Bond Falls West Campground

8/26-9/1/22 - Free camping! There are vault toilets and hand-pump well drinking water in several places, and picnic tables and fire pits at each camp site. The sites are well maintained, clean, and reasonably flat. I tried self registering, but there was nowhere to sign-in. About 11Am the next morning, someone came by to register us. 2-bars Verizon 5G, and 2-bars AT&T 4G.

We rolled in about 10pm and drove through the western loop sites 1-22, pulled into the first pull-through site (W5) that we could easily get our 34’ fifth wheel into and went to sleep. In the morning, I walked the loop and found several others that we could fit (now that it was light out), and we moved over one site to W6. Site W21 has a lake view and a large loop in front of this back-in site that would be super easy to navigate for a big rig. Sites 11 and 12 were really close together but had a good views of the lake as well. Later, we drove over to the east camp site that all seemed to have lake views, and sites E12 and E13 are surrounded on 3 sides by water, a turn-around loop, and more sunlight for solar powered rigs. I didn’t think to check cell signal while there.

The towns of Watersmeet and Conover had the cheapest diesel fuel. The Wild Turkey Bar & Grill in Conover, WI had fabulous smoked meats, and there is a great little hardware store in Conover as well.

Really beautiful free camping. It was a little confusing finding the campground with no address. Go to Paulding, MI and turn onto Bond Falls Road. Go about three miles and you’ll see brown and yellow signs pointing to the flowage and west campground. The road in is well maintained packed sand. Many sites to choose from and many still available throughout the weekend. One (boosted) bar of Verizon, no T-Mobile and not enough sky in our site (W-5) for Starlink. The falls are beautiful and you can hike up both sides. Sign says to set up camp and then go sign the ledger. The park manager told us that’s not necessary. Pick a site and they’ll come to you with the permit. Clean pit toilets and garbage cans throughout the campground. There’s a little store at the MI 45/Bond Falls Road intersection with basic groceries, hygiene items, beer, wine, liquor, firewood, ice, ice cream, souvenirs, etc. 14 nights max per season. We biked, hiked, paddled and swam. What a great camping area.

This is a decent campground on a lake in the Northwoods. There are no actual guidance at the camp on how to get a site. As the earlier review mentioned, grab an empty site. During the pandemic, the "ranger" comes around in the afternoon. Apparently pre-pandemic you go to the shed labeled "park office" next to the general store at the main dam near Bond Falls. There you sign your name to a list with the campsite number. Then the ranger visits you later. Either way, get your campsite first.

You get what you pay for with the campground. Vault toilets and a water pump. Bonus points that there were many garbage cans close to campsites. There is no beach, no playground. Overall not much for kids to do except ride around the camp road on their bikes. There is a boat ramp right by the campground but no real mooring spots except for a few campsites. We entertained ourselves by walking (and biking) on the forest roads along the lake. We even found a spot where we could get out into the water for a swim. It's about a mile and a half walk through forest roads to get to Bond Falls, We found it best to go in the morning when it was less crowded.

The sites at this campground vary in size. Some are quite small while others will fit any size rig. Similarly, the privacy of the sites varies. There are maybe 10 sites or so that are on the water. These were very popular and some of them were quite close together. All of the sites are nestled in the trees, so choose wisely if you are relying on solar. Because of this you can expect to hear generators running during the day. Par for the course with a campground like this, but still can be annoying when they aren't used sparingly.

This campground is part of the Upper Peninsula power company (UPCO). It's boondocking in the best possible way. You have to go to the park service building next to the outpost to sign up for your site. Go to the campground first and pick the site, set up, then head to the falls but instead of turning left into the falls continue straight and you will get to the outpost and park service building. They allow a maximum 14 day stay at no cost. There are picnic tables and fire rings at most sites. I noticed handicap accessible sites as well. Beautiful place to relax and wind down after many days of traveling and sightseeing.