Lower Falls Modern Campground

Campground is great for families. Was very busy with kids and dogs. Showers are good and have changing area. Campsite 73 is ungraded dirt (mud) and electrical service was too far away from the site. Picnic table needed to be painted and firepit was full of trash.
This park basically needs to be redesigned. Campsites are too close to each other and too far away from the brewery and restaurant. Campsites need to be graded and paved. Electrical outlet should serve each site or 2 sites at most, not 4 sites. No cell coverage with AT&T.
Buy your groceries before you get to the park. The grocery options in Paradise are very limited.

This park worked well for us to visit the falls and Whitefish Point and Crisp Point. There are limited 50 amp sites. This was back-in and worked fine. The downside of the site was the large dirt area right where you might normally put chairs. It was more crowded the day we arrived with lots of kids on bikes, but cleared out midweek. We did the hike to the upper falls and hiked back since it was too early in the season for the shuttle. Note the sign we saw for the shuttle would be $20 for a couple to ride. As someone else mentioned, we had dinner at the brewery at the upper falls one evening. It was good and reasonably priced. Whitefish Point was interesting. We would recommend a high ground clearance vehicle if you go to Crisp Point lighthouse. The road there was well marked, but is loose sand in some places that some might find troublesome. No cell service.

26-28 July 2020 This park is large as in 50,000 acres large. The campsites on the outer loop are much better than the inside the loop sites. We went to the upper and lower falls on different days and we went at 0700. By going early we only saw 2 or 3 other people. By 10 am the walkways are full of people. The Tahquamenon Rivermouth Pines campground sites are close also but you are away from the hustle and bustle of the Falls. The Rivermouth campground is about 15 miles from the Lower Falls Campground. The Rivermouth campground is also 15 miles closer to the Shipwreck Museum on Lake Superior. No matter which campground you go to, visit the Museum out on Whitefish Point.

We spent a couple days in late September. Park was quiet, perhaps 30% full. Bathrooms were clean. Showers were hot. Weather was beautiful. Trails to the falls are very pretty. Steep in some areas. If it had recently rained, they'd be slippery. Lower falls are a pleasant walk. Really nice overlooks from decks. You can walk to the upper falls. But I believe it's around 4 miles. So, have some water and decent shoes. It's a beautiful river.

If you drive to the Upper falls, parking is abundant, and you have to visit the brewery. On site. That's right. One has to ask; "How did they get a brewery, restaurant, ice cream shop, gift shop on DNR property? They all share the same parking lot..." Great question. The answer is even better. The land surrounding the upper Tahquamenon falls was owned by a private individual. In the late 60's he deeded part fo the property to the DNR to allow visitors to walk to the falls. A couple of his caveats were, the parking lot was to be located 1/4 mile from the falls, allowing people to walk and enjoy the woods, and of course the parking lot sits smack dab in the middle of his commercial enterprises! Brilliant. Anyhow, the beer was good. They had only 4 to choose from since the brewery is small. They were all good. Food was good. And reasonably priced. Make sure to visit all of their shops. Really nice.

Since you're in the UP. You'll realize fairly quick how little is up that way. To the east is Paradise. They have one gas station that has nearly anything you could possibly need. Go to Browns Fish House and try the Superior White Fish. Delicious. It's caught daily and filets are served from 12-7 i believe. Deep fried w/fries. They open in Mid to late May depending on the snow and ice on Superior. Close mid October when the season winds down. Head north out of Paradise to the Ship wreck museum at White Fish Point. Small, but well done, and very interesting.

Visited in late June and the lower falls campground was beautiful but a bit crowded. The campground is just a short hike from the lower falls and the trail is nice and wide and well maintained. When we visited there were a lot of mosquitoes everywhere.

Most of the camping sites are not private unless you get a site along the edge in the corner. Some sites looked a bit flooded. All sites have at least 30AMP and while there is no water, the dump station is close and has fresh water fill ups.

Bathrooms are okay, several stalls in the women’s bathroom were out of order and the women’s showers were a bit dirty, but the water pressure is strong and the water is hot.

There is a great brewery and restaurant at the upper falls that is worth checking out.

There are four choices when camping at Tahquamenon Falls State Park: rustic and modern Rivermouth, and two at the lower falls: Hemlock, and Portage; this review is for Portage. Portage is the most popular campground, due most likely to the closeness to the lower falls. We arrived on a Sunday in September and it was almost, if not entirely, full. The other campgrounds had more availability. Easy access to the lower falls via a boardwalk and then you can continue on to the River Trail leading to the Upper falls (where there was a brewery!). This is a challenging hike but if you go in the summer months, there is a shuttle. There is a gift shop and snack bar with delicious ice cream. I was impressed with the cleanliness of the bathrooms and the shower rooms. Michigan State parks earn extra marks for their recycling: paper, plastic,aluminum, and best of all - propane canisters. I wasn’t sure what “returnables” meant so it might be good to explain. Sites were generous in size but the interior ones did not have any privacy separation, the only reason I am giving this a four star rating. Try and snag an outside site for more privacy. Very fleeting internet access - don’t count on it! Note that the camp fee does not include the Michigan passport ($32 annual or $9 per day) or the $8 reservation fee, if applicable.

Friendly staff, nice amenities and relatively level sites at this campground inside Tahqemenon State Park. Showers were clean with abundant hot water, and a trail left from the campground to nearby Lower Falls.

On the down side sites are small and stacked close together, allowing not much privacy or noise buffer from other campers. Also unfortunate is the need to buy a day pass ($9 for non-residents) in addition to the $23 camping fee. Most parks we've camped at roll the entrance fee up into the camping fee.

A few sites can accommodate the big rigs, but the majority are for medium to small sized campers or tents.

A couple bars service on Verizon that waffled between LTE and 3G, no service with AT&T.