We Bought Paul Bunyan Campground Sight Unseen — Here’s What We’ve Done Since Ownership in 2025

When we bought Paul Bunyan Campground in 2025, we didn’t exactly take the traditional route into campground ownership. We bought the campground sight unseen, which probably sounds a little crazy when you say it out loud, but for us, there was a lot more behind that decision than simply finding a business for sale.

A few years earlier, we had been living and traveling full-time in our self-built Sprinter van, exploring different parts of the country and trying to figure out where we wanted life to take us next. During one of our trips through Michigan, something about this part of Northern Michigan just stuck with us. We fell in love with the area, the forests, the lakes, the small communities, and the slower pace of life, and by the time we left, we already knew we wanted to find our way back here.

Then, beginning in 2022, we started workamping, working alongside campground owners and learning what really goes into running a campground from the ground up. We learned the day-to-day operations, the maintenance, the guest experience, the long hours, the unexpected problems, and, perhaps most importantly, what it takes to create a campground that people actually want to return to year after year.

Over time, we started realizing something pretty important: maybe we had been preparing ourselves to own a campground all along. So when the opportunity to purchase Paul Bunyan Campground came along, we took a leap.

A pretty big one.

We didn't come from a lot of money, and buying this campground took essentially everything we had. There wasn't a huge pile of cash sitting around waiting for us to invest in renovations and improvements. We made this decision because we believed in the property, we believed in the community, and we believed that with the experience we'd gained working for other campground owners, we could build something of our own.

And from the very beginning, we made ourselves a promise. Every dollar we make here is an opportunity to make Paul Bunyan Campground better.

That philosophy has shaped almost everything we've done since taking ownership.

Starting With 75 Yards of Trash

One of our very first projects wasn't glamorous, exciting, or particularly fun, but it was absolutely necessary. We cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned some more.

When we took over the campground, there was an enormous amount of accumulated trash, debris, outdated materials, and things that simply needed to go. In total, we removed more than 75 yards of trash from the property and its buildings.

Just removing the trash was a project in itself. It meant countless hours of sorting, hauling, loading, unloading, sweeping, scrubbing, and figuring out what could be saved and what needed to go. It wasn't the kind of improvement that necessarily makes for a beautiful Facebook photo, but it was one of the most important things we could have done because before we could start building something better, we had to clear away years of what had been left behind.

That became a bit of a theme for our first year here. Clear it out. Clean it up. Fix what we can. Improve what needs improving. Then start building something better.

Turning a Jungle Into a Dog Park

We quickly learned that our campers weren't the only ones who needed a place to enjoy the campground.

A lot of our guests travel with their dogs, and we wanted Paul Bunyan Campground to be a place where four-legged family members could have some fun too.

There was an area of the property that had essentially become a jungle, so instead of letting it continue to sit unused, we started clearing it out and transforming it into a dog park in Northern Michigan.

It took a lot of work, but seeing dogs running around and campers enjoying the space made every hour of clearing brush and cleaning up worthwhile.

It's one of those projects that reminds us why we do what we do. A campground isn't just about campsites and buildings. It's about creating spaces where families, friends, and even the dogs can enjoy being outside together.

Giving the Bathrooms a Much-Needed Renovation

Let's be honest: campground bathrooms matter. Nobody goes camping expecting a luxury hotel bathroom, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to walk into a campground bathroom and feel comfortable using it.

We put a lot of time and effort into improving and renovating our bathrooms, with a focus on making them cleaner, more comfortable, and more welcoming for our campers and day-use guests. And one of the best parts has been hearing people tell us how much they love them.

Those comments mean more to us than people probably realize because we know exactly how much work went into getting them there.

Bringing New Life to the Store and Game Room

We also spent a lot of time working on the front building, including the campground store and game room.

We cleaned, repaired, organized, upgraded, and generally tried to bring those spaces back to life. We also made the decision to remove the old arcade games from the game room because we wanted to rethink what that space could become and make it feel more useful, welcoming, and enjoyable for today's campers.

The front of the building itself also received a fresh coat of paint, and we replaced the old sign with a new one that better represents the campground we're working so hard to create. These might seem like small changes individually, but when you walk around the property now and compare it to where we started, the difference is pretty incredible.

Saying Goodbye to the Old Playground

One of the harder decisions we made was removing the old playground equipment. We know that playgrounds are a classic part of the campground experience, and we certainly understand why families love having one. Unfortunately, the equipment that was here when we purchased the campground had become a safety concern, and we couldn't justify keeping something that could potentially put a child at risk.

So we removed it. But we didn't want to simply leave an empty patch of grass behind. Instead, we turned the space into something that has become a huge part of the campground community: our community bonfire area.

Every Saturday, we host a community bonfire where campers can gather, meet their neighbors, make some memories, and enjoy a classic Northern Michigan campground evening around the fire.

Honestly, we couldn't have planned a better replacement. Watching people who arrived as complete strangers sitting around the fire together, talking, laughing, and getting to know one another has been one of our favorite parts of owning this campground.

And Then There Are All the Things You Don't See

The list above is only part of what we've done.

There have been hundreds of smaller projects that don't necessarily make it onto a website or social media post. There are things that break and need fixing, things that need painting, things that need cleaning, things that need replacing, and things that simply need someone to notice that they could be better.

That's the reality of owning a campground. There is always something. And we're okay with that. In fact, we've come to love it.

Because every project, whether it's a major renovation or something as simple as fixing something that has been neglected for years, is another step toward creating the campground we envisioned when we decided to take this enormous leap.

We're Not Finished — Not Even Close

We don't look at everything we've accomplished since purchasing Paul Bunyan Campground in 2025 and think, "Okay, we're done."

Quite the opposite.

We have a long list of ideas.

Some are big. Some are small. Some will happen soon, and some will take years.

But that's part of the fun for us.

We didn't buy this campground because we wanted a finished product that we could simply operate as-is. We bought it because we saw potential. We saw a place that could become something special, and we wanted to be the people who put in the work to make that happen.

We also know that we're fortunate to have the opportunity to do this.

This campground represents a huge investment for us, financially and personally. We put essentially everything we had into purchasing it, and we continue to put what we earn right back into the property.

When you stay at Paul Bunyan Campground, visit the pool, rent a campsite, stop into the store, or spend a Saturday evening around the community bonfire, you're not just supporting a business.

You're helping us continue to improve this place.

Your dollars literally go back into the campground.

They help us buy materials, fix things that need fixing, improve facilities, create new amenities, maintain the property, and turn ideas into projects.

That's something we're incredibly proud of.

Why We Do It

We came to Michigan because we fell in love with it while living in a van.

We learned the campground business by working for other campground owners.

We eventually realized that we had the experience, the work ethic, and the determination to try building something of our own.

So we took the biggest leap we've ever taken and bought a campground we'd never even seen in person.

Since then, we've spent countless hours cleaning, hauling, fixing, painting, renovating, clearing, building, planning, and dreaming.

And while there are still plenty of things we want to improve, we're proud of how far Paul Bunyan Campground has come.

More importantly, we're excited about where it's going.

Our goal is to create a family-friendly campground in Northern Michigan where people can slow down, spend time outside, bring their dogs, meet new friends, gather around a campfire, explore the Alpena and Harrisville area, and make the kind of camping memories that keep them coming back.

We didn't get here because we had unlimited resources.

We got here because we believed in this place enough to put everything we had into it.

And we're just getting started.

Thank you for being part of the journey.

— Nat & Ave
Paul Bunyan Campground