Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Mesick and Cadillac, Michigan / Jeep Blessing and Mitchell State Park

May 2017


We stayed at Mitchell State Park to attend the Jeep Blessing in Mesick, Michigan. This was our third stay at Mitchell State Park, and you can find more campground details in two of my previous posts: May 2016, and September 2014.  

Sunset view from back of campsite 180

Mitchell State Park: sites 174, 176, 179, 180, and 181 

We camped in a new area [for us] of the state park this visit, and I am sharing a few photos and information about some of the campsites in the channel area. Information that I shared previously concerning the facilities and amenities has not really changed any.

Sign at park entrance
We were camping during non-peak season, and there was not anyone working at the ranger station during our stay. The sign at the entrance said we could just proceed to our site, if we had a reservation (which we did). Pictures in this blog can be enlarged by clicking on them. The only new thing I observed about the facilities was a sign by the showers saying that the shower cost is $1 for non-campers. Must be they have a lot of non-campers using the showers!



View from site 176 at sunset

View from inside camper on site 176

We stayed on campsite 176, which is a pull-through site overlooking the boat launch ramp on Lake Cadillac. There is a second boat launch ramp in this park in the picnic area on Lake Mitchell. We saw an eagle overhead from our campsite the first evening when the park was mostly empty (Thursday night).

Sites 174, 179, 180, 181
The picture above was taken from the edge of site 174. Site 174 has a gravel pull-through pad on the other side of the fire pit not shown in the photo. The fire pit on site 180 is located so close to the edge of the site that it is not possible to sit on the west side of the fire without sitting on site 181. Neither site seems like it would be a good choice during peak season unless you are camping together with the people on the other lot.

Jeep Blessing: Ellens Corners in Mesick, Michigan

The Jeep Blessing is always the Saturday of the weekend before Mother's Day. This is usually the first weekend in May; however, in 2016 it was April 30th because Mother's Day fell on the first weekend in May. There were over 2,000 Jeeps in attendance this year. You would need to arrive pretty early to get a spot in front overlooking the obstacle course. The panorama picture below is courtesy of a friend of mine.

Jeep Blessing

There are several seasonal roads between Cadillac and Mesick, so we took the scenic route back after the Jeep Blessing. At this time of year, we observed many parked vehicles on the seasonal roads - presumably morel mushroom hunting, as Mesick is dubbed the mushroom capital of the United States. The Mesick Mushroom Festival is held the week  after the Jeep Blessing during Mother's Day weekend.

Let me know if you have any questions, and feel free to share this post!



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