Tina
For West Houghton Lake Campground: Our family stayed at West Houghton Lake Campground the weekend after the 4th of July. While it was about 10 dollars cheaper per night to stay there compared to another nearby campground, we found a host of problems that left us shuttering after visiting this not meant to be rustic, neglected park:
The mosquitoes were overwhelming and flooded our vehicle/camper every time we opened a door to one of them! This seems to be because the park sits in a very low almost swamp-like area. Our site was somewhat soggy, but not anywhere near alone on that list. No wonder the park was not filled up with guests.
The entrance doors for the showers were located outside the bathrooms, but all were part of the bathhouse itself and while there was no problem with the water being and staying warm or the number of showers (I recall about 6 and each had it's own outer door), they were dark, dreary, not well-lit, dirt and hair covered the floors of every one ( I tried everyone before eventually, closing my eyes, holding my breath, and going in!), the doors did not lock - seriously here, and I would describe them as just plain horror movie scary. Personally, I would not allow my teenager let alone child to shower there without standing nearby as they are not in a central location and were only visible by a few campsites which worried me greatly since we knew no one there.
The showers and bathrooms had not been updated in a very long time, maybe the 70's if not before that, except for maybe minor maintenance and lots of paint, which there was far too much of plus the color did not compliment it at all. For these reasons along with the reasons above, they were the worst showers we'd ever saw at ANY campground by far, hands down and we've camped 2 to 3 times a year for over 20 years and have visited many, many campgrounds in Upper and Lower Michigan.
The roads were dirt which isn't usually a problem unless you have to drive through trenches. Yes, I said trenches! We drove through trenches at least 8 to 12 inches deep on the way to dumping location for sewage before finally exiting this neglected campground. Did I mention that the dumping location is a just a little drive behind the scary bathhouse and that those trenches greatly rocked our truck and camper and we were worried we might get stuck there and need to call for help!!!
While there were no problems with other campers, fireworks were set off both nights we camped which kept us awake past quiet hours but we can't be sure if it was campers or the neighboring homes in the back that adjoin the back of the park. All we knew is that we were already in bed when they started going off and that they sounded like they were coming from the northern back corner of the park.
Before checking in I specifically had asked about their fireworks policy, was told that fireworks are not allowed after a certain time and when allowed are only in the front of the park and that the park was usually very quiet. However, now that I've experienced their park, I'm jut not inclined to believe the woman that told me that at check-in.
I would rate this park a 0 were it not for the fire rings at all the campsites and the fact that the showers were warm. To put it mildly, we feel like we were miss-led and robbed of a better, more reasonably dignified, safe and healthy modern camping experience. If we had wanted to stay near fireworks we could have planned a far better experience at a place that did not leave us feeling like we had a case of swamp fever with bug bites covering our bodies and swatting blood-thirsty mosquitoes all the way home. Nor would we choose to pull our long saved leisure investment, our fifth wheel, through a trenchy trail like one would find at Michigan's Baja Acres! :( Next time, we will spend the extra bucks to go ANYWHERE BUT WEST HOUGHTON LAKE CAMPGROUND!!!
Posted Aug 01, 2017 by Tina from MICHIGAN. This is the subjective opinion of a traveler and not of AllStays LLC.
