Van Riper Campground

The Great Outdoors

The Upper Peninsula is one great big playground for those who enjoy camping, hiking, or being outdoors. When you're camping at Van Riper Campground, you’ll be perfectly positioned to explore Van Riper State Park, named for the locally known medical professional, Dr. Paul Van Riper. The beaches and fishing areas on Lake Michigamme make for some relaxing days in the summertime.Expand your explorations beyond the state park and take your Champion campervan rental a short drive down the road to Craig Lake State Park. There are small lakes onsite, each set up marvelously for swimming, fishing, and different types of boating. The property once belonged to the owners of the Miller Brewing Company before being purchased by the state of Michigan. Now visitors can camp out, fish for muskellunge and northern pike, hunt, snowshoe, go cross-country skiing, hiking, and much more.On the coast of Lake Superior by the small town of L’Anse is beautiful Baraga State Park, situated on the shores of L’Anse Bay. No matter the time of year, this pleasant camping area provides dazzling views of the lake, spectacular night skies, and ample space to go swimming, sailing, fishing, canoeing, and kayaking. Picnic pavilions and hiking trails that wrap around the edges of the bay give those who visit or go camping in Baraga State Park lots of ways to keep busy.For the adventurous Champion campers, Michigan’s sole national park is found on an island to the north in Lake Superior. You’ll have to leave your RV rental behind and take a boat from Houghton to get to the remote island by the Canadian international border, but once you land on its picturesque beaches, you won’t want to leave. Undisturbed ecosystems and brilliant wildlife call Isle Royale National Park home, complete with rustic campgrounds and a network of interpretive trails.

City Attractions

Van Riper Campground is found in the countryside, so city sightseeing is only possible when you take the motorhome rental to nearby cities like Houghton or Marquette. When you book an RV in Marquette County, you'll have easy access to Marquette, a welcoming city with a storied past. The Marquette Regional History Center is a special place for travelers to see, filled to the brim with old photographs, family records, artifacts, minerals, gems, fossils, and other prehistoric items from northern Michigan.The Marquette Maritime Museum features a great deal of information about the ever-important maritime industry that dominates the region. The shipping and shipbuilding businesses have economically supported towns nearby for centuries, so it is only natural to have a museum paying homage to the iron ore shipping history of Marquette.Another fantastic place to spend the day when you're RV camping at Van Riper Campground is Marquette Mountain Ski Area. This thrilling wintertime destination has a variety of impressive features, from its expertly-manicured slopes to its cozy base lodge where people can eat a tasty meal, drink some hot chocolate, or cozy up next to a blazing fireplace. In the summertime, the ski area doubles as a mountain bike center, so regardless of when you camp in an RV near Marquette Mountain, you can enjoy some excellent outdoor recreation.