Our second stop and second Thousand Trails stay on our way to Florida to spend a couple months during the winter.
We left Yukon Trails on a Wednesday and headed over to Bear Cave RV Campground to spend a few more nights on our way south. The drive through Chicago was awful but we survived, and the road construction wasn’t as bad as I had expected.
A few days before hand the campground manager called to give us the gate code. The gate was open when we arrived so we pulled in, found the office closed, and proceeded to drive through the campground to find a site to fit our 33′ fifth wheel. Most of the full hook-up sites were taken so we stopped at the dump station to empty tanks and then chose a spot right across from the playground in the water/electric section.
The Verizon signal here was awful. It was enough to do a bit of streaming, but we ended up driving to the nearest AT&T store to purchase a pre-paid sim card for my phone so I could work for a couple days.
This campground is beautiful and has so much potential. It’s understaffed, and it shows. The grounds were kept well enough, and the bathhouse was clean, but there could have been so much more going on here. Most of the full hook-up sites and many of the water/electric sites are taken by annual visitors, making it difficult to find a good site for those Thousand Trails members who are passing through.
It was very quiet here during the week, but it did get a bit busy over the weekend. Despite the noisy campers and children running around, it was quiet by 10pm and we were thankful for that.
How to get there
Bear Cave RV Campground is located north of Buchanan, MI along the Saint Joseph River. Elkhart, Indiana, the RV capital of the US, is about 45 minutes to the southeast. We didn’t have a chance to visit during out stay, but we’d love to someday.
The road into the campground is a bit rough, especially coming off the pavement, so be aware of that. Otherwise the roads within the campground were fine and we didn’t have any issues pulling our camper through the campground.
Amenities
This campground boasts full-hookup sites, most of which are occupied by seasonal folks, and water/electric sites with a dump station nearby. There is a bathhouse with laundry facilities in the water/electric section next to a playground, and a wonderful waterfall behind the camp store. There is also a pool and recreation center on the grounds, though we used neither.
What to do
This is an RV resort with a few things to keep you occupied, such as the playground, recreation center, and pool, but most of your time will be spent outside the campground exploring nearby Elkhart, IN to the southeast, Indiana Dunes National Park to the west, or other recreational destinations along Lake Michigan.
We spent a late Saturday afternoon at Indiana Dunes National Park, where the kids picked up another Junior Ranger badge and enjoyed relaxing on the lake shore and playing in the water.
Overall, this was another Thousand Trails campground that could be so much more. It’s a beautiful area but with so many seasonal folks living here or keeping their campers here it feels more like a trailer park than RV resort. However, we enjoyed our short stay here and would consider staying again if needed.
Have you visited Bear Cave RV Campground? We’d love to hear about it! Please leave us a comment below, find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest @simplejoyfuljourney, or email me at alicia@simplejoyfuljourney.com. And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page before you go. Have a great week!