Hesperia, Michigan: Pines Point Campground and Kayaking White River

June 2020, Weekend, 2 nights, Campsites 9 and 10 

We had driven to this campground in our car to check it out during the pandemic when it was closed, because we wanted to make sure we could get our fifth wheel back to the campsites. Be sure to follow the brown campground signs on the road, and not your GPS when arriving. Our GPS told us to drive down a seasonal road, as did our friend's and our son's. Our son decided to follow his GPS, even though I had told him not to. He said that a ways down the seasonal road, there is a sign that says, "Your GPS is wrong. This is not the way to the campground." 😳 I wish he had taken a photo of the sign! Seems like that sign would be a lot more helpful at the start of the seasonal road. Luckily, he was in his car and not pulling a camper.

Campground arrival and campsites 6 through 10

We had planned to stay in this campground 3 nights; however, the opening was delayed due to the stay home order, and it did not open until Friday morning, June 12th. We were one of the first campers to arrive that morning. We took site 9, and our friends camped on site 10. 

Pines Point campsite 10, site 9 is to the right

Campsite 9 is very spacious; however, it does not have a tar pad. The dirt ground is hard packed and fairly level. We parked on a slight angle, and the campground host came over to tell us we could not park that way. It was difficult to know exactly how he wanted us to park, since this site does not have a pad like the others. We straightened our rig out somewhat, and he did not say anything more about that. He did, however, charge us for our kayak trailer, which we later found out we should not have had to pay for. Initially, he told us we had to pay for it since it has a license plate. So, we added that in to our total when we did the self-registration. Later, he told us each site is allowed two vehicles. Our son was going to be arriving later, and our friends would have parked the trailer on their site, if we had known this! The trailer is owned by both of us, and carries all our kayaks (the guys designed and built it). At least we have this information for next time we visit.

Pines Point campsite 6 above, site 8 below

Surprisingly, I did not get a photo of site 9. I am sharing photos of a couple of other sites we looked at during our road trip. The river is barely visible down the hill from the first few sites in the campground. The traffic by the first few sites is a bit more of a concern, if you have children, because during our stay, drivers did not slow down until just before the road split in front of our campsites (#9 & #10). 

Benzonia, Michigan: Vacation Trailer Park

June 2020, weekday-weekend, 2-nights, campsites 19 & 20

We made several changes to our camping plans during May and June this year due to the pandemic. During our stay at Indigo Bluffs Resort (a substitute for two of our original campgrounds), our next two substitute campgrounds canceled our stays because they both delayed their opening. We extended our stay at Indigo Bluffs, and then found this campground for a couple of nights at the last minute. 

Lot choice, arrival, check-in

I called to inquire about two sites, because a relative was going to bring their RV up to camp also. The person I spoke with suggested two 50 amp sites near the road; 79 and 80. She said the river sites are all 20 and 30 amp, and not very big. I started to reserve the two sites she had suggested, until she said there is a $75 deposit, and if we did not fit on the sites, the deposit is nonrefundable. We were not very far away, so we decided to drive there the next day to look at the sites first. I am glad we did, because we then chose sites 19 and 20, which was a much better choice for us!

Campsites 19 and 20.

We arrived before noon, and checked into site 20. We were glad that there were only two other campers on the point near our site because it was a tight fit. If you click on the photo above to enlarge it, you can see that our awnings are almost touching. Staff came down to finish cutting the lawn while we were getting settled on our site. This did not cause any problems; we knew we had arrived early, and we had already finished parking.

View from the edge of site 19; first fire ring is on site 19.
Click photo to enlarge it and read labels.

Campsites 11 through 24

All of the sites in this area are 30 AMP, and they are located on Betsie River. There is a slight decline down a slope to the sites. Their online map shows a turnaround at the end of the road, which is only big enough to accommodate small trailers. We had to go in and out of our site the same way without using the turnaround, because there was not enough room to turn our fifth wheel around at the end. We observed small campers having a difficult time turning around, as well.