Mio Pine Acres Campground

Jeff Kittles. Five year security gaurd of Mio Pine Acres. As I’ve read all the one star reviews for your establishment almost ALL of them have to do with Jeff Kittles and is that his Girlfriend that works with him? I understand that my family said they would return to your establishment, and that’s fine. I will not EVER. I may only be $60 of your income for the weekend, but let’s look at the big picture here.
Next year I would be worth $120 to you because had I been treated like a human being I would have brought more people. Then the following year they would have brought people. ($240). You see, your customers are individuals. They are all different. But you treat everyone as a dollar sign. I spent my whole weekend walking on eggshells because of your “security”. He made my stay anything but welcome. I was NOTHING short of a respectable human being to Mr. Kittles and because YOU give him the authority to treat EVERYONE like absolute garbage IS UNACCEPTABLE! And then for you to back him up is even worse. It sounds like your afraid of him as well. Jeff Kittles is poison to your establishment. Your losing more money than what you think. Put in perspective here, a little tech savvy is you will:

One half star in any rating is a boost of 1000 people viewing your site. A loss on one half star is 10,000 lost. And let’s not forget word of mouth. My family had a good time. But they know every detail of what Mr. Kittles and his over inflated ego did to me. We will make sure we reserve elsewhere. You were fallout because you were the ONLY ESTABLISHMENT WITH IPEN CAMPING. I wonder why that is? Keep making excuses for Mr. Kittles. You might think he’s doing a great job. But at what expense? And how many thousands of dollars have you already lost? See, I wasn’t loud, I wasn’t obnoxious. We are the good ones. Mr. Kittles is nothing more than the people he kiscks out.

I am giving this campground a 5 star review with the sole purpose of giving these great owners a break from the previous negative reviews that they do not deserve. This is probably more like a 4 star campground - it is somewhat dated but very clean and in a nice location. The owners are upbeat, friendly and accommodating. They make a DELICIOUS hand-tossed pizza to your order on the weekends. Reasonably priced firewood and ice. We are thinking of bringing a group of friends here for 4 wheeling this fall because we are in our 60s and they also have cabins for those who do not like camping.

A few days before we were set to arrive, I called and left a message for them asking if I am able to have a tent on my lot with my travel trailer for my 14 year old son and his friend. When the lady called back the next morning she was less then friendly which in turn made me less then friendly back. I was told no, but there were tent lots available I could purchase. My response was that stinks and next year we will make sure we choose a campground that allows it. My sister arrived first and when she checked in she was informed by the owner that he was going to have a talk with me because I was rude to his wife. Now, I did not raise my voice, swear or say anything rude I just stated a fact. My sister pre-warned me so I wouldn't be caught off guard. That just started the trip off badly. When we checked in the owner informed me it was illegal to have a tent on the site with a camper. It's crazy to me that State and County campgrounds allow illegal camping then because we always have a tent allowed on site. He then said it was also a business decision, which we all know that's the real reason. So we pulled into our site and the water hookup had a huge wooden box around it.. we had to move our camper from where we wanted to park it because of this. Then we made a trip to the bathroom.... There are two stalls in the womens bathroom for the whole campground. The soap was empty so they had one small handsoap out that was filled with water. My kids wanted to go visit the playground that was advertised on their website the playground is basically run down swings. There wasn't even a slide. Next they wanted to check out the putt putt advertised on the website. It was so overgrown with weeds there is no way to play. We ended up having to walk across the street to the school to let them play. My father in law had to fix his picnic table before he could even sit down. As for the "modern" shower house advertised on the site you have to turn a timer to even turn the lights on...1/2 way through my ice cold shower I had to make sure I had enough time left so I didn't get stuck in the dark. There were only 2 showers for the whole campground. My sister stayed in a cabin. Although it could use some work the size of the cabin and the fact there was a kitchen and bathroom did come in handy when it rained. When my dad went to the office on a Saturday at lunchtime to order a pizza they advertised they made there he was told the kitchen doesn't open until 4pm. We stayed until Monday, many people left on Sunday and we never saw anyone come by and clean up or check sites etc. The free wifi advertised worked about 5% of the time we were there. If run correctly this campground could be great but the false advertising really turned us off.

I was a little worried after reading the 2 previous bad reviews about this campground. Thank goodness I decided to contact them and address my concerns. We camped here for a week and had a great time! The owners are very friendly and accommodating. Yes they have rules, but not too different from most campgrounds. The bath and shower house is cleaned twice EVERY DAY! I don't know if the showers are locked, they were always open when we needed them. There is a fence around the property, but that didn't bother us at all. The main road is nearby and during the day we heard passing traffic, but didn't hear anything at night. The washer and dryer worked and was open when needed, not sure if that room get's locked at any certain time. The 3:00pm check-in was a little later then we like, but we asked ahead of time and they allowed us to check in earlier. We were allowed to park vehicles on our lot, whatever would fit. They have an overflow lot up front if needed. Very close to the Ausable for tubing/canoe trips. We were actually picked up at the campground and dropped off at our campsite! All in all it was a good week!

Have been camping in Michigan for 20+ years and have camped here since 1995. I have camped under both owners and they both are nice responsible people. They both have tried to improve the park in some way every year. Do they have different business styles? The answer is yes, just different not better or worse. Many campgrounds restrict guests and have policies similar to this campground. Yes they have had to lock some things up, as said that was due to non-campers sneaking in and trying to use the facilities and at times vandalizing things. The new owners are trying to make this a safe, secure and fun place to visit. Every year it gets better. As for things to do, you are within walking distance to scenic over look of the Ausable River. Where you can canoe, go tubing, fly fish or fish from a boat or pier. You are in the middle of the Huron National Forest. A rare species if bird called the Kirkland Warnler nest nearby in the spring. Bird watchers from all over the world come hear and enjoy the guided tours. If you like off road action, you are in the middle of one of the largest ATV & Snowmobile trail systems in the state. You now can ride your ATV right from the camps parking lot to the ATV trails. In the fall it is a great place for hunters to use for their base camp. You have deer, elk, turkeys, partridges and bear to hunt with a gun, bow or camera.
I don't work for the owners and I am not related to them either, but I was very surprised at the other two comments and I felt it was unfair to either owner. It is a nice campground and I have highly recommended it to many of our friends. They too enjoyed their stay there and have stayed there many times.
Sorry this so long, but I had several issues to refute.
Great campground, give them a chance, I don't think you will be disappointed.

I first want to say that this campground is under new ownership as of 2010. We've been to this campground many times over the years and it seems to be going down hill. This campground is located just outside of town on a busy road and the cars going by sometimes honk late at night so the campsites along the road are less than desireable due to that fact. They do have a few pull-thru sites to accommodate the bigger rigs which is nice. It is located close to the canoe/tube launch area which is great for those river lovers. When we arrived the campfire rings had garbage in them. The sites needed to be cleared of little bits of trash here & there - not bad but we never experienced a dirty campsite with the prior owners. The showers are separate from the bathroom which is nice but they are musty smelling and have mildew on the walls and ceiling. They lock the showers at night due to people sneaking in during the night to use them - I'm just glad they didn't lock the bathrooms! My husband tried to shower at 6:30 in the morning and couldn't because they were locked. They do offer laundry facilities but they, too, are locked during the night. Our group had a sick child during the night and needed to use the washer and couldn't. The campground office is closed at 9:00 p.m. on Sunday - Thursday so if you need anything, such as firewood or propane, you have to make sure to do that before they close. They offer a cooked breakfast one day on the weekend and a snack bar is open every day. We didn't have any of their food so I can't comment either way on that. They do have a camp store with a variety of items from candy to t-shirts and hats to novelty items. The store is a favorite with kids. Our experiences in the past have generally been good ones but this past visit with the new owners has left a bad taste in our mouth. They now charge a 50% deposit when booking and if you cancel before 2 weeks prior to arrival you get a refund minus $10. If cancelling less than 2 weeks prior to your stay you forfeit your deposit. If reserving a year in advance they require your deposit upon reserving, which we never had to do with the old owners. We usually camp with a group between 5 - 13 camp sites and putting a deposit down one year in advance doesn't work for us. Three to six months in advance is more doable for our group. I understand the need for deposits but I guess change is hard. And I don't like the cancellation fee but understand that also. They now charge a visitors fee of $2 per guest and require them to park their vehicle in a lot at the front entrance and walk to your site to visit. The old owners never implemented this rule or charged for visitors. This doesn't go over too well with our group since it is a family reunion and some come for the day to join us and some have canes/walkers/wheel chairs. Their check out used to be 1:00 p.m. and is now 12:00 p.m. with check-in being 3:00 pm. One of our group inquired about extended check-out and was told 12:00 no exceptions but someone else was told a couple hours was not a big deal but if staying until dinner they would charge accordingly. Not sure why we were getting two different answers. One of their other guests (not our group) camping next to us vacated their site at 3:15 p.m. one day - well past check out. Our experience left us with the feeling that the new owners are money hungry and not very accommodating. We will be having a meeting to determine if we will be returning to this campground.