Farquar-Mesta Tourist Park & Campground

What a great place to stay in a great little town. We loved it here in Gwinn and stayed here for 3 weeks. It's just a hop and a skip to get to Marquette. The town is very bike friendly and everyone we met was very nice. The camp was clean with a great hiking trail on site. We swam and put our Kayaks in at the park and went down about 2 1/2 hours. Blueberries were fresh on the hill, then we had some blackberries the next week. Great internet and Susie was very sweet and gracious. The store was closed I am assuming for COVID but they always had firewood ready for purchase for $5. We will stay here anytime we come back through!

Easy back in slots that are spaced out. Plenty of room between camp sites for sitting outside without feeling like you are intruding on the neighbors. Great walking trails along the river with plenty of scenery.

We stayed here for two weeks while sightseeing. An asphalt road brings you into the campground: stay straight to proceed to the office, at which point the asphalt gives way to gravel. The campground has two loops: the main loop at the front of the campground and an offshoot loop.

All of the full hook-up sites are on the main loop and are all back-to-back back-in sites, with gravel pads and grass lawns. Each FHU site has a picnic table and a fire ring which is located either near the front of the back of the site (they alternate). Trash cans are located between sites such that two site share a can, and trash is picked up every morning. There are some trees behind and between sites but few of them are tall enough to provide much shade to the RVs. The spacing between sites and back-to-back is pretty good. All of the hookups are next to the back 3rd of the pad.

The offshoot loop has two electric-only sites and the remaining sites are primitive campsites. They also have gravel pads, grass lawns, picnic tables and fire rings, but they are in a wooded area that provides a fair amount of shade.

Our site in the main loop (site 6) had no shade trees but was level. Following the rule to keep our RV tires on the pad, the pad was long enough to fit our 37-foot fifth wheel with several feet to spare, but we ended up parking our truck across the street from the front of our RV (both sides of the loop provide a wide grass or gravel shoulder on the other side of the campground road specifically for that purpose).

This is a campground run by the county, not a private campground, so there are few amenities. There are bathrooms with showers attached to the office building. On the outside of the office is a plastic cabinet with brochures about the local area and a trading library, though I never saw it unlocked, and they sell bundles of firewood. There is a simple dump station next to the campground that non-campers can use for $5. Downhill from the office is an asphalt day-use parking area with a single adjustable basketball hoop. Next to that parking area is a shed with a covered porched next to the shoreline of the river (swimming is allowed but done so at your own risk), a small wooden platform for viewing the river or fishing, and the trailhead for the Flat Rock hiking trail, which has some nice views along the river but is unfortunately overgrown in spots. There is no dog park here, but there are two dog stations with poop bag dispensers and trash receptacles.

In terms of cell service, the best speed I got on my Verizon Jetpack with MIMO antenna was 60 Mbps down and 12 up, and we had no trouble streaming video at all times during the day.  The best speed test I ran on my 5G AT&T smartphone showed 80 Mbps down and 6 up. The campground provides 3 distinct WiFi hotspots, and while testing the strength of those hotspots I got a whopping 422 down and 38 up, the highest download bandwidth I've ever seen at a campground.

The campground is not really close to the biggest tourist attractions in the area - Marquette is 30 minutes away and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a hour away - but the biggest negative of camping here at this time of year is the mosquitos. Bug spray is highly recommended if you're going to be outside in the park when it's warm, especially on the river side of the campground.

I was hoping to find a dispersed camping area on County land but the roads were a mess and most were to rough for my 2wd low clearance van. Though the website says reservation required, I took a chance and drove up to the office. The lady there was so nice and allowed me to "vancamp" in the rustic tent area. The campsites are spaced out and spacious. There is a nice walking trail and showers. I can't review the shower due to not using it and the electric sites are closer together than any I've seen .. but the tent area, where they allow desperate self contained van travelers to stay based upon availability are wonderful. Thank you so much for finding a place for me. It was lovely and though i think $15 is a bit high for rustic campgrounds .. atleast here you have showers, water, and well maintained trails where as in the State campgrounds or National forest campgrounds in this area that are often $16 with only picnic tables and trails that have been taken over with poison ivy.

Great little campground. Peaceful. And great wifi if you’re traveling while working.