Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Saranac, Michigan / Ionia State Park Recreation Area, Fred Meijer Grand River Valley Trail

April 2017, 3-nights, Weekday-weekend, Site 13


View from site 13
This was our first visit to Ionia Recreation Area. It looked like a great place to check out in the spring or fall when it is cooler in the Lake Michigan area campgrounds. Also, we stayed over Easter weekend, and Ionia was a reasonable drive from our son's house making it easy for him to visit.

Advance reservations, arrival and check-in

Since this stay was before peak-season, we considered just choosing our site after we arrived to save the $8 reservation fee. There are not many water view sites though, and after I noticed a couple of them had been taken, we decided to make a reservation. We initially reserved site 13 for Friday and Saturday night, and then we called on Thursday to add Thursday to the reservation. 

The camp office was closed when we arrived Thursday evening, and we checked in via the yellow telephone outside the office. I was glad I had called beforehand and taken care of the additional night, or I would have had to provide all the payment information and such during check-in.

Campsite 13

Campsites 13, 15, 18, 22

It was pretty easy to back in on site 13. The site was grassy, and we had a decent view of the lake from outside. From inside, we had a view of the lake out the back window, and the view from our living room looked out toward the trees behind site 15. The online information for this site says that it accommodates a 40' RV. We have a 30' 5th wheel (about 35' overall), and we took up just about the entire site lengthwise. I think it would be tight with a 40' RV on this site.

Standing by fire pit on site 13