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.

Strongs, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula: Three Lakes Campground

September - October 2024, 3 nights

Sunset over Walker Lake behind campsite 5 in Three Lakes Campground

Arrival and campsite choice

We had hoped to camp in Soldier Lake Campground for this stay; however, that campground had already closed for the season. The information for Three Lakes Campground says it has sites for up to a 20' trailer, and ours is 25'. People we had met when camping in Brevoort Lake National Forest Campground told us the sites are large, so we decided to check it out. This campground is easy to access from M-28, and all of the roads are paved. Our 25' trailer could have easily fit on most of the sites in this campground. The facility map for this campground is not correct at the time of this post, and some of the website photos are incorrect, as well. I have shared information about that farther down in this post.

Campsite 4 is the site with the best water view; however, there was a camper on that site when we arrived. There was no tag on the post, and that camper ended up leaving late that day, after we had already chosen site 5. 😳  We chose site 5 because it had the best kayak launch spot of the remaining waterfront sites available.

Campsite 5 in Three Lakes Campground
Photo above is lake view from inside our trailer

Campsite 5

We liked all of the campsites in this park. The sites are spacious, and there is quite a bit of privacy around every site. The area where we parked our trailer on site 5 is hard packed, as is the ground on the road side of the tree. There is not a designated gravel or tar parking area on any of the sites, like is often common in National Parks. We chose to back in on the other side of the tree in order to have a better lake view, and so the tree would not be in the way of our awning.

Campsite 5 in Three Lakes Campground

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

 September 2024

I am sharing info about a few of the areas we hiked/visited along the Pictures Rocks shoreline between Munising and Grand Marais. We split our campground time between Bay Furnace National Park Campground (primitive campsites with a sanitation station and fresh water available), and Seney Township Campground (town park on Fox River with electric sites and artesian well on property). 

Mosquito Falls and trail in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Hiking to Mosquito Falls, Mosquito Beach, and Chapel Falls

We started our hike at Chapel Falls trailhead. This trailhead is about a 40-minute drive from Bay Furnace Campground. We put the destination in Google maps and our GPS before we left Munising, so it stayed connected even when our phone lost reception en route. There is a trail map and vault toilets at the trailhead parking lot.

Above: Mosquito Beach
Below: cave along Mosquito Falls Trail

We hiked the Mosquito loop trail first, which was almost 5 miles. We did not think this was a difficult hike, although many people turned around before Mosquito Falls, as the trail gets a bit wet and hilly in areas. Since there were not many hikers, we got to enjoy the scenery and saw several deer. Mosquito Beach is beautiful!

Above: Chapel Falls
Below: creek above Chapel Falls

Seney, Michigan (upper peninsula): Seney Township Campground

September 2024, 3 nights, weekend

Fox River in Seney Township Campground in Michigan's upper peninsula

We found this campground, between our primitive campground stays, as we were looking for an inexpensive place to stay for a night or two with electricity. We liked this campground so well, we stayed for three nights.

Arrival experience

This is a small township campground on the Fox River with self-registration. Two campsites were taken when we arrived on a Friday. Only one campsite is river adjacent, and the camper on that site looked like he was staying for awhile. We parked, and walked around the park on foot, before we decided to go with campsite 14. The senior rate for a site with electricity was $18 a night. This campground does not have a sanitation station.

 View from campsite 14 in Seney Township Campground 

Campsite 14

This campsite overlooks an artesian well and a small creek. Tent sites, and Fox River Road are visible on the other side of the creek. Since there were no tent campers during our stay, we had a great view. The only vehicles were observed on Fox River Road were ATV type trail machines, and a couple off vehicles camping at the State Forest Campground down the road.

Above: Seney Township Campground artesian well and campsite 14 beyond
Below: campsite 14 from tent area in Seney Township Campground

People often stopped at the well to fill water containers, which did not cause us any disruption. In fact, when we returned one day from our hike, someone had left us a box of firewood. 😊 No campers had departed the campground that day, so we assume it was from someone who had stopped for water.

Campsite 14 in Seney Township Campground

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

Au Train, Michigan: Au Train Lake USDA Forest Service Campground in the Upper Peninsula

September 2024, 1 night, weeknight, campsite 22

Sign posted at the entrance to Au Train Lake Campground September 2024

Arrival experience

As we were driving to this campground, we were hoping it was still open, because the information online was unclear. Information on the recreation.gov site sounded like it might be closing the day we were arriving, although it did not state this for sure. Later, we learned that the information on the USDA Forest site would have been more helpful, since that site clearly stated the closing date. When we arrived, a sign on the post stated that the campground was closing October 1st. The host campsite was already vacated for the season. Although we have seen the host campsite available at other campgrounds after the host departs, it was roped off at this campground, so no one could rent it.

Campsite 22 in Au Train Lake Campground

Campsite 22

At the time of our stay, all of the sites were first come, first serve, except campsites that had been reserved far in advance. There were reserved tags on those sites. We were only staying one night, and chose campsite 22, which was spacious enough and level enough that we did not need to unhook our trailer. 

Campsite 22 in Au Train Lake Campground
View from the road and from the lake behind the site

This is a great campsite on the lake, and it has trees around the perimeter. This site is always FCFS, even during peak season. We thought most of the campsites in this campground were great. Most of them are spacious, private, and level. 

Songbird Trail in Au Train Lake Campground

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

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