Lake Michigan campgrounds

[CruizinKim]

I'm anxiously waiting for the 6 month window to book Sleeping Bear Dunes (Platte River?) and Ludington State Park, each for 5 nts in August. Has anyone been there? What did you think? We're an outdoor loving family (hiking, biking, swimming, etc...) and these places sounded right up our alley.

Thanks!
Kim
2012 Jayflight 32 BHDS
2008 Ford F250 4x4 SuperDuty CrewCab 8ft bed

[dalenoel]

Have stayed at the Platte River Federal Campground several years now and the sites are great. You have many hiking and Lake Michigan swimming areas. Unless you are into road bike areas there are not many since you cannot take them on the trails on the federal land.

Ludington is a great area but have not stayed there due to the size of our unit in the State Park. Roads are very tight but there are several private campgrounds in the area that will still be great to stay at.

[CruizinKim]

Originally Posted by dalenoel

Ludington is a great area but have not stayed there due to the size of our unit in the State Park. Roads are very tight but there are several private campgrounds in the area that will still be great to stay at.

I also have a 32 ft. The website says it's able to accommodate that size, but with experimentation, I'm unable to pick a site. Does this campsite pick the site for you?

Kim
2012 Jayflight 32 BHDS
2008 Ford F250 4x4 SuperDuty CrewCab 8 ft bed

[dalenoel]

At the Ludintgon State Park Site you click on 'Make a Reservation at this park' and then click on Campsite.

You will then fill in the information on your group: Dates, Number of days up to 15, Number of people, Lenth of unit and it will then let you know what sites you will fit on.

I just did Ludington July 15th for 4 days and my length, 35 foot, and was told there were no sites that fit my requirements.

This is a problem at this park. There are mostly small sites and not many large ones.

This campground shows no sites for any day. You can also look at the calendar to find what is available by date. Won't let you know always the size of unit.

Very popular park and why we usually go to the RV parks around there and not at the State Park.

[dalenoel]

I also did a check for a tent site and find out the park is completely full for 4 days, or even 1 day, starting 7-15-12.

This park fills.

[dalenoel]

Go here to Reserve at Platte River Federal Forest.

The State Forest Campground is rustic only.

And another location that is a private park.

Enjoy that area as it is very very good.

[CruizinKim]

Thanks so much!

I will try and book the state campgrounds when the 6 month window opens up for our August dates, which is in February. These state parks will only allow you to pre-book 6 months in advance unless you have a group booking. They are only allowing bookings up until mid July now. I am going to investigate the private one you sent me.

Kim
2012 Jayflight 32 BHDS
2008 Ford F250 4x4 SuperDuty CrewCab 8ft bed

[dalenoel]

I just made mine in Tawas for July 16. The new inventory comes available at 8 am M-F and 9 am on the weekends and holidays.

In the parks that are in demand everyone gets on it right away when the new inventory shows up.

You might even go north of Ludington to Orchard Beach in Manistee. Still on Lake Michigan and very nice.

[Rustic Eagle]

Originally Posted by dalenoel

I just made mine in Tawas for July 16 .....snip

I've always enjoyed camping at Tawas Point SP, great base camp for bicycle riding on the "sun-rise" side of the state.

Bob

[CruizinKim]

At these MI state park campgrounds, are you able to pick your site? All that comes up in availability is "Type 5", "Type 6", etc...

Thanks,
Kim
2012 Jayflight 32 bhds

[dalenoel]

You can pick your own. Do a trial date, like July 16, 2012, and put in all of your spec's. Don't go as far as putting in the payment information.

This will be a good way to simulate what you will see as you get to your final time.

The first view you will get is a listing of the campsites. You can then click on 'Check Site Calendar' and pick the sites by calendar date if you really know what you are looking for. You can also click on 'View Availability on Maps', and you will get to a point where you can see the campground map and all of the sites.

You then can click on the campsite number and a popup will tell you about that site and you can Add to Cart.

The view where you are seeing the TYPE there will also be a number on the left of the description and that is the site number.

Let us know if you need anymore info or you can PM me and we can do it that way.

[CruizinKim]

Thanks Dale!! I got as far as the campground map, but didn't try any further. I will play around with it & hopefully get my new "favorite" spot. I am so glad I found this forum. So many of my questions have been answered without me even having to formally ask them.

Kim
2012 Jayflight 32bhds
2008 Ford F250 4x4 SuperDuty CrewCab 8 ft bed

[dalenoel]

Another tool to learn what a campground is like is to use Google Earth Maps and view the area which allows you to see some of the topography around the campground.

Some times you can see which end of a campground you might want and if there might be traffic problems, playgrounds, etc.

[CruizinKim]

Thanks Dale! I do use Google Earth! I figured out what I was doing wrong after reading some fine print. It wouldn't pull up site numbers outside of their "camping season" so I did some dates randomly & picked some prospective sites that will fit our rig. I told the hubster about possibly going farther north and working our way down Lake Michigan and he was game. He'd much rather go north than south to blazing heat of SC! Is Tawas Point overly crowded? And who knew that your home state was so beautiful?!

Thanks,

Kim
2012 Jayflight 32bhds
2008 Ford F250 4x4 SuperDuty CrewCab 8ft bed

[Gma-n-Gpa]

One note about Google earth - not always current - I spend a lot of time at a COE impoundment and the google earth pix of the State CG are at least 4 years old... just thought I would mention that.

[mcfarmall]

We have a site for June 18-22 at Ludington SP right behind the one we had last year!! I concur with the others that the sites are smallish and packed in tight. You'd think with all the acreage at the SP they could have spread them out a bit.

Anyway, we like Ludington SP. There are lots of paved bike paths and a cool dam that you can ride across. Plenty of hiking opportunities and an elusive geocache that I am going to try and find again this year. From the Pines CG you can easily walk to the beach.

[dalenoel]

You usually can find sites at Tawas on an individual basis. I had a problem in getting the ones we wanted for a group of 5 units.

I'm also going to have the same problem at North Higgins for 5 units while the week before at Aloha we won't have any trouble getting them in the areas we like.

A lot depends on the park.

Forgot to mention that while at Tawas you may get to see, if the wind is up, some of the best kite-boarders in the world. They have training and great winds there so as a spectator it usually is great fun just watching.

[Chazinn]

OK been trying to book an 8 night stay at Platte River for last 2 days. Wife has been on the phone and I've been on the internet. Very hard with 20 minuet waits on phone. The internet site is even more worthless. Seems straight forward but when you add to site it comes up "inventory not available" or "stay exceeds reservable window" or something to that effect. Very, Very frustrating..... We even hit the dial button at exact 9:59 and 45 seconds in an attempt to be the 1st one in line. No luck.

We lucked out 7 or 8 years ago with a pop up camper and got a non-reservable site. Back then they only reserved around 25% if the sites, Now it looks like about 75% are reservable. Loved the camp ground though.

Giving up for now as the vacation window is closing. May have to consider other ideas... Tawas may be an option.

[Chazinn]

Originally Posted by dalenoel

Have stayed at the Platte River Federal Campground several years now and the sites are great. You have many hiking and Lake Michigan swimming areas. Unless you are into road bike areas there are not many since you cannot take them on the trails on the federal land.

Ludington is a great area but have not stayed there due to the size of our unit in the State Park. Roads are very tight but there are several private campgrounds in the area that will still be great to stay at.

OK, DW wants to know how you get in every year?

[Rustic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Chazinn

snip..... May have to consider other ideas... Tawas may be an option.

Keep in mind Tawas Point SP is on Lake Huron (sunrise side of state), not Lake Michigan.

Bob