July 2024, nine nights, campsite 114
We have camped in this park a few times, and visited the general area many times. You can find more info by clicking on labels of interest at the bottom of this post, or via the following links: Platte River Campground September 2023, and Platte River State Forest campground July 2016.
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| Campsite 114 from road in Platte River Campground |
Campsite 114
Although campsite 114 was not our first choice when making our reservation, this turned out to be a great site. It is a spacious site, with good privacy compared to some of the campsites in this campground. The space between the fire pit on this campsite and campsite 116 is partially open, and the rest of the sides are blocked by trees and hills.
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| Campsite 114 in Platte River Campground |
Before we arrived, we were a bit worried about the amount of tent room on this site, as the online photos looked like it might be boxed in by hills without much ground area. We have a trailer; however, we had two tent visitors for a couple of nights during our stay. We had also hoped to be able to put our screened in tent over the picnic table. The space worked out perfectly! We were able to put one tent on each side of the screened gazebo. The rules for this park do not say anything about the number of tents on a site; it only says no more than 6 people, only 1 trailer type unit, and only 2 vehicles per site allowed.
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| Platte Beach |
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Area recreation: hiking, kayaking, beach
The beach at at the end of Lake Michigan Road and on Peterson Road were both easily accessible from camp, and beautiful. There was only one day when a sign was posted at the beach where Platte River enters Lake Michigan saying that the bacteria levels were high.
We kayaked the Upper Platte from Veteran's Memorial State Forest Campground to Deadstream Road. This trip was a bit different than I had read about--probably because the water level was lower than usual. It had a good current with a couple of obstructions, which we did not encounter any problems with. When we first started, our son stopped to help a fellow kayaker who had run into trouble and could not stop his kayak from sinking. We saw him again at the end, and he said he had flipped five times!
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| New park on Upper Platte River @Indian Road |
The paddle upstream to Deadstrem Road was more work than I had expected, based on comments from others. It was not overly difficult; however, with the low water level, we probably had to paddle through more seaweed than usual. We passed a new park on the river on Indian Hill Road, and I imagine we will look at taking our kayaks out at this spot next time we do this trip. Although there were many vehicles parked at the Deadstream Road takeout when we started and when we ended, we only passed one other group of kayakers doing the trip we did (the group with the person who had flipped).
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| S. Manitou Island from Pyramid Point Overlook |
We visited Glen Arbor this trip, and hiked Pyramid Point Overlook and the trail in Port Oneida. The uphill hike to the overlook was pretty easy; in fact, we saw some people hiking it in flip flops. We took the trail loop back, which was also easy, but a bit overgrown in spots. I would advise long pants and bug spray, if you plan on hiking the loop.
Another great activity in the area is the Betsie Valley Trailway. The trip between Beulah and Frankfort in nine miles one-way. It is paved except for the crushed gravel portion in Beulah. This beautiful ride passes along Betsie River, Crystal Lake, and Railroad Point Natural Area.
Let me know if you have any questions, and feel free to share this post!
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