Ionia, Michigan: State Park Recreation Area & Confluxity Brewing in Portland

 April 2021, 3-Nights, Weekday - Weekend, Campsite 22

This post is just a quick update about some differences at the campground. You can find more details in posts from our previous stays in April 2017 & May 2017.

Beautiful moonrise over our campsite (#22)
at Ionia State Park Recreation Area

Reservations, check-in, arrival

The state of Michigan has changed their fee change policy, and you can now add days to any stay (provided the dates are open, of course) for no charge. Yay! 😊 There is still a fee to cancel or reduce the number of nights; however, I think it is great to be able to add days for no extra charge. We again decided to change our arrival day from Friday to Thursday. Even though the weather was cool, the campgroud was full the weekend of our stay. And, there was an employee working at the check-in office when we arrived. 

Campsite 22 at Ionia Recreation Area

Campsite 22

Seven campsites in this campground are described as "lakeview;" however, the lake is now only visible from one campsite: #18. In 2007, the brochure listed 13 campsites as lakeview. The view was not different  because of the leaves on the trees, although that contributed to the diminished view. It was mainly due to all of the overgrown brush between the sites and Sessions Lake. If you look at the photos in my April 2017 post, you will notice the vast difference in the view from the overgrown brush. 

Lake view from campsite 22 at Ionia Recreation Area

There was one small section at the corner of our campsite where we could see the lake (photo above), and unfortunately, that is not where the fire ring was located. 

Looking toward campsite 23 from site 22 at Ionia Recreation Area

Ionia Michigan / Ionia State Park Recreation Area, Fred Meijer Grand River Valley Trail, Steele Street Brewing

May 2017

All kinds of last minute trip changes for us this year! We had not planned to stay in Ionia State Park Recreation Area again so soon. Since we did, I am sharing some new travel info about the area. You can find more park details in my April 2017 blog post. 

Ionia State Park Recreation Area, campsites 77 - 82

We chose a site in the northeast loop near the equestrian campground this time, because the lakeview sites had all been reserved. The sites in this loop are also larger than most of the sites in the lakeview loop.

Site 81
Horse trail behind trees

We stayed on site 81, which was mostly sunny, mostly grassy, and slightly secluded. There are trees/bushes between site 81 and site 79. Site 82 is sunnier than site 81. Site 80 is directly across the road from site 81, although it does not look like it on the campground map. Click on the photo below to enlarge it and see more site details.

Saranac, Michigan / Ionia State Park Recreation Area, Fred Meijer Grand River Valley Trail

April 2017, 3-nights, Weekday-weekend, Site 13

View from site 13

This was our first visit to Ionia Recreation Area. It looked like a great place to check out in the spring or fall when it is cooler in the Lake Michigan area campgrounds. Also, we stayed over Easter weekend, and Ionia was a reasonable drive from our son's house making it easy for him to visit.

Advance reservations, arrival and check-in

Since this stay was before peak-season, we considered just choosing our site after we arrived to save the $8 reservation fee. There are not many water view sites though, and after I noticed a couple of them had been taken, we decided to make a reservation. We initially reserved site 13 for Friday and Saturday night, and then we called on Thursday to add Thursday to the reservation. 

The camp office was closed when we arrived Thursday evening, and we checked in via the yellow telephone outside the office. I was glad I had called beforehand and taken care of the additional night, or I would have had to provide all the payment information and such during check-in.

Campsite 13

Campsites 13, 15, 18, 22

It was pretty easy to back in on site 13. The site was grassy, and we had a decent view of the lake from outside. From inside, we had a view of the lake out the back window, and the view from our living room looked out toward the trees behind site 15. The online information for this site says that it accommodates a 40' RV. We have a 30' 5th wheel (about 35' overall), and we took up just about the entire site lengthwise. I think it would be tight with a 40' RV on this site.

Standing by fire pit on site 13