Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

 September 2024

I am sharing info about a few of the areas we hiked/visited along the Pictures Rocks shoreline between Munising and Grand Marais. We split our campground time between Bay Furnace National Park Campground (primitive campsites with a sanitation station and fresh water available), and Seney Township Campground (town park on Fox River with electric sites and artesian well on property). 

Mosquito Falls and trail in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Hiking to Mosquito Falls, Mosquito Beach, and Chapel Falls

We started our hike at Chapel Falls trailhead. This trailhead is about a 40-minute drive from Bay Furnace Campground. We put the destination in Google maps and our GPS before we left Munising, so it stayed connected even when our phone lost reception en route. There is a trail map and vault toilets at the trailhead parking lot.

Above: Mosquito Beach
Below: cave along Mosquito Falls Trail

We hiked the Mosquito loop trail first, which was almost 5 miles. We did not think this was a difficult hike, although many people turned around before Mosquito Falls, as the trail gets a bit wet and hilly in areas. Since there were not many hikers, we got to enjoy the scenery and saw several deer. Mosquito Beach is beautiful!

Above: Chapel Falls
Below: creek above Chapel Falls

Seney, Michigan (upper peninsula): Seney Township Campground

September 2024, 3 nights, weekend

Fox River in Seney Township Campground in Michigan's upper peninsula

We found this campground, between our primitive campground stays, as we were looking for an inexpensive place to stay for a night or two with electricity. We liked this campground so well, we stayed for three nights.

Arrival experience

This is a small township campground on the Fox River with self-registration. Two campsites were taken when we arrived on a Friday. Only one campsite is river adjacent, and the camper on that site looked like he was staying for awhile. We parked, and walked around the park on foot, before we decided to go with campsite 14. The senior rate for a site with electricity was $18 a night. This campground does not have a sanitation station.

 View from campsite 14 in Seney Township Campground 

Campsite 14

This campsite overlooks an artesian well and a small creek. Tent sites, and Fox River Road are visible on the other side of the creek. Since there were no tent campers during our stay, we had a great view. The only vehicles were observed on Fox River Road were ATV type trail machines, and a couple off vehicles camping at the State Forest Campground down the road.

Above: Seney Township Campground artesian well and campsite 14 beyond
Below: campsite 14 from tent area in Seney Township Campground

People often stopped at the well to fill water containers, which did not cause us any disruption. In fact, when we returned one day from our hike, someone had left us a box of firewood. 😊 No campers had departed the campground that day, so we assume it was from someone who had stopped for water.

Campsite 14 in Seney Township Campground

Munising, Michigan: Bay Furnace National Park Campground in the Upper Peninsula

September 2024, 4 nights, weeknights

Sunset from inside our camper in Bay Furnace Campground

Reservations and arrival

The entrance into Bay Furnace is quite rough with many potholes. Fortunately, the distance down this rough dirt road is less than half a mile from M-28. 

Bay Furnace Campground self registration September 2024

We had made a reservation online several months ahead of time, and were able to proceed directly to our campsite. At the time of our stay the last full week of September, campsites that had not been reserved, had all been converted to first come, first serve. A sign on the self-registration post listed the park close date as 10/9/2024. The online system had said the park was going to close on 10/4 when we made our reservation. The host had already departed from full hookup site #8, and a local person had taken that campsite for the maximum 14-days allowed. According to the information on his post, he had rented it for the same price the rest of us paid for our primitive campsites.

Campsite 9 in Bay Furnace Campground
Photo above is view through screen door.

Campsite 9, and more

Campsite 9 is a great campsite on Lake Superior with a fabulous view. It was an easy few steps down the hill to the water. 

Campsite 9 in Bay Furnace Campground

This campsite is spacious, level, and somewhat secluded. There is a trail to the picnic area between this campsite and host site 8, which did not pass too close to our trailer. I marked the trail with an arrow in one of the photos above.

Most of the campsites in this park are great. They are spacious, and offer some privacy. Host campsite 8 and campsite 6 also have good views of the water, even though they are not directly on the water. Campsite 10 would be a good site for a tent, pickup camper, or motorhome pulled in. We did not like that site, because the fire ring and sitting area is behind the trailer when backing in with a travel trailer.

Above: picnic area in Bay Furnace Campground
Below: Campsite 9 in distance from edge of picnic area

Au Train, Michigan: Au Train Lake USDA Forest Service Campground in the Upper Peninsula

September 2024, 1 night, weeknight, campsite 22

Sign posted at the entrance to Au Train Lake Campground September 2024

Arrival experience

As we were driving to this campground, we were hoping it was still open, because the information online was unclear. Information on the recreation.gov site sounded like it might be closing the day we were arriving, although it did not state this for sure. Later, we learned that the information on the USDA Forest site would have been more helpful, since that site clearly stated the closing date. When we arrived, a sign on the post stated that the campground was closing October 1st. The host campsite was already vacated for the season. Although we have seen the host campsite available at other campgrounds after the host departs, it was roped off at this campground, so no one could rent it.

Campsite 22 in Au Train Lake Campground

Campsite 22

At the time of our stay, all of the sites were first come, first serve, except campsites that had been reserved far in advance. There were reserved tags on those sites. We were only staying one night, and chose campsite 22, which was spacious enough and level enough that we did not need to unhook our trailer. 

Campsite 22 in Au Train Lake Campground
View from the road and from the lake behind the site

This is a great campsite on the lake, and it has trees around the perimeter. This site is always FCFS, even during peak season. We thought most of the campsites in this campground were great. Most of them are spacious, private, and level. 

Songbird Trail in Au Train Lake Campground

Marquette, Michigan: Ojibwa Casino, Iron Ore Heritage Trail, Welcome Center

September 2024, 2 nights, weekend

We have previously stayed in Marquette Tourist Campground, and Rippling River Resort in this area, and had hoped to stay in a local campground again. You can find more details about those campgrounds by clicking on the "Marquette" label at the bottom of this post. For this trip, we decided the nightly campground rates had become too expensive ($45 to over $100 a night). And, Rippling River Resort was requiring a 3-night stay minimum. We also considered staying in a hotel with laundry facilities along the Iron Ore Heritage Trail; however, lodging for the nights we wanted was over $300 a night (and, our first choice hotel did not have parking to accommodate our trailer overnight). So, we opted to just stay in the casino parking lot.

View from inside our camper in Marquette Ojibwa Casino RV parking lot

Ojibwa Casino RV parking

Ojibwa Casino was in the process of building an RV park, which was not finished at the time of our stay. The sites are all full hookup, although I could not find any information about the campground rates when it is finished. There is plenty of overnight parking space for RVs next to the regular parking lot, and there is no charge to park in the RV lot. There were two campers that looked like they were staying long-term. This was our first time staying in a casino parking lot for more than one night. Other than the generator noise, which was not very loud, we had a quiet and uneventful stay.

View from picnic area at Marquette Welcome Center