Munising, Michigan: Bay Furnace National Park Campground in the Upper Peninsula

September 2024, 4 nights, weeknights

Sunset from inside our camper in Bay Furnace Campground

Reservations and arrival

The entrance into Bay Furnace is quite rough with many potholes. Fortunately, the distance down this rough dirt road is less than half a mile from M-28. 

Bay Furnace Campground self registration September 2024

We had made a reservation online several months ahead of time, and were able to proceed directly to our campsite. At the time of our stay the last full week of September, campsites that had not been reserved, had all been converted to first come, first serve. A sign on the self-registration post listed the park close date as 10/9/2024. The online system had said the park was going to close on 10/4 when we made our reservation. The host had already departed from full hookup site #8, and a local person had taken that campsite for the maximum 14-days allowed. According to the information on his post, he had rented it for the same price the rest of us paid for our primitive campsites.

Campsite 9 in Bay Furnace Campground
Photo above is view through screen door.

Campsite 9, and more

Campsite 9 is a great campsite on Lake Superior with a fabulous view. It was an easy few steps down the hill to the water. 

Campsite 9 in Bay Furnace Campground

This campsite is spacious, level, and somewhat secluded. There is a trail to the picnic area between this campsite and host site 8, which did not pass too close to our trailer. I marked the trail with an arrow in one of the photos above.

Most of the campsites in this park are great. They are spacious, and offer some privacy. Host campsite 8 and campsite 6 also have good views of the water, even though they are not directly on the water. Campsite 10 would be a good site for a tent, pickup camper, or motorhome pulled in. We did not like that site, because the fire ring and sitting area is behind the trailer when backing in with a travel trailer.

Above: picnic area in Bay Furnace Campground
Below: Campsite 9 in distance from edge of picnic area

Champion, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula: Van Riper State Park

September 2024, 5 nights, weekdays, campsite 111

Sunset over Lake Michigamme in Van Riper State Park

Reservations and arrival

This was our first stay in this campground. We made an online reservation for campsite 111, which is a 30 amp site. We arrived after checkout time, and slightly before check-in time. We were able to check-in, fill our water tank at the sanitation station, and proceed to our site. We observed a couple of campers depart after we arrived, so apparently staff does not always enforce the check-in and checkout times, as others have stated. Possibly, the late departing folks had paid for an extra day... When we departed on our last morning before checkout time, we observed new campers arriving early and proceeding to their sites, as well.

View of Lake Michigamme from campsite 111 in Van Riper State Park

Campsite 111

This campsite is shady, it is a decent sized site, only slightly unlevel, and it is mostly private. Lake Michigamme was barely visible from the edge of the site and through our back camper window. 

Campsite 111 in Van Riper State Park

The trail behind this campsite goes down a hill to the boat ramp. The activity on the trail was mostly people walking their dogs, and one day it was active with young teens speedily riding their bikes down the hill. Fortunately, there were no serious accidents! We overheard conversation about one wipeout, but no crying or screaming, so apparently the spill was minor.

Above: Pesheke River flowing into Lake Michigamme under the railroad tracks
Below: Heading out on Lake Michigamme from the boat ramp in Van Riper State Park

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

Upper Peninsula Michigan: Brevoort Lake National Forest Campground near St Ignace

September 2024, 6 nights, campsite 29

Water view behind campsite 29 in Brevoort Lake Campground

Reservations and arrival 

This was our first stay in this campground, and there is not any signage inside the park, other than the park sign when entering the area. There was no sign designating which direction for the campground when the road split (fortunately, google was correct). The campground is straight ahead on Park Lane when arriving from the south, and the picnic area is down the road to the right. The campground was not staffed in September, so we proceeded directly to our campsite. This campground has reservable sites and first come, first serve campsites. There are several great non-reservable sites on the water, and since our stay was off-season, we probably should have picked a site after arrival. We reserved a waterfront site online; however, the online photos do not provide enough information about the sites. I have provided some details about our campsite below.

Campsite 29 in Brevoort Lake Campground

Campsite 29

Something to be aware of, that is not disclosed on the reservation site, is that the online photo of campsite 29 is not taken from the road. There is a dirt road area in front of this campsite, which gives it more privacy from the road; however, there are also two stumps in this area that stick up several inches. They were tall enough that we could not drive over them with our trailer. This made backing our trailer in a bit challenging. I would not suggest this campsite for anyone who wants easy parking.

Campsite 29 in Brevoort Lake Campground

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

Northport, Michigan: Leelanau State Park

July 2024, weekdays and weekend, 5 nights, campsite 42

One of the amazing sunsets from in front of our campsite in Leelanau State Park

This was our first time camping in this campground. We absolutely loved it; however, the campsite information online is highly inaccurate. I am sharing some information, and a few photos of campsites to assist future travelers. Getting into the campground is a bit tight, and I would not suggest it for anyone with campers over 25 to 30', even though their website lists 10 sites as accommodating at least a 30' unit (3 of them say 35 to 40'). We previously owned a 30' Montana 5th wheel, and we would not have taken it to this campground. Another thing to keep in mind when choosing your site, is whether you have kids or not. The east end of this campground was definitely more peaceful than the west end during our stay.

Beautiful view out the front window of our camper in Leelanau State Park!

Campsites

We did not choose a site on the water, as all of the water sites, except one, say they only accommodate tents, pickup campers, vans, or trailers less than 20', and our trailer is 25'. We chose site 42, which says it can accommodate a trailer up to 30'. You could only put a 30' trailer on site 42, if you do not plan to use your fire pit, and/or you do not have slide outs. We had to finagle our camper in the position we ended up with, and then we had to back up closer to the fire pit when we departed to make the turn.

Campsite 42 in Leelanau State Park

In order to use the fire pit, we could not back up any farther than we did on site 42, because of our slide out. If we had not wanted to use the fire pit, we could have backed up all the way to it to get off the road farther. Parking parallel to the road would not have worked for us, because there are large trees next to our truck to the left of the screened tent that would have been in the way of our slides.

Campsite 42 in Leelanau State Park

We had an amazing view out our front window, and this campsite is pretty secluded. It was level enough that we did not need to use any leveling bocks for the position we parked our trailer in. We were able to partially extend our awning for partial protection from the sprinkles of rain during our stay and falling tree debris.

Above: Campsite 21 in Leelanau State Park
Below: Partial of campsite 23 in Leelanau State Park

There is more room on several of the water sites (21, 22, 23...) that are listed as only accommodating up to a 20' trailer, than there was on site 42, which says it can accommodate a 30' trailer. The campsites are not actually bigger than campsite 42; there are just not any tree obstructions on most of the water sites.

Above: Campsite 38 in Leelanau State Park
Below: Campsite 47 in Leelanau State Park

Campsite 43 is the largest site near the water (next to the site we were on and across the street from the lake). We were actually surprised to see a very tall 30' motorhome and a pickup truck squeeze onto this site during our stay. I did not get a photo of that site, although I have included a couple more campsite photos above.

Leelanau State Park lighthouse and campground beach

Honor, Michigan: Platte River Campground in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park

July 2024, nine nights, campsite 114

We have camped in this park a few times, and visited the general area many times. You can find more info by clicking on labels of interest at the bottom of this post, or via the following links: Platte River Campground September 2023, and Platte River State Forest campground July 2016. 

Campsite 114 from road in Platte River Campground

Campsite 114

Although campsite 114 was not our first choice when making our reservation, this turned out to be a great site. It is a spacious site, with good privacy compared to some of the campsites in this campground. The space between the fire pit on this campsite and campsite 116 is partially open, and the rest of the sides are blocked by trees and hills.

Campsite 114 in Platte River Campground

Before we arrived, we were a bit worried about the amount of tent room on this site, as the online photos looked like it might be boxed in by hills without much ground area. We have a trailer; however, we had two tent visitors for a couple of nights during our stay. We had also hoped to be able to put our screened in tent over the picnic table. The space worked out perfectly! We were able to put one tent on each side of the screened gazebo. The rules for this park do not say anything about the number of tents on a site; it only says no more than 6 people, only 1 trailer type unit, and only 2 vehicles per site allowed.

Platte Beach