Colwell Lake Campground

Fishing was great. The care takers were great. The only concern is the condition of the road going in.

The campground is a beautiful spot, nestled halfway between Manistique and Munising MI, in Michigan's UP.
There are a few things that guests need to be aware of though. It goes without saying that the moquitos are awful. Plan ahead. The other thing is that the road in to the campground is EXTREMELY rough and pothole filled. The Forest service would be further ahead to remove the pavement and gravel the road in. Upgrades are "in the works" to build one new pit toilet building, but progress seems to have slowed.

The campground hosts that have been there the last few years are excellent. Bathrooms are kept clean as a pit toilet can be. The sites are always clean and raked.

The National Forest service and the stuff they are responsible for in a campground is another story.
The campground entry road is horrible and has been in the same state for at least the last 3 years. The potholes are bad enough to wreck a trailer tire. A dozen bags of cold patch and a hour of time and they could be fixed. but the repairs always seem to be on a stand still. I’ve seen water spickets
take three years to get fixed.

I don’t expect much when it comes to rustic camping (no water, no electricity), but the site fees keep going up (26 dollars a day now) with little return to show. I’m 60 years old and have been coming since I was a baby.

Keep the roads in a non equipment wrecking condition, keep the restrooms open and working and the water sources operating. All things outside of the purview of the campground host.

The campsite was spacious and the comfort facilities were clean. The location right on the lake was beautiful.

Our camp hosts were absolutely incredible. Despite the buggy weather, they always greeted us with smiles on their faces and were there for us if we needed anything. Extremely friendly and selfless people. Our stay at Colwell lake was significantly better with their presence! Overall we loved the location and had an easy time getting to the hikes we wanted to. The lake itself is beautiful and quiet and the area is well kept up. Highly recommend camping here, just be prepared for the bugs!

Always a great time at Colwell Lake camping with family. The potholes going into the camp ground are absolutely terrible. They need to be fixed before someone has damage to a camper or vehicle.

best 2nd year coming here and COUNTING.

best 2nd year coming here and COUNTING.

We reserved a spot weeks ago but discovered on arrival that the neighbor camper planned to run a generator constantly. Fortunately the camp hosts allowed us to choose a different spot - the nearest neighbor also had a generator but they were at least more considerate about using it (and it was a lower decibel one). We had the last spot on the lane (#32 I believe) and the road noise was considerable. Thankfully, there was limited overnight traffic. Seems like peace and quiet aren’t a lot of campers’ ideals at campgrounds, or my expectations are unrealistic. On the plus side, sites were large and fairly private, and the location was good if planning to visit Lakes Michigan and Superior in the same trip. Pretty lake but didn’t fish it.

We reserved a spot weeks ago but discovered on arrival that the neighbor camper planned to run a generator constantly. Fortunately the camp hosts allowed us to choose a different spot - the nearest neighbor also had a generator but they were at least more considerate about using it (and it was a lower decibel one). We had the last spot on the lane (#32 I believe) and the road noise was considerable. Thankfully, there was limited overnight traffic. Seems like peace and quiet aren’t a lot of campers’ ideals at campgrounds, or my expectations are unrealistic. On the plus side, sites were large and fairly private, and the location was good if planning to visit Lakes Michigan and Superior in the same trip. Pretty lake but didn’t fish it.