Kalamazoo, Michigan: Markin Glen County Park

September 2023, 3 nights, weeknights, campsite 27

Overlooking playground and beach area in Markin Glen Campground

Reservations and arrival

It is easy to make a reservation at this campground via phone, and the cost to camp for a full hook-up site is fair. Our arrival experience was a bit unpleasant, as we arrived shortly before the 3:00 PM check-in time, and were told we had to wait in the parking lot, or return after 3:00. Since we arrived on a Tuesday, and the campsites had all been vacated and cleared, this seemed ridiculous. Another camper arrived at 2:55 PM, and also pulled into the parking area to wait 5 minutes. 😳 At least the staff member had processed our paperwork when we arrived, so we did not have to go back out and enter the check-in line at 3:00 PM. Apparently, a lot of people thought Tuesday was a good day to arrive, as we observed a couple of campers in line, when we drove from the picnic area parking lot to our campsite. 

Campsite 27 in Markin Glen Campground

Campsite 27

Campsite 27 is the very last site on the outer loop. It is a grassy, private, and beautiful site. We got some rain during our stay, and this site floods a bit on the cement pad. 

Campsite 27 in Markin Glen Campground

This was our third or fourth time staying in this park, and the campground is usually very quiet. This time we had several noisy campers across the road from us who kept us up until after midnight every night. It was kind of annoying that staff had enforced the check-in time rule, and not the quiet time park rule.

Recreation

We love being able to access paved Kalamazoo Valley River Trail next to this park, for walking and bike riding. A portion of the trail to the south, just before downtown, was closed during our stay due to road construction. You can find more recreation info for this park and the Kalamazoo area in previous posts from 2018, 2019, and 2021. 

Downtown breweries

We visited a couple of new breweries downtown: the new Saugatuck Brewing Company location, and Brewery Outre. We loved Saugatuck Brewing when we visited at the previous Kalamazoo location a couple of years ago; however, our experience this time was not as great. The beers were not as good (we loved their IPA IMPaled it in 2021, and all of the IPAs this visit were extremely fruity), and we almost had a problem with the bill. We used our Reel Craft Pass for 50% off two beers, and Discover Kalamazoo also had a passport for $1 off a beer. Before we ordered our second beers, we asked if we could also use the $1 Kalamazoo discount. The bartender said yes, and then when we got the bill, she initially told us we could not use both discounts. She was very rude about it, and actually said to us: "Did you just think you were going to come in here and drink for free." Wow! We were not drinking for free. In fact, if we had visited during Happy Hour, without using any of our booklet discounts, our bill would have been about the same. Although she ended up applying both discounts, the experience was unpleasant. We visited Brewery Outre by car on a different day. It would have been better to stop at this location the day we had been biking, as there are only a couple of parking spots for this brewery. Our son liked the beers at this brewery; however, neither my husband nor I cared for them. The beers on their website look delicious, so we were surprised to have been disappointed. The service, again, was barely satisfactory. We sat at the bar, and had to flag the bartender down every time we needed something, as he never checked on us. He was more interested in visiting with regulars and friends, than to pay attention to the newbies.   

Misc. and overall

Although we experienced a couple of minor inconveniences this trip, we do still enjoy visiting Kalamazoo. I do not understand the reasoning behind campgrounds making people wait until after check-in time to go to their site, if the campsite is ready and available. Hotels do not have a problem with this unless the room is not ready yet. If they are worried about people using more than their allotted share of power by letting them in early, campgrounds would lose this battle, time-wise overall, if we paid by the number of hours (we would get 22 hours on our site with check-in at 3:00 PM and checkout at 1:00 PM). Yes, we arrived early; however, we also departed four hours before checkout time, which is typical, for us. All the campers that we observed leaving during our stay, departed in the morning, as well. Some people may use more than their fair share by arriving early, and staying until checkout time; however, most people do not travel this way. I believe in making rules for the 99%; not enforcing rules for the few people who may try to take advantage of the rule.

Let me know if you have any questions or info to add!