Ludington, Michigan / State Park Beechwood Campground

November 2015, Weekend-weeknight, 3 nights, Site 352

Lost Lake - photo taken from
Lost Lake Trail near Beechwood campground

State website and advance reservations

The activity information provided on the state website for Ludington State Park is great; however, the campsite photos and information for the campground are the worst I have ever seen. This is the only state of Michigan campground I have researched that does not provide the lot sizes. Not only that, many of the photos look deceiving as they are pictures of only the ground cover and no surrounding elements. Several photos are fuzzy, as well. The two photos below show the kind of photos on the campground reservation site.

Lot 311 - photo from state website
showing only the ground cover 

Lot 314 - fuzzy photo from state website

We thought lot 310 looked like the lot we wanted; however, since there were only two lots reserved in the entire park, and a few things about the lot information were unclear, we decided not to make an advance reservation and save the $8 reservation fee. Just our luck, that three days before our stay, someone checked into lot 310 for the rest of the week!

Arrival

There was not anyone working in the ranger station when we arrived Friday evening, so we used the yellow telephone to check-in. When you register for your lot this way, you can pay by credit card over the telephone, or drop a check in a locked box. Several more lots had been taken before we arrived, and we ended up choosing lot 352. Beechwood campground is not close to the ranger station, and it was almost dark, so we did not drive back to look at the lot first. This was out first experience setting up in the dark! It was dusk when we arrived to check-in, and we needed our flashlights by the time we got checked in and backed on to our lot.

Beechwood campsite information - sites 352, 354, and 338 - 354

Grayling, Michigan - Recreation within Hartwick Pines State Park and Grayling Bicycle Turnpike

October 2015

We camped in Hartwick Pines State Park in early October, and following is recreation information about the area. If you would like more information about the campground, please visit my Hartwick Pines State Park blog post. More photos of the area can be found in the Grayling, Michigan Facebook album. 

Glory Lake

Bright and Glory Trail

This trail starts in the campground between lots 15 and 16. It is a short foot path, which ends at Bright and Glory Lakes. The trail is about 1½ miles roundtrip, and it is a fairly easy trek. This trail was closed at the time of our stay as there was a large tree across the path near the lakes.

There is a parking lot on M-93, just west of the campground entrance, so the lakes are also accessible from the road. We observed a few fisherman, although we did not see anyone catch anything. Bicycles are not allowed on the trail.

Visitor's Center, Logging Museum, Chapel in the Woods, Old Growth Forest Trail

The Visitor's Center is about two miles one-way from the campground. In addition to the paved road, there is a trail through the woods, which starts near the campground. The trail through the woods is a bit longer than the road. Bikes are allowed on the trail; however, if you do not have mountain bikes (ours are city bikes!), this route is not easy. The beginning of the trail from the campground is flat and firm; however, after turning right, the trail gets very hilly and sandy in areas. The paved road to the Visitor's Center is hilly, as well.

trail down to Logging Museum
from Chapel in the Woods

Grayling, Michigan / Hartwick Pines State Park, Campground and Recreation Info

October 2015, Weekend, 3-nights, Lot 99

Arrival/check-in

There was not anyone working in the contact station when we arrived Friday afternoon. I spoke with a female when I used the yellow telephone to check-in. We had an advance reservation, and I also observed our name on the board for campers checking in that day. Remember that you always need your license plate number when checking in! I always remember to bring this when I go inside to check-in with an employee, but for some reason I forgot it when I got out after seeing that the office was closed. All camper vehicles in Michigan state parks need to have a recreation passport, so I wish the state of Michigan would update the website so we could enter this information during the reservation process.

Glory Lake in Hartwick Pines State Park

This campground was almost full the weekend of our stay, so I was surprised that no one was working in the contact station when we arrived. We observed someone checking campers in on Sunday when we left for our bike ride, and when we returned later that day.

Lot 99

Before I get into the details of lot 99, I want to say that I do not think there is a bad lot in this state park. It has some of the best camping lots of any of the state parks I have visited. There are 100 lots in this campground, and about half of them have full hookup. All of the lots accommodate an RV up to 40', and most of them are partially secluded.

Muskegon, Michigan / Lake Michigan State Park - Campground and Oktoberfest

October 2015, Weekend, 2-nights, Lot A48

Beach behind lot 48 in Lake Michigan campground

Photos, advance reservations, arrival

More photos for this campground and park can be found in the Muskegon State Park Facebook album.

We have stayed in Muskegon State Park Channel campground before; however, this was our first experience staying in Lake Michigan campground. We chose this area because we were going to be attending Oktoberfest across the street. After our arrival, we learned that shuttle buses were running between the two campgrounds every 15 minutes, so we could have easily stayed in either area.

Petoskey, Michigan Reviews - Breweries, Winery, Beer Festival

September 2015

There are many unique brewery choices in Michigan. I never used to be a beer drinker until I started trying some of the craft beers when they became more popular a few years ago. Following is information about the breweries we visited in the Petoskey area.

Beards Brewery

Beards Brewery is located downtown Petoskey (207 Howard St), and we rode our bicycles there on the Little Traverse Wheelway from Petoskey State Park. 

Petoskey, Michigan Bicycle Trails

September 2015

We bicycled on a couple of the area trails from Petoskey State Park, and we are planning to visit again soon! Following is some information to assist future visitors. Additional trail photos can be found in the Petoskey album on our Facebook page. 

Martha Cavanagh Cameron Preserve

Little Traverse Wheelway

The Little Traverse Wheelway is a fabulous 26-mile paved trail between Charlevoix and Harbor Springs.  This trail is accessible from Petoskey State Park. We traveled on the trail a short distance in both directions.  

Petoskey, Michigan / State Park & Tannery Creek Campground

September 2015, Weekend, 3-nights, Lot 138 and Lot 168

Photos, advance reservations, choosing lots

I have posted more Pestoskey photos in the Petoskey, Michigan album on our Facebook page, and I will post trail and brewery photos from our trip in those blog posts.