Marquette, Michigan: Ojibwa Casino, Iron Ore Heritage Trail, Welcome Center

September 2024, 2 nights, weekend

We have previously stayed in Marquette Tourist Campground, and Rippling River Resort in this area, and had hoped to stay in a local campground again. You can find more details about those campgrounds by clicking on the "Marquette" label at the bottom of this post. For this trip, we decided the nightly campground rates had become too expensive ($45 to over $100 a night). And, Rippling River Resort was requiring a 3-night stay minimum. We also considered staying in a hotel with laundry facilities along the Iron Ore Heritage Trail; however, lodging for the nights we wanted was over $300 a night (and, our first choice hotel did not have parking to accommodate our trailer overnight). So, we opted to just stay in the casino parking lot.

View from inside our camper in Marquette Ojibwa Casino RV parking lot

Ojibwa Casino RV parking

Ojibwa Casino was in the process of building an RV park, which was not finished at the time of our stay. The sites are all full hookup, although I could not find any information about the campground rates when it is finished. There is plenty of overnight parking space for RVs next to the regular parking lot, and there is no charge to park in the RV lot. There were two campers that looked like they were staying long-term. This was our first time staying in a casino parking lot for more than one night. Other than the generator noise, which was not very loud, we had a quiet and uneventful stay.

View from picnic area at Marquette Welcome Center

Marquette, Michigan: Tourist Park Campground, Biking, Hiking, Breweries

 September 2022, Weekdays, 3 nights

Beach and sunset at Marquette Tourist Park Campground

Marquette Tourist Park Campground, Campsite 77

I attempted to make an advance reservation online; however, the website for this campground is not user friendly, and it did not work properly. Apparently, I am not the only one who has had trouble with the reservation system, as I read complaints about the process from others when I researched this campground. Fortunately, I was able to reach someone in the office who was helpful with adjusting our reservation after it did not process as expected.

Marquette Tourist Park Campground
View from inside our camper on campsite 77, looking toward campsite 75 

Campsite 79 is a secluded site along the back tree line with electrical hookup. Most of the waterfront sites were already reserved when we made our reservation. During our stay, we were glad we had not chosen a non-secluded waterfront site, as it was quite windy and cool, and the wind was stronger at the sites closer to the water. Campsite 13 on the water had looked like a good site online; however, when we looked at it during our stay, it did not look like it would have been a good site for our trailer. It is not very level, and the camper sitting side would not have been facing the water. This is probably a great site for people with a truck camper or tent.

Beach area in Marquette Tourist Park Campground

This campground is located on the Dead River basin. It has a sandy beach with swimming area, and there are kayaks for rent inside the park. The paved bicycle trail alongside the park (Marquette City Multi Use Path) is well maintained and connects to Iron Ore Heritage Trail. 

Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Michigan

It was an easy bike ride of about 2 miles one-way to Presque Isle Park. There are a couple of stopping points along the way, and the Presque Isle Bog walk is located just before the park entrance. Inside the park, there are hiking trails along the water and rocks, and there are hilly trails through the woods in the center of the park. Most visitors just stopped along the loop drive to explore the areas along the water and close to the road. We passed only one other hiker on the hilly inside loop trail. It was easy to hike all of the trails, other than a few steps or mild hills for the interior portion.

Marquette, Michigan: Rippling River Resort Campground, Presque Isle Park, Downtown

 October 2020, 4-nights, weekdays - weekend, campsite 24

Carp River at Rippling River Resort in Marquette, Michigan.

Reservations and arrival

We made our reservation on the website, and were able to pick our campsite. The check-in and entrance signs were well marked when we arrived, and the check-in process did not take long.

Campsite 24 at Rippling River Resort.

Campsites

I chose site 24 because online it looked like it had trees on both sides. This is a level and spacious site with some privacy. The site was shady for most of the day. It is a full hookup site, and the cost was $59 a night. I am posting a few campsite photos in this blog. You can find more photos and additional information in the Rippling River Resort album on my Facebook page.

View toward river and tent sites from campsite 24 at Rippling River Resort.