Kincheloe, Michigan: Kinross Charter Township RV Park in the Upper Peninsula

October 2024, two nights, weekdays

Arrival 

This township has two RV Parks; east and west. We had thought we would stay in the west section near the fairgrounds, as that area is a bit more like a campground; however, the water had already been turned off for the season in that section. We arrived from the west, so continuing 2½ more miles to the east campground was not a problem. A host trailer was on site in the east park near the registration area; however, we did not see the host at any time during our stay. We chose a site, and then registered and paid via envelopes provided at the self-registration kiosk.

Above: sunset from inside camper in East Kinross Township RV Park
Below: map overview of East Kinross Township RV Park

Campsite 12

I did not take any campsite photos, so I am including a marked photo above from google maps to show the campground. We were on the campsite circled in red.

All of the sites in the east campground are full hookup. Our campsite had a level concrete pad. There were not many campers in October, so the fact that the sites are open was not an issue. There is plenty of room between neighbors behind each site.

Cheyboygan State Park in Cheboygan, Michigan

August 2024, weekdays, 4 nights, campsite 15

View of Duncan Bay behind campsite 15 in Cheboygan State Park

Reservations and arrival

This campground is located on Duncan Bay in Lake Huron. It is over two miles off the main road, and the road turns to dirt after the first mile. This was our first visit, and we had originally reserved campsite 30. When we made our reservation, there were no photos on the DNR reservation site, and we'd had a difficult time choosing a campsite. The staff member when we arrived was very helpful, and we ended up switching to campsite 15.

Campsite 15 in Cheboygan State Park

Campsites

Our 25' trailer would have fit on campsite 30, although the space would have been a bit tight. Campsite 30 is also mostly dirt, rather than grass. 

Campsite 15 in Cheboygan State Park

Campsite 15 is a larger and grassier site with better access to the water than site 30. Campsite 15, as well as a few others, are non-reservable sites. We did not realize this, because we had missed this information, which is in the individual campsite details on the DNR reservation site.

Above: campsite 9 in Cheboygan State Park
Below: campsite 23 in Cheboygan State Park

We took a few photos of other campsites, and I have included a couple of those in this post, as well. 

Hiking trails in Cheboygan State Park

Northern Michigan Color and Brew Tour: West Branch, Harrisville, Alpena, Mackinaw City, Cheboygan, Afton

 October 2021, three days, weekday - weekend

View of Pigeon River
Bridge in the distance goes to Andreae Cabin and Nature Preserve parking lot

We decided to combine our HopPassports with a northern Michigan color and hiking tour. Although we visited a bit past peak colors, this was still a great trip! I am sharing info about some of the places we visited. See my two posts before this one for lodging information.

Hiking, trails, parks, rivers, colors...

We recently learned about Nature Megaphone in Boyd B. Banwell Nature Preserve in Afton, Michigan. This is a structure designed to magnify the sounds of nature. Unfortunately, it was raining lightly when we visited, and there was not much activity in the forest. It was still very cool! The rain in the video above sounds louder than it actually was. There is a bird chirping about 14 seconds in that is also magnified. We did not see any birds during our entire hike, and I am not sure how far away this bird was. I suggest playing the video on full screen with the volume up.

Nature Megaphone

The structure is about 5½' tall at the widest point. I am 5'2" tall, and I could easily stand up inside. The hike from Agnes S. Andreae Nature Preserve parking lot at the end of Riverwoods Trail was under 2 miles round-trip, and it was pretty easy. The only hill was on the way back up to the parking lot after crossing the river, and there are a couple of small hills, if you take the longer path along the river.

View from inside Nature Megaphone above
Trail map in parking lot below

The hike from Boyd B. Banwell Family Nature Preserve parking lot on M-68 is a longer hike. We would have hiked from this area, if the weather had been better, because the roads back to Agnes S. Andreae Nature Preserve are dirt.

Downtown Cheboygan above
Thunder Bay River looking toward Rotary Island Mill Park in Alpena below

In Alpena and Cheboygan, there are riverwalk trails along Thunder Bay River and Cheboygan River, parks, locks in Cheboygan, preserves, and more. In Alpena, you can get to Lake Huron walking most of the way along the river, and in Cheboygan the route has more sidewalk/town walking. 

Tawas Bay

The bay was beautiful the day we drove by Tawas Bay! There are great trails in Tawas Bay that we biked when we camped at the state park here a few years ago.

Entrance door into Alocona Brew Haus below

Breweries and dining

Our favorite brewery this trip was Alcona Brew Haus in Harrisville, MI. I was impressed with the building preservation from the moment we entered. We got a building tour from the owner, and I took way more photos than I am able to post here. I am sharing a couple more below.

DeTour Village, Michigan: DeTour State Forest Campground

 June 2021, 3-Nights, Weekdays-weekend

You can find more photos of this campground in the DeTour Facebook album.

Beach behind our campsite at DeTour State Forest Campground

Arrival

Our GPS identified the campground as being on the north side of the road farther east than where it is actually located. We knew it would be on the south side of the road, and the park signs were highly visible, so this did not cause any problems. The dirt road back to the campground, however, is longer and narrower than we had realized. Fortunately, no trailers were leaving when we arrived.  😊

Michigan state forest campgrounds are all first come, first serve, so we planned our trip to arrive on a Wednesday afternoon. There were about five sites taken when we arrived, and the campground was full when we left on Saturday.

Campsite 12 at DeTour State Forest Campground

Campsite 12

My husband wanted this campsite because there is a short path directly out to Lake Huron from the site. I did not initially want it, because it is not very trailer-friendly (there are lots of trees), the ground cover is dirt and pine needles, and you cannot actually see Lake Huron from the campsite. In the end, we both loved it!

Campsite 12 at DeTour State Forest Campground

This campsite is private and spacious. It is also fairly level except where it slopes down to the trail at the edge of the site. We got our camper as close to the trees as possible, because we wanted to be able to use the area in front of our trailer. There is not much room beside the trailer on the door side where the mat is, because that is where the ground slopes down to the trail. The placement of our trailer is the only place on this site for a camper, unless you park farther forward near the road.

View of path to Lake Huron from inside the camper

Tawas Bay, Michigan / Tawas Point State Park, Brew-B-Q, Tawas Bay Bike Trail

June 2018, Weekend - weekday, three nights

You can click on any photo in this post to enlarge it, and there are more photos in the Facebook album: Tawas Point State Park. 

Sunset over the bay from the beach area next to campsite 42

Tawas Point State Park reservations and check-in

I had a difficult time choosing a site when I made our online reservation. There is only one photo of campsite 130 on the state website, and the photo does not show the entire site (further information below). We arrived around 11:00 AM, and check-in was very quick. The people camping on this site the day before us were packing up to leave, so we parked in the overflow lot near the office. We then walked back to get a better look at the site before we drove back to park.

Secluded fire pit on campsite 130

Tawas Point State Park campsite 130

This is a fabulous campsite, and I would definitely choose it again. It is grassy, level, private, and the size is 50 x 50. The photo on the Michigan reservation site only shows the left half of site 130. In fact, the picnic table and fire pit on the left in their photo are on site 132. 

Photo taken from under our awning facing east
before campers arrived on site 132

Looking at the campground drawing before we arrived, it had been difficult to tell if campers on site 52 would be in our backyard/right behind us. Campsite 51 is actually closer to site 130 than 52. I have included a few labeled photos in this post, and there are more in the Facebook album.

Bay City, Michigan / State Recreation Area, Downtown, Trails

April 2018, Weekend, 2-nights, campsite 69

We had a late start to camping in Michigan this year, as it snowed several days in April! We still had a couple of small piles of snow in our front yard when we left for our camping trip at the end of April, which is quite unusual.

Sunset from campsite at Bay City State Recreation Area

Bay City State Recreation Area advance reservations and check-in

We were initially undecided about making an advance reservation once we decided we were going camping. There is an $8 reservation fee, and there was not really a need to reserve a site, as most of the sites were available. Also, we had never been to this park before, and some of the online information was inaccurate, so it was difficult to decide. Site numbers had been changed from 2017 to 2018, and some of the photos were obviously incorrect for the corresponding sites. On the other hand, it is always quicker and easier when we arrive, if we already have a reservation. I decided to call the campground to ask about a few of the sites we had been considering. By the end of the conversation, I learned that if we did not like our site after we arrived, we could call to have it changed, without having to drive back to the office. We decided to reserve site 68 online.

Check-in time is 3:00 PM, and we arrived in the morning. The campground was mostly empty, and we were allowed to check-in early. When we arrived at site 68, we saw that this is a lousy site (details under the campsite heading below). Site 69 is a good site, and we successfully got our site changed over the telephone.

Center sites looking east from bathroom.
Our RV on site 69 in distance. 

Campsites 68, 69, 70, 71, 183, 185, and more

The ground is low in this campground, and more than half of the sites were underwater at the time of our visit. Some of the site descriptions say that the site is low; however, we observed many sites underwater with descriptions that did not describe the ground as low. The rainfall received in the area at the time of our stay was a bit less than usual for this time of year.

Same center section from opposite road.
Looking across sites 77 and 79.

Ocqueoc and Rogers City, Michigan: Ocqueoc Falls and underground river, 40 Mile Point Lighthouse, Huron-Sunrise Trail and downtown

June 2017

We visited the following sights from P. H. Hoeft State Park. You can find more information about the state park in my previous blog post. 

Ocqueoc Falls

Ocqueoc Falls and Little Ocqueoc [underground] River

It is just over 15 miles from P. H. Hoeft State Park to the falls. There is a state forest campground at the falls; however, we wanted to stay on Lake Huron and near the bicycle trail. Also, the road into the state forest campground is kind of narrow with low hanging branches - not the best situation, if you have a larger camper or 5th wheel.

Ocqueoc Falls

Rogers City, Michigan / P. H. Hoeft State Park

June 2017, 4-nights, weekend-weekdays, campsites 21 and 121 (changed to #56)

Some of the campsite numbers were changed at this park in 2019, so I added edits to this post to reflect the changed site numbers.

Sunrise from site 21

Hoeft State Park  is located on Lake Huron about five miles north of Rogers City. There are a few campsites near the lake, although there is not much of a view from most of them. There are hiking and mountain bike trails in the park, and a paved bicycle trail in front of the park. The park also contains a playground, volleyball nets, a pavilion, and beach. You can find more information about amenities inside the park below, and I will have a separate blog post about some of the area sites: 40 Mile Point Lighthouse, Rogers City, Ocqueoc Falls, and Little Ocqueoc Underground River.

Arrival and check-in

The office was staffed when we arrived, and it only took a few minutes to get checked in for our campsite. We wanted to empty our holding tank and get fresh water when we arrived, and the sanitation station was easily accessible on the way  to our site after check-in.

Campsite 121/56

Campsites 121/56 and 21

When I made our reservation, I initially looked at the campsites near the water. It did not look like the water would be visible from any of the campsites, and these sites are mostly dirt, so I chose site 121/56. Campsite 121/56 is a good sized site. It is sunny, somewhat grassy, and private. There is a small patch of trees between sites 120/54 and 121/56. State Park Road runs behind this site, although traffic is not visible from the campsite. The traffic noise was minimal.

Harrisville, Michigan / Harrisville State Park

September 2016, Holiday weekend 3-nights, Site 25

I found some of the best park photos for Harrisville State Park on Wikipedia.

Arrival and check-in

We arrived Friday a bit before noon, and check-in time is not until 3:00 p.m. Checkout time is 1:00 p.m., and I had checked online to see if anyone was on our site Thursday evening. The site was open, so we figured it would not be a problem if we arrived early. The agent informed us of the check-in time when we arrived, and gave the impression we could not check-in early. After I inquired further, she said that if there was not anyone on our site, and maintenance was not being performed, then we could check-in. I asked if we needed to drive back there to make sure, and then come back and check-in. She then requested our confirmation information, and said she could check us in.

Site 25

Road into campsite; white truck on site 25

The roads in this campground are narrow with a lot of trees. It was tight backing into site 25, although not overly difficult. We barely fit lengthwise on the 45 x 45 site, as there are a lot of trees around the perimeter of this site. We have a 30' 5th wheel, which is a couple of feet longer including the bike rack on back; still only about 35' total. I did not see 10' to spare after we were parked.

Fire pit on site 25

The only perimeter area of this campsite that is open is by the road and fire pit. Campers on sites 23 and 162 were easily visible when seated at the fire pit on site 25. The rest of the campsite is secluded. There were a lot of trees beside the walkway, so the view out our window toward the walkway was woodsy. The site is somewhat grassy.