Upper Peninsula Michigan: Colwell Lake National Forest Campground

September 2024, 4 nights, campsite 27

You can find more details about this campground in my previous post from our stay in  September 2022. I am sharing a few recent photos and info from our stay this year. 

Sunset over Colwell Lake from campsite 27 

Arrival

There was only one non-reservable campsite with electricity available when we arrived on a Wednesday; campsite 5, which is a non-waterfront site. We had hoped to get a campsite with electricity; however, we opted for a waterfront site instead. There were several great waterfront sites available for three nights or less. We wanted to stay four nights, so we chose campsite 27, which is one of the sites we had circled after our previous stay. 

Beach area of campsite 27 in Colwell Lake National Forest Campground

Campsite 27

We thought the water access from this campsite is one of the better ones. The beach area is sandy, and there was plenty of room for our chairs and kayaks. 

Campsite 27 in Colwell Lake Campground

Manistique, Michigan: Colwell Lake National Forest Campground

 September 2022, weekdays, 3-nights

Sunset from campsite 3 in Colwell Lake National Forest Campground

Arrival and reservations

There are about 10 to 12 campsites in this campground that are first-come-first serve. We arrived on a Wednesday, and had great luck--the camper on a waterfront non-reservable site with electricity had just left that day. Checkout time is 11:00 AM. About a third of the other campsites were occupied, and almost all of the waterfront sites had reserved tags on them for the upcoming weekend.

Above: view of campsite 3 from lake in Colwell Lake National Forest
Below: campsite 32 in Colwell Lake National Forest Campground

Campsites

We thought all of the campsites in this campground were great; even the ones across the road from the lake. We had campsite 3, which is the first waterfront site. It is next to the host campsite. The host was already gone in mid-September, so our campsite was quite secluded during our stay. After walking through this park, this was our favorite site at this time of year, when the host site is empty. The first photo below is looking out our back window toward the host campsite.

Manistique, Michigan: Downtown, Recreation, Indian Lake State Park

May 2021, 3-days

Following is information about some of the places we visited during our stay at Manistique Lakeshore Campground.

Looking toward Manistique Lakeshore Campground from boardwalk

Recreation and landmarks

Manistique Boardwalk starts/ends on the opposite side of the channel (Manistique River) from the campground, near the municipal marina. There is room to walk alongside the road over the river, so we were able to walk to the boardwalk from the campground. The boardwalk was an easy walk of about 4 miles roundtrip from our campsite. Bikes are prohibited on the boardwalk. 

Damage on the trail along Manistique Boardwalk

Part of the boardwalk trail was damaged from the high water in 2019 - 2020; however, the trail was still navigable. There are several parking lots along the boardwalk, and there is a porta-potty in the east end parking lot on Manistique Avenue.

View from picnic table at Indian Lake State Park

We visited Indian Lake State Park one day, as it was extremely windy at our campsite. This park has a nice picnic area with several benches, picnic tables, and pavilions for rent. There is a small beach for swimming behind one of the pavilions, and there is a boat ramp at the west end of the picnic area. We observed people fishing from small motorboats, and we saw a few kayaks out on the lake. The campground is quite large, and most of the campers seemed pretty close together except for a few along the lakefront.

Hiking trail at Indian Lake State Park

We hiked the trail, which was less than 2 miles. The portion along the lake, from the campground to the boat ramp, is tar. The rest of the trail is dirt through the woods, which was quite wet in spots. There were several areas where logs had been placed to walk on. The trail was mostly flat and easy to navigate, other than the areas with water.

Manistique, Michigan: Manistique Lakeshore Campground

 May 2021, Weekend - holiday, 3-nights

Manistique Lakeshore Campground looking inland from site 49

We had initially planned to stay in this campground May 2020, and our trip was canceled due to COVID-19 when many things were shut down. By the time we decided to replan our trip for 2021, our first choice campsite (#41) was not available, so we made an online reservation for site 49. The price had increased $5 a night since the year before. Another sad point for us was that a nearby business we had planned to visit in 2020 had closed after the pandemic hit: Mackinaw Trail Winery & Brewery.

Arrival

We arrived a bit before check-in time, and our site and paperwork were both ready. This was the most efficient check-in we have experienced so far this year.

Campsite 49 at Manistique Lakeshore Campground

Campsite 49

This campsite has full hookup with 50 amp power. It is the end/last water site. We had chosen site 41 the year before, because the online photos show that site 41 has a better view of Lake Michigan with better beach and water access. The online photos on the reservation site are great; however, they are a few years old, and the view behind every site is more open than shown. After arriving, we decided we like site 49 better than 41! 😊

Campsite 49 at Manistique Lakeshore Campground

I cannot fit all of the photos that I took in this post. You can see more in the Manistique Lakeshore Campground photo album on Facebook. 

Campsite 49 at Manistique Lakeshore Campground

All of the campsites along the water offer some privacy with trees in between. Site 49 has more side privacy than most, although this site is also visible from the entrance and campground office. This did not present any problems, since it was mostly quiet in the campground during our stay.

View from inside camper on site 49 at Manistique Lakeshore Campground