So, after daytripping Waterloo for years I finally camped there. Met some family for a mini-reunion at the Sugarloaf Lake campground. I didn't have high expectations, but came away with a very favorable impression. What I liked most? Probably the quiet. Yes, there are times of the day that got a little noisy due to kids playing and dogs barking, but you're going to get that in any state park campground, and I gotten it much worse. Little to no road noise and generally pleasant neighbors. Bathrooms are fairly clean though in need of an update. Hot water never ran short in the showers. What I didn't like? My site. I picked what had to be the spot least shaded in the hottest parts of the day. Fortunately the rest of my family had shadier spaces and we hung out with them. Avoid site 92 unless you're camping early or late in the season. Generally, the camping area is fairly open, though a lot of it has at least fair shade most of the time. Our sites were on the far edge of the campground loop--it seemed like things were generally busier and louder close to the driveway into the camping area. Ice and firewood are available at the check in station and both are reasonably priced. Great for a chill weekend getaway without driving too far from urban southeast Michigan. read more

Waterloo Recreation Area is AWESOME! The trail system here is incredible and you just feel like you're surrounded by an endless sea of nature that we are privileged to recreate on. The paths are so wide and there's just so much room to PLAY. My mind and heart feel open when I'm at Waterloo. My friend and her dog and I and my dog did the Waterloo Pinckney to Lakeview Trail, which is just so much fun. It's almost 5 miles long, but is pretty doable, with a lot of interesting things to see and check out along the way. There was a little natural playground we stopped at, we checked out those on the water ice fishing for a bit, and more. Tons to do here and I absolutely loved it! Looooove Waterloo so much though and I love that it's part of the greater recreation area of Pinckney-Waterloo as well. There are endless opportunities to recreate in all various forms when you're here and it's definitely worth the trip during all seasons! read more

See all

Had a beach day with friends at the clear lake beach. It was quite, beautiful, water was so clean and clear! I wish there were a few more picnic tables, and the beach is kind of sad, but other than that it was totally great! read more

This park exceeded my expectations. The hiking trails are spacious and well-maintained. We went to Big Portage lake after our hike. The area was quiet and clean and water was pretty clear. It's a lot quieter than most metro parks around Michigan. read more

Waterloo Recreation Area - Hiking trail - Parks Near Me - Chelsea, Michigan

See all

I recently stayed at the portage Lake modern campground in July 2020. As far as state park campgrounds go, it was actually pretty nice. Of course it was in the middle of the Covid emergency and even on a holiday weekend the campground was not full. The wash house and showers were very clean but of course everything is being kept ultra clean at this time. Although it was posted that masks were required in the building. My friend and I were the only ones that I saw wearing masks. Perhaps at the sign would have been on the door instead of the side of the building people might've paid more attention to it. The actual campsites were of a decent size, other campers were quiet and followed the rules. There were no loud radios no fireworks in the park and it was a nice relaxing weekend. The dump station was in good repair and very clean but the same cannot be said for the dumpsters. I've been camping since I was a child and I don't think I've ever seen a Michigan State Park have as dirty of an area for people to throw their trash. Now I understand some of this is because some people are just slobs but I don't think there's been any real attempt to police this area and clean it up in a long long time. This is the reasonThat the park is receiving a four-star rather than five star review. read more

Waterloo Recreation Area - Pretty site with great trees! - Parks Near Me - Chelsea, Michigan

See all

Always a fun time at Sugarloaf lake. Sites seem larger than most state campgrounds. Fire rings were recently rehabbed. The park rangers are great (that means you, Ranger Travis!). The dnr offers several activities/classes for all ages. The bog walk and night hike are two kid friendly faves. The playground is great - it too was also redone and has great equipment with a soft rubber crumb bonded surface. Bathrooms and showers are always clean. read more

This place may be a 3+ star or so if you have an RV (preferably one of those so big it feels like you're driving around in your apartment). As someone we were with said, "It's like camping in a parking lot with grass and trees." Dead on. You're kind of duped driving from the main office area to the campground because you travel on a dirt road with everything around you appearing so thick and 'forest-y' for a long while. All of a sudden, once you get past the check-in, you come upon just about the opposite of all of that uber-nature. The Waterloo State Recreation has 2 main campgrounds/lakes (Portage and Sugarloaf). Sugarloaf is fairly large with 164 sites with a beach, boat launch and playground. Check-in is at 1pm, check-out is at 3pm. Some details: -There's a building with several individual showers, bathrooms (with a fair amount of outlets for the ladies) that also has a few vending machines: drink, ice cream and snack. -Camping spots are spacey with an electric outlet post (bring an extension cord that with allow you to plug in a few extra things). This was awesome because it allowed us to bring a thin box fan to battle the heat in the tent, a small vac to take care of the dirt on the floor and charge our cell phones and batteries. I love it when I can flat iron my hair in the wilderness too. ;-) -No sanitation or water hook-ups are available for RV's at the campsites. Those are located near the campground check-in office. Dumpster is located here too. There are no garbage receptacles anywhere outside, so you must bring your own garbage bags or cans. -A decent amount of water spigot stations are located a short walk away from most camping spots. -You can bring Fido here (on a 6 foot leash and one of those ground stakes that come with a longer leash are helpful) and he/she can't be unattended. We brought one of ours and so did just about everyone else. Dog heaven. -Each camping spot has a round concrete firepit reinforced with metal 4'-5' in diameter and 2' or so high. No grills available, bring your own or a large grate at the very least). On this trip I discovered the amazing and delicious possibilities of hobo food that a simple pie iron can create. Why have I never seen one of these things in all of my life until now? I am officially obsessed. -Camping office sells ice (small and large bags) and firewood that will last for a meal or two or a large bonfire for just for $5. A single Duraflame log seems to work well for strictly bonfire purposes, supplemented by a little firewood (though I wouldn't cook over it). -Beach is small, not much sand area. Water is not crazy clear and sand is kinda dark. I'll admit, I became spoiled and snotty coming from awesome Florida Gulf waters where the 2011 #1 beach in the country exists (all hail Siesta Key in Sarasota!) so nothing could ever compare. Lake water in general skeeves me out anyhow. -Playground is nothing much to look at. Pretty basic and only for kids 2-5 (weird age restriction limitation) and located next to the beach. Especially considering kids of all ages are all OVER the place here riding around on bikes, Razors, skateboards, etc. -There is a camp host (a retired couple) in the middle of the park that keeps an eye on the joint and offers info and sets up crafts for kids at 3pm underneath covered picnic table. They also put out coffee, hot chocolate and donuts at 8am on the weekends, but you can't bring your dog up to the tables with you. ? They take can and bottle returnable donations at their spot to fund these things. -If you want more privacy and greenery reserve a spot along the perimeter of the campground edges of the park and/or to the north of the bathrooms and showers. -This campground, despite it being jammed-packed the weekend we went, actually remained pretty clean. Bathrooms weren't as atrocious as one would expect either. Although, you gotta admit, communal baths are still undeniably quite icky. -There is a very shady looping one mile trail that near the campground office/sanitation area that takes about 15 minutes to walk and other hiking is available throughout the park. -Pricing ran about $25 a night for a spot w/ electric. Recreation Passport / entrance fees apply (get one cheap when you renew your vehicle registration). Quiet hours are from 11pm - 7am (most people actually play by the rules here). Stay is limited to no more than 15 straight days. Reservations are strongly recommended as spaces fill up quickly. There's also a Discovery Center offsite that features year-round exhibits and nature programs. read more

See all

I am rating this park as a day visitor. Every year since 1993, my dog breed club has held a fun match, which is like a field day for dogs and their handlers. Lots of fun games and involvement for the kids and of course the dog show stuff. Stand still and look pretty for the judge... For the last few years, we have held our annual fun match at the picnic shelter near the Portage Lake Campground. We also hold a "draft test" about a month later, where dogs earn an AKC title for pulling their carts with precision. The site is very comfortable for us and our dogs. There is a picnic shelter that we rent. We get the park caretakers to bring over extra picnic tables for our large group. The shelter has men's and women's bathrooms, charcoal grills and electricity. The lawn is flat, with no holes. There are posts for a volleyball net. There are some large oak trees in the open area. To the west, there is a thick forest which casts shade -- very important, because our dogs are mostly black with thick fur. They can overheat from prolonged exposure to direct sun, even on a relatively cool day. So there is plenty of room for the dogs to wait in the shade until it is their turn in the ring. There is a bigger shelter over by Portage Lake, with larger restrooms and vending machines. The beach is nice. No dogs are allowed over there. Dogs may swim at the boat launch, which is to the northwest of the picnic shelter, across a big parking lot. This is a great place to hold our all-day dog events. If you have a big group such as a family reunion, you will like this place. It is within walking distance of the campground, so folks from far away can come early and stay in tents or campers, and not have to drive home at night. As one reviewer noted, the campsites at the campground are not very secluded. It's more like being in the suburbs, as camping goes. Just enough footprint for a camper, and you're close to your neighbor, but if everyone's tired at the end of the day, you'll all settle down and sleep. I have not stayed overnight at the campground, so I cannot say much about that. read more

I came to hike trails and enjoy Michigan. Others came for a different experience. I usually camp dispersed or intentionally in rustic areas to avoid the party campers. I had an itch to try this place out that locals call a "gem" even though I was wary of the modern campground way of life. Slept for 3 hours... Very nice and quiet until about 10pm. 10 is when the yelling, banging, and scream laughing began. The noise ramped up until about 3am when my earplugs and exhaustion finally delivered blissful sleep. At 6am someone started blasting music from their external speakers. There was no respect or enforcement of quiet hours. The campgrounds is well maintained and was enjoyable up to that point. We cut the visit short and left. I'm not interested to see what another night brings. read more

We rented South Fork Cabin last month. We were super excited to have a hike-in cabin. Sounds private, right? It's located inside the giant Waterloo Recreation area, but the cabin itself is on a residential road. The first night we were there, we spent our entire relaxing time around the campfire listening to some family's dog bark non-stop and the continuous banging from another neighbor's home renovation. It's also right behind a riding stable, with paths coming pretty close to the cabin. Portage Lake was disgusting. The playgrounds and bathrooms were nice, but the lake itself was hideous. Silver Lake in Dexter is so much nicer. Portage Lake was mucky, dark and weedy. My son lost a flip flop in the muck, and we never found it. We liked Crooked Lake for both swimming and fishing. Overall, it was just okay, read more

Nice enough. Somewhat crammed spaces in certain areas but also nice shaded areas as well in the central and lower loops. Do not camp at site 31 unless you have an RV! We made reservations last minute and it was the only level spot left. When we got there we basically had to set a 2 person tent up in a 3 way intersection! When it got dark we broke the rules and moved the tent across behind the walking path after almost getting run over by a pizza delivery car. In the morning I thought some people might break their necks staring at our tent that was not in a designated site, but they also stared at us in the middle of the road too so we dealt with it for the night until we were able to move to a better site. That being said, even though the campground did seem to have a bunch of busybody kind of unfriendly adults......The kids were having a blast! We didn't have our kids with us (they are a little older), but to hear all the kids having fun was so nice. Riding bikes in their Jammie's at dusk and swimming during the day. It brought back great memories. The park did seem safe for the kids so I will take the busy bodies any day. The also had a host center with coffee in the morning and activities, games you could borrow and such. It looked like they had a good crowd at the host center. They had new playground equipment separated by age which I thought was nice for toddlers and preschool children to have their own small area instead of having to compete with the older kids and get knocked around. The bathrooms and showers were very clean and in good working order and there seemed to be enough. We never had to wait. It was very convenient to walk to the beach. The beach is not what I would call nice but not terrible. Not a lot of bird poop or anything. The water was murky and the bottom could not be seen even in the shallow. Lots of little fish to bite your legs while floating. It was 90 and humid so I just pretended I was at a fancy spa where the little fish give you a pedicure. No one seemed to mind and everyone was in the water. Lots of footballs flying and again kids having fun. Wish there were more barbecues throughout the park. We loaded up the car and made special trips for meals and were lucky to find a grill and table together. Overall we enjoyed it and would return. Staff was also very friendly and understanding of our moving our tent to a non-site for safety. They had books to drop off or take in the office and ice and firewood for sale. Our wood came with a cute little snake. And you can't beat the location. We were able to pack up and get to work at 6am in A2 without difficulty in around half an hour Monday morning. Beware of the rampant raccoons. They own the place at night eating all the trash and dog food left out in bowls. If you're local and looking to get away for the weekend it's adequate and convenient. We found private spots to relax away from the campground. If I had more than the weekend I would head further north. It reminded me of camping in a subdivision. read more

Waterloo Recreation Area - Site 31 Sunday around noon waiting for our better site. Checkout is 1 pm. - Parks Near Me - Chelsea, Michigan

See all

First and foremost, let me just commend the staff. Those kids did a fantastic job. This bad review is not on them. The problem with this campground is the "regulars." This place is crawling with folks that seem to be there all the time - some even live there. They have themselves a little clique. If you're not one of them, they treat you like absolute garbage. The ringleader is a heavy set lady. She immediately proceeded to force herself into my family's space without an invitation. She occupies one of the two sites that overlooks the lake and walks around the place like she's the head park ranger or something. If you do decide to visit Sugarloaf, it's best to steer clear of her. She's the worst kind busybody and has no sense of polite conduct. The rest of the "Sugarloafers" are no better. They're a sneering bunch of angry, repressed jerks that pride themselves at being unwelcoming and crotchety. One of these miserable people even took it upon herself to scream at my wife. Just an awful, awful experience. read more

Beautiful park interspersed with public roads and private farmsteads and homes. Visited for the afternoon only, and I look forward to checking out the Eddy Discovery Center. I learned there's a 46-mile trail connecting Waterloo and Pinckney Rec, and that this is the largest state park in the Lower Peninsula (third largest in MI, behind Porcupine Mountains SP and Tahquamenon Falls SP). I look forward to countless hours on the trails and lakes of Waterloo Rec, a hidden gem I'm sure! read more

Stayed at the South Fork Cabin. The cabin itself was adequate. Rustic, no power to it. Remember to bring sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets! And lanterns. The experience is fine, if you could get around the abrasive staff from the stables next door. A woman with a "staff" shirt on came to the cabin to yell at myself and my friends, threatening to tow our vehicles or lock us in because we had parked in the wrong area. It was very dark when we arrived, so it was difficult to see if there was any sort of labeled parking. The nights were peaceful, but even on a rainy day, there was consistent noise from the stables, and after my first experience with them, I didn't want to cross paths with them and risk another argument. Overall, I do not recommend this experience if you want to relax. Usually people are trying to escape bad neighbors. read more

Waterloo Recreation Area - Parks Near Me - Chelsea, Michigan

Finally we were able to go camping we had a site at the surgarloaf side of this state park, near Jackson Michigan, the camp was beautiful, campers were very friendly, but there our several things wrong with the DNR that run it , I have a biracial family I am white and my husband is black with our beautiful children and my elderly parents my Dad whom witch is disabled vet, while my husband purchased wood they followed him to make sure he didn't take more, but followed no one else,I was disappointed in what I witnessed disgusted actually, we weren't partying but were harassed both nights, and while fishing harassed again and DNR said to my husband oh your at site 2, so they memorized our site due to us being a group with black people, this state park should be ashamed of there DNR, very racist place and to bad such a waste on a beautiful place!!!! read more

We just stayed at the Portage Lake campground this weekend for a company camping trip and we were very disappointed. The campground was clean and the bathrooms were very nice. The lake was great, but the officers on duty this weekend is what was the problem. They seemed to target us the first night as we were a large group. We had 9 sites reserved in a group off in the corner and had no other campers very close to us. As soon as 11pm (quiet time) started we felt as if we were being harassed. On multiple occasions both Friday and Saturday night the officer on duty came over to tell us that we could be heard from a little ways away. While we could hear other sites, and they were nit talked to. We were just sitting there talking quietly as we had families with small sleeping children. We felt as if we could not talk, let alone laugh and have a good time sitting by the fire. Very discounting, and would not recommend taking a group to this campground. We have decided if we do this again we will go to another campground and maybe just drive to the lake for the day. read more