McLain State Park Campground

When we got close to the park entrance on MI 123 our GPS wanted us to go another .5 mile to the campground (CG) but a trailer was turning into a state park road so we followed. Good choice as this was the correct road that led to the gate where you register and checked in. The road the GPS was taking us to is currently only used as an exit from the CG. After a not-so-informative check-in, we headed into the park to find water. From the online map, we believed there was a water spigot near our site so we drove to the site only to find it was not a water hose assessable spigot.
Then we headed to the dump station where we did find two potable water spigots on each side of the dump station. There was a permanently fixed hose coming out of the spigots, but the first one’s threads were worn out and wouldn’t stay screwed in. We had to wait for another rig to get fresh water and dump before we could move forward to the second one that did screw in so we could fill our fresh water tank. After that, we headed to site 110 that’s an easy back-in but only electric (50 AMP/30/20). The 100s loop is newer and it's big rig friendly with sites nicely spaced apart. Site 110 is probably the most spacious and private site in the CG as it sits in a little berm. Site 112 is nicely spaced, but you will get highway noise. Concerning RV sites in the main CG area, there is a separate tent-only area on the lake, and RV sites closest to the lake tend to be smaller in site length but we saw a couple of 36 to 40-foot 5th wheels with the tow vehicle parked wherever. In the 20 to 40 numbered sites that are not on the lake, we noticed larger class As and a couple of toy haulers. In the mid-30s sites across from the lakeside, large rigs were parked willy-nilly to make their rig fit. All the original sites are pretty much crammed in together but if you want to be where all the action is i.e. partiers and kids, this would be your area. When you get past site 40 there are 90-degree back-in sites of various lengths with most having a lot of trees and vegetation between sites giving more privacy. The 35ish-foot 5th wheels we saw in there, didn’t seem to care about tree branches scraping the roof. One note about the 41 - 60s area is that the power boxes are behind every two sites and shared. Depending on how you are positioned on the pad, and where the power cord connects to the rig, you may need about 60’ of power cord to reach the power box. We also noticed on our walks around the CG that due to the poor to nonexistent cell signal here (1 bar on Verizon), people especially teenagers were sitting around talking to each other versus staring at phones. There were plenty of nearby trails to explore with the dogs, including a dog beach. McLain makes a great staging point to explore the area and take in Eagle River and Copper Bay attractions.

Stunning state park on Lake Superior. Beautiful lake views
From most areas of the park. T-Mobile was usable for streaming, etc. Just outside of Hancock and Houghton with shopping and restaurants. Nice swimming beach and dog beach within the park. Many sites back up to the water. We were in the new section and had 50 amp at the pedestal. We can’t wait to come back again to hopefully have a waterfront site. There is some road noise in the new section but it does quiet down a lot at night.

We stayed in newer area site 126. You could launch kayak about 100 feet or so behind site and also swim. The park is also convenient, but far enough from town for all amenities and rural feel. We had electric and close to water for refilling tank and not far from dump site. Lake Superior views all day and watched perseids meteor shower each night from campsite.

This was our first time at this Michigan State Park and we were not disappointed. We were in the new section which replaced sites lost to erosion. There is a section of the older part of the campground that has some abandoned campsites and a partial roadway. Interesting to walk through.

If you’ve never been here, know that if you are in the old section (sites 1-91), the power pedestals are shared and are a significant distance from each site. You will most likely need an extension cord (the park knows this too, and they sell regular extension cords along with 30 & 50 amp extension cords in their store in the day use area). The newer section (100-135) has individual pedestals right at the site. Some sites are paved (ours was) and some are gravel but they all seem pretty nice. Most 20/30 amp, some 50 amp.

One brand new bath house which is really quite nice, close to the new section. Nice views of Lake Superior throughout the park and on many sites.

At the day use area there is a small store with essentials and ice cream, a swimming beach, and a dog beach. There are plenty of hiking trails, and I imagine they make good cross country skiing trails in the winter, because the Keweenaw is no stranger to big snow!

One down side, the dump station has ONE lane. Yep. One. So plan accordingly.

All in all, we really liked this park, and we will be back for sure!

First time at Mclain State Park. And we were absolutely thrilled.

The sites are fairly spacious and well-separated. There are fresh water taps (potable) conveniently spaced. The location is convenient to Houghton and about 40 miles from Copper Harbor.

There are some hiking trails, though nowhere near what parks sucb as Ludington State Park offer. But there was still plently of room to hike.

We had very spotty Verizon coverage, mostly if we walked over to the lakeshore.

This is a park we would visit again.

We visited McLain SP while traveling through the Michigan Upper Peninsula and around Lake Superior. The park is located directly on Lake Superior and provides wonderful views and sunsets over the lake. There is a dog friendly beach at the far end of the park which we walked to via some small trails, but you can also drive there if you choose. There is a lot of erosion in what appears to be the older section of the park directly on the lake front, so they have closed those sites for camping, but now that area provides a peaceful and an enjoyable walking path. There are tete-a-tete chairs along the water front so you can just sit back and enjoy nature. The park is a great location to day trip up to Copper Harbor (be sure to take route 26 along the water edge and enjoy the views), or back into the towns of Houghton/Hancock. The Sites are all divided with trees/bush. We had enough room for 36' RV, tow dolly, and car - but it is tight. You may need an extension cord for electric hook up as the pedestal was located 30+ feet away from pad. Our site was 30A only. We use Verizon but no service at camp site - need to go into town (20 min drive) to get cell service.

Highly disappointed in Park. The views are great. The campsites in the new section not yet open look good. Enjoyed riding my bike on camp main road. But where we stayed the site had not been cleaned and we had to ask them to take out the garbage in the fire pit.

There was only one modern restroom. The closes to our site was a set of vault toilets that you could smell 2 sites away! Noticed this while riding my bike by they area - seriously they can be well maintained!! To get to restroom most people ride their bike or drive. So much for good environmental practices! They are new but they are not well maintained. Again this is too bad.

Kids were riding bikes everywhere, even through our site. Also walked into a kid as I stepped out of the van. Had I been plugged into electric, there would have been kids running over my cord the whole time.

Camped first week of May, 2019
Booked the park because it was the only campground open this early in the season.
Reserved a site for up to 35 foot rigs. Our 35 foot fifth wheel fit nicely and was easy to back in.
Our site had a great view of Lake Superior, and we were only about 30 yards from the shore/path. Sites are wooded, and spacious.
Due to the early time we stayed, the water and dump station were not open yet.
The rangers let us fill our water from the hose on the guard shack.
Out houses were open, and quite nice. They were checking them every morning and clean and stocked.
Just in case you haven’t visited the area this time of year, we had snow the night we left (May 9th). It was chilly and our furnace ran every night.
There are nice paths and you can walk them down to the breakers.
Cell coverage without a booster wasn’t great. You could go to the path by the shore and pick up one bar of LTE or 3G, but in the sites, it was non-existent.

This is a beautiful area with easy access to Calumet, Houghton, Copper Harbor, waterfalls, and Lake Superior. The campground is OK. The sites close to bathroom are crowded and very open. The sites further away are nicely separated with asphalt pads. The lakefront sites are first come first serve. Shower/bathroom facilities are in fair condition and only one building for large CG. There is one vault toilet (kind of nasty) in a central location.They are preparing to undergo renovations. Another review mentions that you'll need a long electrical cord. Our cord was not long enough but the park had long cords available for free checkout. Michigan state parks require a DNR pass for nonresidents $9/day or $32 for annual. The balance of the park is nice with trails, Lake Superior access and nice walkway for viewing the sunset.