What a neat park, we visited as a guest of my niece who is stationed here; will be here for four days. The view is a million dollar view of the lake. What a privilege to get to use this park as a civilian guest of my niece who is in the Navy. At this point electricity only; dump and fresh water is at the Marina. We camped here in a Motorhome.

Beautiful view. Sites are close together. About half of the sites are long term users. There is one 50 amp handicapped site. Good showers and restrooms are down at the Marina which is a drive, not a walk. There are pit toilets at the campground. All water and dumping is done at the Marina as well. Be sure to get your passes at the visitor center beforehand and arrive at Gate 5 on a weekday and before 3 pm; otherwise, it's a hassle to get in. Good news: the newspaper published Sept. 1, 2010 as the date for water and sewer to be installed. Bad news: haven't seen any digging yet. It's close to METRA train station to get to Chicago easily. We camped here in a Motorhome.

Site is on the lakefront at Naval Station, Great Lakes. Very quiet with excellent security. Navy spent $2,000,000 restoring the boat house at the marina (about 5 min drive along the lake) part of which installed new laundry, restrooms and showers. Presently there are plans to erect a shower block at the site and install water and sewer. The dump station is at the marina. Site is open all year and some people stationed there overwinter. Biggest problem is waiting at the badge and pass office for paperwork to be done. There is a separate tent camping are available at the south end of the base on the lake. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

If you are Active, Reserve, Retired military or DoD civilian and are passing through (North) Chicago, this is a great place to spend a night or two. As RV parks go it is pretty basic. 20 back-in concrete pads with electric only. Fire rings at each site. But to be 50 feet from Lake Michigan in a supremely quiet and well-kept park, this is a great bargain. Easy off base access to trains for Chicago for those wanting to see the sights and not fight the traffic. If you don't have a valid DoD sticker for your vehicle you'll have to stop in at the visitor center next to the main gate for a pass. You will be directed to enter through Gate 5, the gate designated for truck traffic at the north end of the base. If you show up after hours, or if Gate 5 is closed, then enter through the main gate. If you have advance reservations, just pull into the RV park and back into your site. Then you can go over to Bldg 13, the Base Marina office, and check in formally. Ditto if you arrive after hours and the Marina is closed (1800 - 6pm). Sewer and fresh water are available at the marina. Since this is a major Navy training base, be ready for lots of marching formations on base, but the RV park is at the bottom of a large bluff, on the lake, and therefore quite removed from other base activities. Sites 1-8 face away from the water; sites 9-20 face and are closest to the water. Since all sites are back-in, it was actually better to be in the sites away from the lake, because then you have a lake view from the back of your rig if that's where the most windows are located. The park is so quiet you can hear a pin drop. Military personnel using it are very courteous and are very non-intrusive. Gas station and mini-mart on base for authorized users; main commissary and exchange are located about 1.5 miles away off base. For $15 and location, location, location, it's great. Or, if you don't want to fight Chicago passing through, it's a great place for a one-night stay. The only reason I rate it a "6" is because it doesn't have all the commercial trappings of other civilian RV parks. But for tranquility and location at a bargain price, this park is hard to beat for authorized users. Definitely big rig friendly, as there were numerous Fifth Wheel and Class A rigs there. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.