Twelvemile Beach Campground

We stayed at Twelvemile Beach Campground in October 2019, the high was around ~65F and the low around ~50F. You must make a reservation in advance to stay here, day of walk ups are no longer permitted. We were able to secure a site the day before our visit (Hipcamp has the link to send you over there.)

The access road to the campground is gravel, with many small ruts, however any vehicle will be able to make it down with ease.

Tent sites have a tent pad, picnic table, fire pit, and lantern hook (I've never seen this at a NPS campground before!)

There are vault toilets near the entrance to the campground, along with bear proof trash receptacles. (Pack out your trash if you can!)

All sites are within a 1 – 2 minute walk to the lake.

Twelvemile beach is beautiful. Our campsite was a very easy walk to the beach. Very relaxing overall.

I'm hesitant to say this because I always want there to be an open spot when I visit, but this is one of my favorite campsites in the U.S. Had an incredible stay for a few days on a road trip in August.

Pros:
- Walking distance to clear, warm lake superior. I felt like I was in the Caribbean!
- Small campground, only 36 sites.
- The actual Pictured Rocks are a short drive away.
- Such a fun local culture. Grab yourself a pasty! (PASS-tee)
- So many water activities to seize, take an inflatable SUP and hike it out to the lake!

Cons:
- Bugs (but that's the midwest)
- Neighbors when camping are close but whatever

Amazing beach and view!

Amazingly beautiful campground. Nice and woody with a soft, sandy ground. If you are on the north side, you will be on the beach side, on the south, you still get the view! My kids and I fell asleep to the sound of the waves crashing on to the beach!

The sites along the lake are gorgeous. We stayed at campsite #3 and felt like we had our own private beach! Beautiful sunsets, tasty blueberries, and warm sand!

If you can land on the north side of the road, you'll be camping on the shores of Lake Superior!

It's a bit of a hike to get to the beach but it's soooo worth it! Just get there before sunset so you can enjoy it more. :-) We got there when it was pitch black so 2 miles to hike in the darkness was a little scary but an unforgettable experience!

Twelvemile Beach Campground is, no exaggeration, one of the premier campgrounds in the county. I'm from the Lower Peninsula and it never ceases to amaze me that one can drive 3-6 hours in one's own state and end up in a completely different world.

There's one mistake in the description; it is a White Birch forest instead of pine that leads you into the campground. You can smell and feel Lake Superior to the right as you enter Twelvemile, so vast and intense. Its mood depends on what time of year you visit. My most recent trip was early May which turned out to be absolutely perfect. Wind from the south gave us a flat lake. It was silent, hardly any other campers, and we had our pick of the sites. Twelvemile has a spirit of its own.