Bay City, Michigan / State Recreation Area, Downtown, Trails

April 2018, Weekend, 2-nights, campsite 69

We had a late start to camping in Michigan this year, as it snowed several days in April! We still had a couple of small piles of snow in our front yard when we left for our camping trip at the end of April, which is quite unusual.

Sunset from campsite at Bay City State Recreation Area

Bay City State Recreation Area advance reservations and check-in

We were initially undecided about making an advance reservation once we decided we were going camping. There is an $8 reservation fee, and there was not really a need to reserve a site, as most of the sites were available. Also, we had never been to this park before, and some of the online information was inaccurate, so it was difficult to decide. Site numbers had been changed from 2017 to 2018, and some of the photos were obviously incorrect for the corresponding sites. On the other hand, it is always quicker and easier when we arrive, if we already have a reservation. I decided to call the campground to ask about a few of the sites we had been considering. By the end of the conversation, I learned that if we did not like our site after we arrived, we could call to have it changed, without having to drive back to the office. We decided to reserve site 68 online.

Check-in time is 3:00 PM, and we arrived in the morning. The campground was mostly empty, and we were allowed to check-in early. When we arrived at site 68, we saw that this is a lousy site (details under the campsite heading below). Site 69 is a good site, and we successfully got our site changed over the telephone.

Center sites looking east from bathroom.
Our RV on site 69 in distance. 

Campsites 68, 69, 70, 71, 183, 185, and more

The ground is low in this campground, and more than half of the sites were underwater at the time of our visit. Some of the site descriptions say that the site is low; however, we observed many sites underwater with descriptions that did not describe the ground as low. The rainfall received in the area at the time of our stay was a bit less than usual for this time of year.

Same center section from opposite road.
Looking across sites 77 and 79.

I had thought site 68 would be a good site because there is gray area on the map between this campsite and site 64, which looked like brush offering some privacy in the photos. The dimensions for this site are listed as 60 x 70, so we expected it to be a large site. Campsite 68 is NOT 60' wide, because the 60' width measurement includes the gray area on the map. Usually, campsite dimensions do not include adjacent unusable areas that are grayed out. The picnic table in the photos (online, and the one I posted below) are pretty much the entire site, since the brush is unusable area. The edges of the site on the pavement are just outside of the photo I included. One thing I was worried about when I looked at the online photos for site 68 were the trees. We have two expandos, and I was not sure if the site would be too tight for our RV. The person I spoke with when I called had said she did not think this would be a problem. There would not have been much room on campsite 68, since the camp area is not very big.

Site diagram from reservation website

Bay City State Recreation Area campsite 68

All of the sites in this area (68 - 71) were damp except site 69. Reading the information on the reservation site, I had thought site 71 also looked like a good site; however, the online photos attached to this site in April did not match; they were of an inside site. The actual size of site 71 looks smaller than the dimensions given online (60 x 50). This could be because some of the unusable area behind the site is included in the online measurements, like site 68.

Campsite 69; view from camper

Campsite 70 at Bay City State Recreation Area

Campsites 74 - 88 are all low and had standing water in April (photo below). These sites are described as low on the website.

Facing NW standing in front of campsite 76

Campsite 84 was mostly dry, and just a tad squishy at the back of the site. The RVs in the background of the photo below are on about sites 33 and 30 or 34 and 32. I did not check the site numbers when we walked by.

Looking south across campsite 84

Facilities, sanitation station

The restrooms and showers were clean, heated, and well maintained. The east restrooms and showers were partially open even though information online said this restroom would not be open until May.

There are two dump stations with fresh water at the campground entrance. These are easy to access, located directly on the way out.

Recreation: hiking, biking, visitor center, beach/picnic area

There is a lot of recreation at this campground! Hiking, biking, beach, play area, picnic area, activities in the visitor center, and town is close by. The beach is across the street from the campground. There is a trail from the cul-de-sac campsites (127 - 130), although it was flooded when we visited. We did not check out the beach or picnic area, as it was quite chilly out.

Map of lagoon by visitor center

We did not get as much exercise as we would have liked, since I was recovering from foot surgery at the time of our stay. We walked a few miles in the campground and around the visitor center. The loop between markers 4 and 5 on the map above (Chickadee Nature Trail near visitor center) was flooded at the time of our visit.

View looking east from first observation tower

We rode our bicycles to the first observation tower, stopping for a view of Tobico Marsh on the way. This is an easy ride with a couple of benches along the way.

View of trail from first observation tower

We bicycled south on Bay County Riverwalk Trail to State Park Rd. We would usually have taken this trail all the way to downtown Bay City, which is about 6.5 miles one-way.

Both of the trails were paved, although there were a lot of cracks and lumps from roots, which made the bicycle ride a bit rough. This was not a huge deal, although it was not very pleasant for my foot in my condition at the time.

Riverwalk Rail Trail

Downtown and Lumber Barons Brewery

We drove to town so we could walk along the Riverwalk Trail. This trail goes out over Saginaw River, and it connects to BayZil Rail Trail.

Howler from Lumber Barons Brewery

We stopped at one of the local breweries, Lumber Barons Brewery, before heading back to camp. Excellent service, prices, and beer! We ended up purchasing a new howler.

Overall

We enjoyed the trails in and around the campground. We hope to visit this state park again next year, so we can hike and bicycle to the areas we missed!