Rogers City, Michigan / P. H. Hoeft State Park

June 2017, 4-nights, weekend-weekdays, campsites 21 and 121

Sunrise from site 21

Hoeft State Park  is located on Lake Huron about five miles north of Rogers City. There are a few campsites near the lake, although there is not much of a view from most of them. There are hiking and mountain bike trails in the park, and a paved bicycle trail in front of the park. The park also contains a playground, volleyball nets, a pavilion, and beach. You can find more information about amenities inside the park below, and I will have a separate blog post about some of the area sites: 40 Mile Point Lighthouse, Rogers City, Ocqueoc Falls, and Little Ocqueoc Underground River.

Arrival and check-in

The office was staffed when we arrived, and it only took a few minutes to get checked in for our campsite. We wanted to empty our holding tank and get fresh water when we arrived, and the sanitation station was easily accessible on the way  to our site after check-in.

Campsite 121

Campsites 121 and 21

When I made our reservation, I initially looked at the campsites near the water. It did not look like the water would be visible from any of the campsites, and these sites are mostly dirt, so I chose site 121. Campsite 121 is a good sized site, which is sunny, somewhat grassy, and private. There is a small patch of trees between sites 120 and 121. State Park Road runs behind this site, although traffic is not visible from the campsite. The traffic noise was minimal.

Public walkway to beach alongside site 21

When most of the campers left after the weekend, my husband wanted to move to site 21 because this site is closer to the water. Campsite 21 is mostly dirt, and it is next to the walkway to the beach. I did not care for the dirty lot, although it was nice to see the sunrise in the morning. We walked the few steps down to the beach one morning, which I do not think we would have done, if we had stayed on site 121.

Walkway from beach next to site 21; camper barely visible on the left

The water view from site 21 is better than any of the others. The water is not visible at all from most of the sites. All of the waterside sites are dirt, and most of them are unlevel and shady.

Lake Huron in Hoeft State Park

Recreation: beach, volleyball, playground, pavilion/shelter, trails 

The beach area is accessible from a few different areas: next to site 21, between site 7 and the playground, and from the pavilion. It is sandy on shore, although it is stoney at the waters edge and in the water. We also observed a few big rocks under the water near the shore. It was not very warm during our visit, and we did not observe anyone swimming. We did see a few people wading in the water. There are a few benches along the beach, and we observed volleyball nets in the sand between the lake and campsites.

Playground

The playground looked new. It is nice, and there is a small picnic table in the shade next to the playground equipment.

View of pavilion/shelter from beach

There is a large parking lot near the pavilion. The pavilion contained flush toilets, picnic tables, and a hand water pump nearby (between the parking lot and building). There was a fireplace in the shelter, although we did not observe any firewood.

There are a few miles of trails inside the park from the campground, and more across US-23. The trails across the road are also part of the state park property. The trails we hiked on the campground side were easy. We did not get to hike all of them because one portion was covered with water.

Campground shower

Facilities and sanitation station

The restrooms and showers were clean and well maintained. One of the buildings also contained a dish washing sink in the bathrooms.

Dishwashing sink in Women's bathroom

This campground has a recycle station next to the dumpster, which was easy to see and use. There is only one dump spot at the sanitation station. Since we arrived and departed during non-busy times, we did not need to wait when we arrived, nor when we departed.

View of the bicycle trail and entrance to state park

Watch for my next blog post for information about activities and attractions in the area!