Upper Peninsula, Michigan: Recreation in Porcupine Mountains State Park, and Black River Harbor Recreation Area

May 2023, 8 days of hiking, waterfalls, rivers

Union Mine Interpretive trail sign and Union River
gorge overlook in Porcupine Mountains

Hiking

We hiked over 32 miles in the Porcupine Mountains! One of the hikes I enjoyed most is underrated, in my opinion; Union Mine Interpretive Trail. This is an easy trail along the river with some beautiful views.

  

Union Spring and Union Spring Trail in Porcupine Mountains

We hiked Union Spring Trail in this same area, which was a wet hike in May! Union Spring is a smaller version of Kitch-iti-Kipi Spring, and is just as beautiful. 

Government Peak Trail

We tried to hike Government Peak Trail one of the first days after we had arrived, and the bridge was out before Trap Falls. The bridge had been repaired a few days later, and we hiked the trail as far as Union Spring Trail junction. 

Union Spring Trail and Government Peak Trail connection
River crossing below

To get to Union Spring Trail from Government Peak Trail, you need to go through the river, as there is no bridge.

Ontonagon, Michigan: Porcupine Mountains State Park Union Bay Campground

May 2023, 8-nights 

This was our first visit to Porcupine Mountains since 1989. We did not have a reservation when we arrived that year, and the state campgrounds were full. We ended up in a private campground near the entrance to Union Bay: Union River's Big Bear Campground (very nice, BTW). This time, we made a reservation online to arrive on the opening date for Union Bay Campground, May 15th. Even though we arrived opening day before check-in time, there were already about 5 to 7 campers in the campground.

Union Bay Campground in Porcupine Mountains
Below: photo of campsite 18 on DNR reservation site

Union Bay Campground reservation and arrival, campsite #18 and #12

We made an online reservation for a waterfront site that looked like it had the least amount of standing water in the website photos. The photos also showed a few trees around this site, and the description says the surface is grass. When we arrived, campsite 18 was not as pictured or described online. The surface is small stones/rock, rather than grass, and there is no growth between the campsite and the water (which would have helped with the wind). This site is so shallow, that I assume the stone ground cover was brought in after much of the site was washed away during the high water levels three years ago. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a good current photo of campsite 18, as there was a camper on it right away after we decided not to take it.

Campsite 12 in Porcupine Mountains Union Bay Campground
Above: view from screen shelter

Union Bay campsite 12 and more

Since the weather was cool, and we would not have been able to put up our screened shelter in the stones, we looked for a different site. We picked out a few empty sites, called on the yellow phone, and then ended up on site 12. We had shelter, a grassy site, calm conditions, and a great view during most of our stay. The sites across from #12 dip down quite a bit, so they were not the first waterfront sites chosen. All of the sites in front of us were empty during most of our 8 night stay.

Campsites in Porcupine Mountains Union Bay Campground

Garden, Michigan: Fayette Historic State Park

May 2023, weekdays, 4-nights, campsite #53

Sunset over bay behind campsite 53 in Fayette Historic Campground
Below: view from inside camper in Fayette Historic Campground site 53

We have previously camped in this park, and we have visited by boat. You can find info from previous visits by clicking on labels at the bottom of this post. This was our first visit since 2015. It is also the first time we made an advance reservation. We called to add an extra day to our trip after our casino stay. We considered stopping at another State Forest Campground after we had nixed Hog Island; however, we decided it would not be worth it to stop elsewhere for only one night. Also, the rate for Fayette was only $10 more than a primitive SF campground. 

Campsite 53 in Fayette Historic State Park Campground

Arrival and campsite 53

After we arrived, I wished we had not made a reservation. The campground was mostly empty, and site 53 is very unlevel. We spent quite a bit of time trying to park our camper in different positions to see if we could get it where we would not need three or more blocks under one side. In the end, we backed in the usual way with blocks under the passenger side. Campsite 53 is one of the more private sites; however, since there was only 1 or 2 other campers during our entire stay, seclusion did not matter at this time of year.

Truck is close to the edge of campsite 53 in Fayette State Park Campground

Upper Peninsula, Michigan: Recreation in Bond Falls and Sturgeon River Gorge

May 2023, 8 days 

Above: view from trail in Bond Falls West Campground--trailer and kayak on campsite 20
Below: trail sign next to Bond Falls Road

Bond Falls Flowage: hiking, falls, boating, fishing, swimming

There are a couple of easy hikes from Bond Falls West Campground. The hike from our campsite to the falls and back was less than 4 miles roundtrip. We walked past the boat ramp, Roselawn Creek, and along the snowmobile trails next to Bond Falls Road. A small portion of this walk was along the shoulder of Bond Falls Road. We turned back onto the trail beyond the signs shown in the photo above. When you get to the dam after passing campsites 24 and 25, there is no way out to the road (the falls are on the north side of the road) unless you walk across the stone spillway behind the Outpost.

The falls and river were raging when we were there! The video above is the river near the falls picnic area. This is just below the dam and up river from the falls.

Ontonagon River above Bond Falls May 2023

Free Michigan Camping in Upper Peninsula: St Ignace Casino, Bond Falls, Sturgeon River National Park

May 2023, 9 nights

Kewadin Casino campground in St. Ignace, 2 nights, weekend

We had initially planned to camp at Hog Island State Forest Campground. The weather turned very cold and rainy the two nights we were in this area, so we decided we wanted a camping location with power instead of a primitive site. This camping area next to the casino has power, a dump station, and picnic tables (after it opens May 15th). We were there before the 15th, so no amenities were available except the electric. There was also no charge for our stay! 😊 The cost used to be $10 a night, and now the website says it is $20. We were able get a few tasks completed during this stay: there is a decent laundromat in town with free wifi, and we grocery shopped at Cedarville Foods after visiting Les Cheneaux Distillers. The grocery store had a decent selection with good prices for this rural area. You can find more info about the market and distillery by clicking on the "Cedarville" label at the bottom of this post.

The casino campsites are along the perimeter of the lower parking lot (some might complain that this is parking lot camping). Since we had lousy weather with no opportunity to be outside, and there were only a couple of other campers during our stay, this was not a problem. The wifi signal from the casino is not strong enough to use from the camping area.

Eagle in Brevort Lake National Forest Campground

Hog Island State Forest and Brevet Lake National Forest (neither of these are free)

We checked out these campgrounds after our casino stay on the way to our next destination. Hog Island did not appeal to us, and we were glad we had decided to stay at the casino. The sites are small, not very level or private, and some of them were wet with standing water. We would have stayed in Brevort Lake NF, except it was not open for the season yet. We walked through the park, and observed many spacious sites on the lake. 

Bond Falls campsite from road

Bond Falls west campground in Haight Township, 4 nights, site 20, weekdays and weekend

This was one of my favorite campgrounds during our 6-week trip. It is a primitive campground with only vault toilets and trash receptacles. There is an old hand water pump in the campground, which looked like it has not been working for awhile. Park information does not say that fresh water is available. Sites are all first come, first serve.

Bond Falls campsite

Onaway, Michigan: Onaway State Park

May 2023, weekday, one night, Onaway State Park campsite #15

Sunset from site 15 in Onaway State Park

This was our first visit to this campground. It was actually not where we had planned to stay; however, many campgrounds in Michigan do not open until the end of April or the end of May. We were actually surprised by how many campgrounds were not open yet at the end of April/beginning of May. This campground had opened April 22nd.

Advance reservations and arrival

We were only staying in this campground one night, so I figured we would just wait until we arrived to pick a site. My husband, however, wanted to pay the $9 reservation fee to make sure we got a nice site on the lake! 😁 So, we reserved the end lakefront site, #15. 

If you have never been to this campground before, the road down the hill into the lake area sites (1-24) is not visible until you get to the crest of the hill near campsite 25. There is a labeled campground photo near the bottom of this post. This is also the only road in the campground that is not a one-way road. It is not wide enough for two large campers to pass, so we were glad we arrived during off-season. The road is not real long, so you can mostly see if there is another camper arriving or departing.

 Campsite 15 in Onaway State Park

Campsite #15

This end campsite on Black Lake has 30AMP service. The cost was $22, not including the $9 reservation fee. The site is mostly level with partial shade. We did not have anyone on either side of us for our one-night stay.

 Beach area in front of campsite 15 in Onaway State Park
Bottom photo is through back trailer window

Millersburg, Michigan: Ocqueoc Falls State Forest Campground, the Falls and Hiking

May 2023, weekdays, 3-nights

Ocqueoc River

We drove through this state forest campground when we visited Ocqueoc Falls in June 2017 from P. H. Hoeft State Park. This time, we stayed in the state forest campground across the street from the falls. We had planned to arrive a few days earlier than we did; however, shortly beforehand, we discovered this campground does not open until May 1st. We arrived May 1st, and were the only campers all three nights of our stay.

View from campsite 3 in Ocqueoc Falls State Forest Campground

Ocqueoc Falls State Forest Campground is a primitive campground with vault toilets and a hand pump for fresh water. The water we pumped out was brown, and we did not use it. I am not sure if it is always like that, or if this was because we were apparently the first ones using the pump since the previous fall.

View from campsite 3 in Ocqueoc Falls State Forest Campground
Below: from back camper window

Campsites

We stayed on campsite 3, which is an amazing site. Campsites 1 and 2 are also on the river; the view is just not as open as on site 3. Campsite 3 is the most open riverfront campsite. It is a bit tricky to back into, as the road in front of it has a slight incline.

Above: View in front of campsite 3 in Ocqueoc Falls State Forest Campground
Below: Another view from campsite 3