Norton Shores, Michigan: PJ Hoffmaster State Park and nearby areas

August 2021, 3 nights, weekday - weekend

Sunset over Lake Michigan at PJ Hoffmaster State Park.

We hiked in this park July 2015, although this was our first time camping overnight. When I made our reservation, I did not realize alcohol is prohibited in the campground from April 1st through Labor Day. I thought it was odd that alcohol is allowed in the day use area, and not the campground (staff told us this during check-in). 

Creek behind campsite 1 in PJ Hoffmaster State Park.

Arrival and check-in

This was the quickest state park check-in we ever experienced. A staff member met us outside to write down our truck plate numbers on a piece of paper. He had me take this to the person inside who completed the check-in. She quickly found our reservation, gave me the rules, and provided our site papers. The only rule emphasized and highlighted was the rule about no alcohol.

Our neighbor was almost finished parking his trailer just as we got to our site. Many more campers arrived that evening. We were surprised to see so many people arrive on a Thursday. Before COVID, we often arrived before most of the weekend crowd, and always enjoyed a quiet first evening. This year, it seems more people have Fridays off than ever before.

Campsite 1 in PJ Hoffmaster State Park. My photo above taken from in front of restroom.
Photo below is from DNR website taken from back of site.

Campsite 1

This is a decent size campsite, and it is on the creek. The ground cover was a combination of grass and dirt, and it was level. 

Walkway to creek behind campsite 1 in PJ Hoffmaster State Park.

Center photo in this trio is campsite 1 in PJ Hoffmaster State Park from DNR 
reservation site. Top and bottom photos are mine showing pine trees are gone.

This site was not as private as expected, because trees that showed in the online photos had been cut down. These apparently had been cut some time ago, because we did not see any stumps, and the area was overgrown. The growth helped create privacy; just not as much as we had expected from the bushy pine trees in the photos. We had also expected the bushy pine trees to create a sound buffer between our trailer and traffic on the road in.

Campsite 1 in PJ Hoffmaster State Park.
Electrical box is on the edge of campsite 2.

All in all, we liked this campsite. We could see a small glimpse of the creek when we sat in our chairs on the mat at the back of our site, and it was easy to walk back to the creek. 

Looking toward swimming area from north where Little 
Black Creek comes out in PJ Hoffmaster State Park.

Recreation: beach, hiking, nearby bicycle trail

We thought the campground loop we stayed in was one of the better choices. The sites seemed a bit larger, many of them are on the creek, and the path to the beach is at the end of this loop. It was still more than a half mile walk to the beach from our site, but it was a pretty easy walk.

Lake Michigan from the trail overlook north of Little Black Creek.

We only hiked a short distance during our stay, as it was incredibly hot out. We hiked the trail along Little Black Creek and out to the overlook north of the creek, and then along the beach. You can find more info about the trails in this park by clicking on the link at the top of this post, which has details from our visit in 2015.

Pulled Pork Sandwich at Old Boy's Brewhouse in Spring Lake

The Grand Haven Spring Lake Trail Network is close to PJ Hoffmaster State Park, except there is not a route to access it by bike from the campground unless you ride along the road. The closest trail access point is at the corner of Palm Dr and Iroquois Dr; however, there is no vehicle parking at this point. Two parks on the trail with parking are only a few miles away: Rycenga Park and Water Tower Park. It was an easy ride to Spring Lake and beyond from this area. This is a nice paved trail with many parks. There is one small bridge to cross that does not have a bicycle lane between Sunnyside Park and Ferry Park. W Spring Lake Rd was not busy in this area both times we crossed. The only trail portion that required strength was going up the bypass hills next to US-31. Old Boy's Brewhouse is right on the trail, so we stopped there for lunch. The food was acceptable, and the service was much better than it had been last time we visited.

Misc. and overall

If you are looking for peace and quiet when camping, I would not suggest this campground. If we stay here again, it would be during the week in the spring or fall. It was a very noisy place in August. Possibly, because the sound waves in this park travel more. The noise was not necessarily from rowdy people; we just heard voices, children playing, and many dogs barking. The barking dogs created the most noise. We heard them from all areas of the park, at all hours of the day. The noise did seem to die down after 10PM, as the rules state. We were always inside by that time though, and did not hear much. 

The bathrooms in this park were filthy every time I visited. It did not seem to be a matter of staff not doing their job. I do not think they could keep up with the traffic. There are two lanes at the sanitation station in this park, and there were more than five campers waiting when we left on Sunday. We had to return to the park an hour later, and the line was even longer. 

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