“nearly 9,000 acres in which to roam”
Hartwick Pines State Park preserves the largest stand of old growth white pine (49 acres) in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. With nearly 9,000 acres in which to roam, Hartwick Pines is a great destination for mountain biking, cross-country skiing, snow shoeing, camping, hiking, picnicking, birding, hunting, fishing and exploring Michigan's great outdoors. The Michigan Forest Visitor Center is located at the trailhead to the Old Growth Trail and staffed with folks who can provide directions and general information about Hartwick Pines State Park. The center is open all year 'round (9am-4pm during the fall and winter and from 10am-6pm from Memorial Day to Labor Day). Visit during the summer for guided tours of the Old Growth Trail, natural resource-related activities and special guest presentations. Walking along the Old Growth Trail, folks will find the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum. The log cabin buildings tell the story of the White Pine Logging Era in Michigan (1840-1910) and gives the visitors a glimpse of what living in a logging camp was like when White Pine was King. 100 campsites. Designated watchable wildlife site.
Reviews of Hartwick Pines State Park
12 people have reviewed this location
Ratings Summary
Cell Coverage
Verizon 4G/5G
Confirmed by 3 users | Last reported on June 24, 2023AT&T 4G
Confirmed by 3 users | Last reported on October 01, 2023T-Mobile 4G
Confirmed by 1 users | Last reported on October 18, 2021We had a 30 amp only site and had absolute privacy. Woods on both sides of us. No Att service at all but very enjoyable experience. Will come back again for sure.
Nightly Rate: $30.00
Days Stayed: 5
Site Number: 48
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 4G
Nice MI State Park. We had FHU only because its all they had. Lots of private sites in between heavily treed areas. Some not so level. Big rig friendly. Nice bath house and private lockable showers. Nice walking trail through the Old Growth pine forest. Great fall camping! Our Verizon was very weak.
Nightly Rate: $38.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: 75
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
awesome, private spots in the pines and nice forest trails in the direct vicinity
Nightly Rate: -
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: 22
If you're looking to get away from it all then this is the right place to camp! Don't plan on using your cell phone unless you have a directional external antenna. The cell sites are 3mi East & 3mi West and you're in a bowl. You'll have to drive to the entrance or visitor center to get a decent signal. Crappy over-the-air TV with external antenna also. Satellite is your only hope....but, you didn't come here to watch TV or Internet or make business calls all day right??? Lots of walking/bike trails, even a paved bike trail to Grayling (about 10mi). Historical logging museum & old growth forest. Very spacious sites, plenty of room for your slides without intruding on neighbors or trees; good solid foundation (but sloped from center for drainage so center your rig for the perfect level); nice grass, great fire rings. Unlike National Parks, this State Park can accommodate any size rig from monster Class A+ to your tent! The restroom/shower facility is top notch with individual room showers. Michigan DNR does know how to take care of guests!
Nightly Rate: $50.00
Days Stayed: 4
Site Number: 68
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
AT&T 4G
T-Mobile 4G
This is one of the largest state parks in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. There are several full hookup sites in the center of the campground but do not have shade. We chose an electric only site in a wooded area. You can see your neighbors but are not particularly close. In the evening, the campground was quiet; however, we were there only on weeknights. Firewood is available in the campground and about 3 miles away toward Grayling. If you have time, the interpretive walk in the virgen forest is worth the time as is a float trip on the Upper Manistee river.
Nightly Rate: $35.00
Days Stayed: 3
Site Number: 40
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon
Unexpectedly, the campground was almost full during my stay. First few days in mid-week was mostly older folks and the campground was pretty quiet. Friday night was family time, however, so be prepared. LOTS of kids and family camping. Great choice for families but it was not quiet.
Many reviews comment on lack of cellular service. My site and my iPhone 14 Pro on AT&T did well enough for remote working (carefully) with two bars of LTE.
Some sites are very level but mine was not. The site was paved but required significant leveling both side and front-to-back to get reasonably level. I won't stay in that site again. Some sites also have sewer, unusual for state parks in that area. Mine did not.
Overall, I'd stay again at a different space but would probably find a local state forest campground for a more quiet weekend stay.
Nightly Rate: $35.00
Days Stayed: 4
Site Number: 6
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 4G
We have stayed a week at a time at Hartwick Pines Campground for the last several years and have always enjoyed it! The campground is well maintained, bathhouses are clean, sites are reasonably sized and those in the wooded area all have good privacy due to shrubs and trees between sites. Lots of good hiking trails, and the logging museum is a must if you are staying there! Fun for kids and adults equally.
We stayed a couple of days on the way to Tahquamenon Falls State Park. Very nice park and visitor center. Wonderful path through the old growth trees, sawmill and chapel in the woods.
Plan to go again in 2018.
Nightly Rate: $25.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: -
We stayed at Hartwick Pines State Park because of its proximity to Grayling, MI and fly fishing on the legendary AuSable River. The Logging Museum and Old Growth forest area are both a short bike ride away and well worth the visit. As a bonus, this MI State Park has several full hook-up campsites. The bathhouse was immaculately clean and like most Michigan State Parks, has separate, individual shower stalls. We had site #111 and it was a large pull-through site with trees that provided privacy from site next door. The only downside to our site was the weird access to it with you tow vehicle (I honestly can’t explain it!)
Grayling is a 15-minute drive away and is your typical northern Michigan town, except a little bigger than most. We went to the Black Bear Brewery in town and it was ok. We had a really fantastic dinner at the Gates Au Sable Lodge, located east of town on the Holy Waters of the Au Sable. I also used a guide from Gates on two of my Au Sable River floats and I highly recommend them. In the summer there are several rafting and canoeing places in town so you can rent something and float the river if that’s your thing—it’s a very lazy river flowing through sandy hills and pine forests.
Nightly Rate: $36.00
Days Stayed: 5
Site Number: 111
Hartwick Pines, like many Michigan State Park Campgrounds, is really well maintained, with nice sites and clean facilities. This particular campground also has some local activities and an interesting museum with a wood-shaving festival in the summer.
The campground has a variety of sites, some completely wooded while others are in more open areas. Bigger rigs may have trouble getting into some sites and a few of the bends are somewhat tight, but we had no serious issues in our 42ft class A.
I was hoping for better cellular internet performance than the previous reports, but I'm sad to say that nothing has changed. Despite being in an LTE service area on both the Verizon and AT&T maps, we could not get LTE service on either, even with the use of antennas and a booster.
The local towers are also very congested in the evenings, so expect very poor network connectivity here. The best I managed to achieve was about 5Mbps in the very early morning on AT&T. Most of the time download speeds were well under 1Mbps on both Verizon and AT&T.
But other than that, we enjoyed our stay and the central location is convenient as a hub for visiting nearby areas.
Nightly Rate: $30.00
Days Stayed: 4
Site Number: -
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Hartwick Pines State Park
Hours
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Parking
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Pets Allowed
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Restrooms
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Wifi
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Wheelchair Accessible
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Credit Cards Accepted
- Max Stay
- 15
- Max Length
- 80ft
- Affiliation
- State park or forest
- Sites Count
- 100
- Last Nightly Rate
- 35.0
- Lowest Nightly Rate
- 25.0
- Back In RV Sites Count
- 60
- Standard Tent Sites Count
- 30
- Longest Vehicle Length Reported
- 42.0
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Sites
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Laundry
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Propane
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Showers
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Big Rigs
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Boondock
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Firewood
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Fifty Amp
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Tent Sites
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Cabin Sites
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Full Hookup
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Paved Sites
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Dump Station
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Mobile Homes
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Public Water
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Pull Through
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Reservations
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Sewer Hookup
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Water Hookup
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Potable Water
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Age Restricted
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Rec Facilities
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Dispersed Sites
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Open Seasonally
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Permit Required
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Back In RV Sites
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Group Tent Sites
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Fulltime Residents
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Standard Tent Sites
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Pull Through RV Sites
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Vehicle Wash Permitted
Campground, Restrooms
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