Gladstone Bay Campground is a city operated campground, right on Little Bay de Noc at the northwestern end of Lake Michigan. The campground has a variety of camping setups ranging from grassy tent sites to electric only, grassy RV sites to full hookup, 50 amp gravel pull through sites. The tent and grassy RV sites are generally larger. The pull through sites are crammed in to the point that your neighbor’s awning will come within a couple of feet of your camper.

The campground boasts modern restrooms and private showers, all kept quite clean. There’s decent WiFi throughout the property, however during the busy weekend it slowed considerably under the heavy load. One of the nicest features is a wonderful boardwalk and paved trail that runs along the bay. We enjoyed several walks along it and then out into the neighborhood.
There are huge fire pits at each campsite and some folks built large, almost bonfires. Depending on the wind direction the smoke was objectionable at times. My Verizon 4G was good and I was able to get satellite TV with little problem.

Our neighbors were very close by but folks were generally friendly and just wanting to enjoy the cool Michigan Upper Peninsula summer weather. In fact, we made some good friends whose company we enjoyed very much.

At $30 a night this was a more-expensive-than-usual stay for us as fulltimers. With the short summer camping season in the area we understood that paying a premium (for us) price was acceptable. We did wish there was some level of discount for a weekly stay; or maybe some membership discounts – but alas, there were none. This is a popular summer place so I recommend you make reservations if you plan on staying over a weekend.

On future visits I think I’d pick either one of the end spots, giving us a bit of room out the front door, or maybe one of the electric only grassy spots which are much roomier. Not only would a grassy spot give us some elbow room, but since they offer only partial hookups, they cost a bit less too!