specifically one of the two cabins that overlook the lake. There's not a ton in Tawas, but there's fast food, a Walmart, a couple gas stations, and a very small downtown with some shops and restaurants. We typically like more options for afternoons outside of the campgrounds we stay at, but we enjoyed our time at Tawas Point State Park.

Such a lovely state park that my friends and I camped at last weekend! It's definitely a super…read morepopular one, given it's wonderful location and proximity to so many awesome cities and things to do, so you'll find that throughout the summer months, it'll always be busy and full for the most part. For us, we booked a campsite at the far end of the campground, which was PERFECT for us! It was right by the path that leads to the Tawas Point Lighthouse, so it was just mostly foot traffic and a lot of people taking their dogs to the nearby dog beach down that same path a little bit, so we got to do plenty of people and dog-watching, which was a dream to us giant group of dog people! I love this campground as well for its wonderful beaches, both dog and human alike, the easy access to the lighthouse, and its proximity to Lake Huron! There were a ton of kite surfers on the big lake and a ton of beach to walk and relax on there. The weekend we were there was pretty windy, so Lake Huron was gorgeous, but the waves were pretty choppy and not conducive to swimming/laying out and enjoying the beach. Thankfully, Tawas Point SP also has a the entire Tawas Bay area lining the other side of the park, so you have your pick of beaches! The water on the bay side was way more calm and ideal for perfect beach days, so we got the best of both worlds here truly! A+ all around to everything this state park had to offer - water, trails, beaches, campsites, amenities - it was lovely! The town of East Tawas and Tawas itself was also wonderful and such a quick trip over with some cute restaurants and bars to take advantage of! I can't emphasize enough how wonderful this state park is. It's a new favorite of ours and we'll definitely be coming back to camp here soon! We had a lovely time with perfect weather conditions as well, so it was truly a perfect weekend!

These guys were amazing, helped us with everything we needed. But most importantly did everything…read morethey could and saved our trip. If I could give them a 10/5 stars I would

Worst possible service and interaction possible. I called about making a reservation with the…read morecampground and asked to talk to the person that handles that. She said that was her but the woman that answered the phone seemed like she didn't have the time of day for me and also had a really bad attitude. After she treated me this way I would never recommend any family or friends to go there. There is plenty of other campgrounds next to the lake to stay at. The lady that answered the phone needs to learn how to talk and treat potential customers.

A lovely place I stumbled upon when planning a trip and a perfect place for a lunch stop. If I had…read moreonly known the next destination was rainy I would have stayed longer. A bargain of a spot for $3 a day as there is a great beach, kayak rentals, changing facilities all on the beautiful Saginaw bay. We saw jet skis and a lot of boat trailers so there must be a launch nearby. There was also campers and tents with people enjoying a pure Michigan day.

Super small beach but clean and the water was warm. Fun to watch the boys come and go. Picnic…read morebenches and park.

Amazing experience kayaking around Turnip Rock. Excellent service and top level equipment -…read morekayaks were Wilderness Pungo 12 ft with good paddles. We were able to take advantage of a late season beautiful day. Chris went out of his way to ensure we had a safe and excellent adventure.

We came here to visit Turnip Rock! As we don't own any kayaks and there's no public way to see…read moreTurnip Rock other than by the water, we decided to rent kayaks from here. The process was pretty straight forward as we had already made our reservations online. (They do accept walk ins pending kayak availability.) We checked in smoothly and had a quick explanation of the route and the water conditions. There's a shop with various sundries such as sandals, hats, sunscreen, waterproof bags, etc. You walk down to the water to get life jackets and the kayaks after checking in. They pushed us off into the water and away we went. I won't say too much about the kayaking other than the water is pretty shallow for the majority of the route and there's a small beach across from Turnip Rock. I would rent from here again, although I would buy a waterproof backpack from them since my stuff got drenched! Thankfully, I had brought a change of clothes and I was able to change in their restrooms (unisex single room room x2).

Loved everything about this resort! I spend most MI summer weekends enjoying the Lake Huron…read morebeachfront at different venues with cottage rentals. Crystal Sands Beach resort was able to accommodate a girls weekend (17 girls) easily. The beach house apartments provided plenty of room, gorgeous views, full kitchen and an open floor plan. The Villa's are equipped with full kitchens, bedrooms, and open floor plans in general living areas. The Suite's were open floor plans with refrigerators and coffeemakers. The property and beach were well kept and grounds crews seemed to make regular rounds to ensure cleanliness. The resort is on the beach and has a gorgeous beach area. There were many families and children enjoying their swimming, kayaking, and bulldog sand castles. At night the resort set up chairs and multiple fire pits on the beach for guests and kept the wood coming and fires going! The resort also came equipped with regular housekeeping which included daily garbage changes, cleaning, and towel replacement. The resort is handicap accessible with an ADA Suite and handicap beach access. My travel companion is wheelchair bound and we had no problems getting around. The beach house steps were wide enough to get a wheelchair bound person up and down and all staff and owners were quick to offer assistance when we took the wheelchair and occupant of wheelchair up and down the steps. I've stayed in many (most) locations in that area on the beach and this is by far the best. We can't wait to go back for our annual girls weekend next year! I can't say enough about the location or the amazing staff/owners of the resort. They truly work hard (while making it appear effortless) to ensure everyone is having a great time. Thank you Sam and Nada!!!! It was truly a pleasure meeting you and thank you for such a great time and all that you did to make our 25th annual weekend perfect!

Beautiful, clean well kept resort. Nada and Sam are the perfect hosts. They have thought of…read moreeverything!