Category: Camping Page 1 of 5

Camping Petoskey State Park

On November 27, 2023

In Camping, Michigan, Project: State Parks

Sunset at Petoskey State Park Petoskey State Park is another campground I have been wanting to visit for years now. Located between Petoskey and Harbor Springs on Little Traverse Bay, Petoskey State Park is connected to the neighboring towns by the Little Traverse Wheelway, a 26-mile paved bike trail. The sites at Petoskey State Park are all modern with electric at the site and modern bathhouses.

We camped at Petoskey State Park in the fall, the last weekend the Dunes campground was open for the season. We had a site in the outer loop (site 3), like I always try to get a Michigan State Parks and this one was huge and was actually pretty private, separated from the neighboring sites with trees and a brick retaining wall.

Leggs Inn Historical Marker

Petoskey State Park has a great location for seeing the sights of Northern Michigan. From the campground, we drove the famous Tunnel of Trees to Cross Village to try one of the most iconic restaurants in Michigan, the Leggs Inn. Maybe this is blasphemy for a Michigan travel writer to say, but I didn’t get the appeal of the Tunnel of Trees. There are other scenic drives in Michigan that offer better views. I did enjoy checking out all the houses along the drive, though. But if you’re looking for a great drive to experience fall colors, I much prefer Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive in Sleeping Bear Dunes.

View from the Leggs Inn Lawn

While I wasn’t impressed by the Tunnel of Trees, the views at the Leggs Inn blew me away! Opened in Northern Michigan in the 1930’s, the unique building is a tribute to nature built with stone and wood. We were told it would be about an hour wait when we arrived, so we had some time to hang out on their lawn overlooking the lake and it was just beautiful! As a person with Polish heritage, I was excited to try their Polish food, a lot of which is not available at the typical Polish restaurants of Metro Detroit. Everything we had was delicious and we ate so much we were not hungry for the campfire dinner I had planned that night. It is important to note that the Leggs Inn is open seasonally, typically from May-October. To avoid long waits, I would recommend you visit on a weekday and at an off time. I was surprised it was so busy after Labor Day.

After a very filling lunch, we headed inland to Boyne City to check out the SkyBridge Michigan (left). Open a little over a year now, SkyBridge, the world’s longest timber-towered suspension bridge, is located at Boyne Mountain Resort. Tickets start at $25 if you buy them online in advance and allow you unlimited access to the chairlift and the bridge. The 1200 foot long bridge hangs 118 feet above the ground and I was surprised how many people we saw on it that were obviously afraid of heights. We were early for peak fall colors, but the view from the bridge was beautiful and hard to capture. The bridge itself reminded me of Capilano Suspension Bridge in Vancouver, but one big difference is once you walk across SkyBridge, there isn’t really anything for you to see or do on the other side unless you want to buy overpriced food or drink. I don’t think we spent more than an hour here from when we parked the car to when we got back. For me, its probably a one and done kind of thing, unless they add more to see and do on the other side, although the pictures of it lit up for Christmas does look pretty spectacular.

Overall, I enjoyed our stay at Petoskey State Park. It really was a great home base to explore the sights in Northwest Michigan. I would camp there again in a heartbeat! I would love to have time to explore the area by bike as well. Reservations can be made six months in advance at MiDnrReservations.com.

Camping Manistee National Forest

By Ashleigh

On November 21, 2023

In Camping, Michigan

Lake Michigan at Manistee

I’ve wanted to camp at the Lake Michigan at Manistee campground in the Manistee National Forest for years now. The campground is located between Manistee and Ludington on the shore of Lake Michigan and borders the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area. The campground has four loops, two of which can be reserved in advance. First-come, first-serve campgrounds make me nervous, but I was able to secure a reservation for the weekend after the fourth of July without much difficulty. All of the sites are rustic (no electric or water) but two of the loops do have flush toilets (the other two have vault toilets) so I chose to stay in the orchid loop.

Our site at Lake Michigan Campground

After two nights at Orchard Beach State Park, we moved to this campground for the weekend. Cell signal is pretty much nonexistent in the campground so this is not a place we would be able to stay when Chris needs to work. The sites here are very big and wooded giving great privacy. Even though we were here the weekend after the 4th of July, it was very quiet and not crowded at all. Every evening, families flocked to the beach to watch the sunset.

Trail to the beach at Lake Michigan at Manistee

There is a hiking and biking trail from the campground to the beach. From the beach area, trails connect to the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area. Nordhouse Dunes is a 3500 acre undeveloped Wilderness Area along Lake Michigan with miles of trails through the woods. It is also one of the few areas in the lower peninsula where you can do dispersed camping. It is always fun to walk through and see the hammocks hanging in the trees along the cliff, looking down at the water.

Overall, Lake Michigan at Manistee is a wonderful rustic campground on Lake Michigan. It is a great place to reconnect with nature. We thoroughly enjoyed our time here and is on our list of campgrounds to revisit. Reservations can be made 6 months in advance at Recreation.gov.

Thanks for stopping by! Check out our NEW Go See Do Explore Podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts. To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! For my list of gadgets to make your travels easier, click here. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.

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Manistee National Forest Pin Manistee Pinterest Graphic

Camping Orchard Beach State Park

By Ashleigh

On November 7, 2023

In Camping, Michigan, Project: State Parks

Orchard Beach State Park

Since we are coming up on campground reservation season for next summer, I figured it was time to share some campground reviews from last summer. Because we took the big Europe trip, we didn’t get started with our camping season until after the 4th of July this year. Our first camping trip of the year was at Orchard Beach State Park which is a park and campground on a cliff overlooking Lake Michigan in Manistee.

It is important to note that while the park is called Orchard Beach, the beach has been closed for several years due to erosion of the cliff. But, if you are looking for a beach, 5th Avenue Beach is a short drive away. Unlike some Michigan State Parks, Orchard Beach is not far at all from Manistee. It is only a short drive to the shops, restaurants, and riverwalk downtown. If you are hoping to explore Manistee, this is a great place to camp!

Orchard Beach is famous for its sunsets. Campers flock to the edge of the cliff to watch the sun go down over the waters of Lake Michigan (top). Like most Michigan State Park campgrounds, the sites at Orchard Beach are very open to each other and even the outside sites didn’t have much privacy.

We booked Orchard Beach because it is a park I’ve wanted to check out for a while but also because of its proximity to the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area and the Lake Michigan Recreation Area where we were booked the following weekend. While camping here, Chris had to work for two days and the cell signal (both Verizon and T Mobile) in our site was pretty much nonexistent even though the RV Life app said the park has good signal. He ended up having to go to a coffee shop in town to work and the wifi there wasn’t great either. If you need to be connected while camping, Orchard Beach is not a great option.

Overall, the campground was clean and the people were friendly, but the lack of cell service made this stay very difficult for us. While I enjoyed our stay in Manistee, there are other Michigan State Parks that I enjoy more than this one. This is probably a one-and-done for us.

Thanks for stopping by! To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. To read campground reviews, check out my Michigan Campground Reviews page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! For my list of gadgets to make your travels easier, click here. To see inside my camera bag, check out my updated Gear Page.

Camping Straits State Park

By Ashleigh

On January 9, 2023

In Camping, Michigan, Project: State Parks

For the Labor Day long weekend, we headed to one of our favorite campgrounds in Michigan, Straits State Park near St. Ignace. I got lucky and managed to score two waterfront sites for the holiday weekend since we had some family that was camping with us. Straits was the perfect home base since we were planning on walking the Mackinac Bridge on Labor Day. The campground is right next to the base of the bridge and even has a trail to the bridge walk for campers. From Straits, we also took day trips to Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinaw City, and Mackinac Island (more on those trips in upcoming weeks).

Mackinac Bridge at night from our campsite

The view of the bridge from our campsite

The first time we camped at Straits one of our neighbors walked up to us and told us that he thought we had one of the best views in all of Michigan State Parks and he is not wrong. Being able to see the Mackinac Bridge from the campfire at night is pretty special. The waterfront sites don’t have electricity, so in the past, it has limited them to just tents and popups, but with solar and battery technology, bigger rigs are utilizing them now, which makes them harder to get. It also makes the view from sites farther back in the campground not as good. I booked exactly 6 months in advance (on Fat Tuesday, to be exact) and I wasn’t able to get two sites next to each other, but the sites weren’t too far apart.

Even though it was a holiday weekend and the campground was full, it was a quiet, calm camping experience. We had the last site on the end which is actually very close to where the Bridge Walk starts in St. Ignace. We could hear the announcer and even the Lt. Governor giving his speech before the walk began as we were getting ready at our campsite. We had such a good time, we plan to do it again this year. I have my countdown going for when to book this year’s campsites. Maybe this year we will figure out a shortcut to get from the campground to the base of the bridge for the bridge walk!

Thanks for stopping by! To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my updated Gear Page.

Camping at Traverse City State Park

By Ashleigh

On January 2, 2023

In Camping, Michigan, Project: State Parks, Wine Travel

With our love of Traverse City, it is surprising it took us this long to camp at Traverse City State Park. The previous summer we had camped nearby at Interlochen State Park, about 15 miles from Traverse City, but this year we decided to try out the park in the heart of the city.

Traverse City State Park is located just east of Traverse City in East Bay Township, across the street from all the bayside hotels. There is a pedestrian bridge that connects that campground to the beach on Grand Traverse Bay. This is a modern campground with several bathhouses and electric service at each site, some of which have 50 amps. For being a city park, the campsites are good sized but are lacking in privacy.

The campground is very close to Cherry Capital Airport so there is a lot of air traffic and early morning you can hear the jets warming their engines. It is also on a busy street with road noise pretty much 24 hours a day and it was near impossible to turn left out of the campground to head into Traverse City. I wouldn’t recommend this campground for tent campers unless you are a very heavy sleeper.

The Old Mission Lighthouse is a 30-minute drive from the campground

The best part of camping at Traverse City State Park is the location. It is about a ten-minute drive to all of the shops and dining in downtown Traverse City or ten minutes to the wineries on Old Mission. As mentioned above, the campground is just on the other side of Munson from the beachfront hotels, which can run over $300 per night in the summer. A campsite in the state park is only $45 for a summer weekend night, granted you have to bring your bed with you, but it is quite a savings to be in the middle of the action.

If you are looking for a campground close to Traverse City with beach access, look no further than Traverse City State Park. If you are looking for a quiet, private, nature-centered camping experience not too far from the city, I would recommend Interlochen State Park instead.

Camping Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

By Ashleigh

On December 12, 2022

In Camping, Michigan, Travel

With campgrounds in Michigan taking reservations six months in advance, it is about time to start thinking about where you want to camp next summer. So, I figured now would be the perfect time to recap some of my favorite campgrounds from last summer!

In 2022, the campgrounds at Pictured Rocks National Lakesure were able to be booked in advance for the first time ever. In the past, I never attempted to camp in the park because the stress of first-come, first-serve campgrounds is too much for me. But, about 5 months out, I looked to see what was still available and I grabbed the last open spot for the weekend in question. All of the campgrounds within the National Lakeshore are rustic meaning there is no electric, water, or sewer hookup and there are vault toilets. There is very minimal cell signal at the campground so do not plan to camp here if you need to be connected.

When I booked the site, it was very unclear to me if I was supposed to go somewhere to check in for our campsite or if I was supposed to print the confirmation email. On our second day, a range stopped by and asked for proof of our reservation. Now, as I’m looking at Recreation.gov, it says to print the confirmation page and hang it from the post at the site.

The site we managed to get was in Hurricane River campground which has 21 sites and is the location of the trail to the Au Sable lighthouse. The trail to the lighthouse starts at the campground and is 1.5 miles each way. It is a flat, easy trail and is a good way to get away from the crowds that can be seen in other areas of the park. In the summer, you can climb to the top of the lighthouse for a view. Check out the National Park Service website for information about times and cost.

2022 was also the first year that Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore charged an entrance fee. Personally, I think this was a long time coming. When we visited the Chapel trailhead in 2020 it was an ordeal to get a parking spot. While I’m not expecting this fee to reduce the visitation at the park, at least it will give the park some money to do upkeep and improve the facilities around the park.

Overall, we enjoyed our weekend camping at Pictured Rocks. We had a wonderful time kayaking in Lake Superior (more on that next week). I’m sure we will be back to this beautiful area in the future. If you are looking to camp at Pictured Rocks, the reservations fill up fast so plan to try to get your spot 6 months in advance at Recreation.gov.

Thanks for stopping by!To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! For my list of gadgets to make your travels easier, click here. To see inside my camera bag, check out my updated Gear Page.

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Cold Weather Camping in the Runaway Rangerunner

By Ashleigh

On March 28, 2022

In Camping, Michigan, Project: State Parks

Runaway camper with attached ARB Room

Some of the links below are affiliate links and as such, I earn a small commission from purchases that allow me to continue telling you my stories without costing you anything extra.

After our Disney trip, we decided to take Runaway out for one last trip before the snow came. Of course, when asked where in Michigan I want to camp, I chose Ludington State Park. Ludington is one of a few campgrounds in the state that stay open through the winter with limited amenities. The bathhouses are closed and there is no running water so winter camping is not for the faint of heart.

When we were planning this trip, Chris told me he has no problem with winter camping, but he has no interest in pulling the camper in the snow. So, of course, we drove through white-out conditions on our way through Muskegon. Luckily we were able to drive slow and conditions improved as we started heading north. I think we will watch the weather forecast more closely before we book our next winter camping trip.

Being that it was supposed to get below freezing, we chose a campground that had electricity. Keeping warm at night would drain our battery in no time and no one wants to sleep with a generator running if it can be avoided. Something else we did is we added the ARB tent room to our Maxi Trac awning. This gave us extra enclosed living space which we heated with an indoor safe Mr. Buddy portable propane heater. That room really stayed very comfortable. The hardest part was getting out to walk to the freezing cold outhouse!

If I were to do this again, I wouldn’t bring the Mr. Buddy if we have electricity at the site. It went through more propane than we expected. Next time, we would probably just bring a bigger space heater that we could plug in and save the propane.

One thing we struggled with this setup is how to cook. We didn’t want to bring the stove into the ARB room because it says right on it not to use it in a tent because of the carbon monoxide risk. But it was rain/snowing at one point and we didn’t want to cook outside. We are seriously considering getting another inexpensive awning for the other side of the camper so we would have a covered cooking area if we are using the ARB room.

Big Sable Lighthouse

Since drove through a blizzard to get to Ludington, of course, we had to hike to the lighthouse. We decided to take the Lighthouse Trail from the campground out to the lighthouse. This is the trail we tried to do in 2020 but realized we didn’t have enough time before we had to check out of the campground. Let me tell you, it is much easier to hike through sand dunes when the ground is frozen. Between the sand and the humidity, this was a rough hike in the summer, but it was a great one to do in the late fall!

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Camping at Cheboygan State Park

By Ashleigh

On June 21, 2021

In Camping, Michigan, Project: State Parks

The bay from our campsite

Before our tour of Michigan State Parks last summer, I was watching a lot of Trekker’s Michigan State Parks videos on Youtube. When they did their drive through Cheboygan State Park, I knew I needed to check it out for myself! The park is located in Northern Michigan on the shores of Lake Huron. Its location, only half an hour from Mackinaw City, making it a good home base for exploring the straits area. The campground is small, only 75 sites, and with only 20 amp service, some might call it outdated, but it is perfect for the kind of camping we do.

Camper under canopy I decided to head to Cheboygan for Memorial Day weekend and I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to get a waterfront site without much fuss about six months out. For some reason, this campground isn’t as popular as others in the area. Our site (site 27) was wooded on three sides with a path to the lake. Most of the other sites in the park are just as private. This is very unusual for a Michigan State Park campground. Most of them are big open fields. The bathhouse at the campground was small, but with most people relying on the bathrooms in their rigs, there was never a wait for the showers.

The path to the bay from site 27

It was really nice to be able to put our kayak right in the water at our site and be able to paddle around the bay when the water was calm. We went a little way out and floated over two shipwrecks, the Leviathan and the Genesee Chief (unfortunately, forgot my action camera when we went out the first day and when we went back it was too cloudy to see them so I don’t have any photos). When we got back to camp, I looked these wrecks up and was interested to learn that they were both intentionally sunk in the bay. I did feel better when we returned to the site knowing there were no casualties, but it’s always sad to realize that in the 19th century, the Great Lakes were thought of as garbage dumps.

Besides the Mackinac area, Cheboygan is not a far drive away from the only named waterfall in the lower peninsula, Ocqueoc Falls, The waterfall will be the topic for next week on the blog, so be sure to come back! Thanks for stopping by! To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my updated Gear Page.

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Camping in Holland

By Ashleigh

On June 14, 2021

In Camping, Michigan, Project: State Parks

Tulips in front of De Zwaan windmill

Tulip Time Festival in Holland is one of the most popular festivals in Michigan. It takes place at the beginning of May and with the cancellation of the festival in 2020, I had a feeling it would be an even bigger deal in 2021. In an attempt to beat the crowds, we decided to go the weekend before the festival began.

We decided this would be a great time to take the camper out for its inaugural trip for the 2021 season so with just a few weeks advance planning, I booked a site at Holland State Park. This park is very popular in the summer and with good reason. It has a beautiful beach on Lake Michigan with a view of the iconic Big Red Lighthouse and is relatively close to downtown Holland. The campground is made up of two sections, the most popular section is right on the beach (which was not yet open for the season when we visited) and the more wooded Lake Macatawa unit where we stayed.

Because of its popularity, this campground comes with some very strict rules. I had to sign a paper and hang it in the window of my camper agreeing to the 1pm checkout time. There was a sign in the office saying the visitors are not allowed and campers must keep their ID on them at all times in the campground to prove that you are allowed to be there. No alcohol is allowed in the campground at any time and rangers frequently drove around, looking into campsites to check. I’m sure these rules are necessary for peak season but the fact that the campground was only 25% full at the time made a lot of this seem a little intrusive and over-the-top. If I had a reason to be in the area, I would probably stay here again, but I wouldn’t seek it out when I’m just looking for a place to camp for a weekend.

Our Runaway camper at our site at Holland State Park.

As I mentioned at the top, the purpose of this trip was to visit Windmill Island Gardens and see the tulips. It was pretty chilly this weekend and we even saw snow flurries Sunday morning, but most of the tulips were in the early stages of blooming. I always enjoy visiting the garden and photographing the tulips. If you are looking to see the sights in Holland, Holland State Park is a good base for exploration, but be aware that they do have a lot of rules and they do patrol and enforce them.

This year I knew there were going to be more people than ever camping and it was going to be challenging to get into the most popular campgrounds in the summer. I decided to book the busiest campgrounds (such as this one and Ludington) in the off-season and then try out some of the more under-the-radar spots when the parks would be the busiest. For the most part, I did make reservations about six months out, and with this methodology, I was able to get some really nice sites. I am excited to share those journeys with you!

Thanks for stopping by! To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my updated Gear Page.

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Runaway RangeRunner First Impressions

By Ashleigh

On March 1, 2021

In Camping, Road Trip

I first heard about Runaway Campers years ago on an episode of the Improve Photography Podcast as an inexpensive place to sleep on a photo trip. I have followed Runaway since then until the time was right to finally buy my own. The stars aligned and in May we put down a deposit on our very own micro camper. We were only able to run away with it for six nights before it got too cold, but I wanted to give you our first impressions of our new RangeRunner.

Runaway calls itself America’s most affordable mini camper. They are built in the U.S. and you can visit the factory in Florida. With its low price point, it doesn’t have many amenities of the bigger, most expensive rigs. You won’t find a bathroom or kitchen inside that little trailer. Runaway currently sells three versions of its camper: the 4×8 CoolCamp, the 6×8 RangeRunner, and the off-road capable Venturist (available in both the 4×8 and 6×8 size). At one time Runaway made a version that you could stand up in called the Rouser and I know people are really hoping to see it come back soon.

Runaway campers pretty much come as an empty box (with an air conditioner) and the owner gets to modify it however they want. Some people just toss an air mattress in it and hit the road while others build cabinets and fold out beds. The camper can be whatever you want it to be.

One thing to note about Runaway Campers is they were made up of wood until the 2020 models. The new models are made out of a composite material that makes them lighter and also makes it so they shouldn’t have water damage, which has been a problem with the older models. You don’t need a big truck to tow a Runaway. We tow ours with a Subaru Outback.

We typically are people who prefer to buy used to save on the depreciation, but with these changes we decided to buy a new one. Due to higher demand and some supply chain issues, the build time on these campers is currently about 12 weeks. That is really nothing compared to some of the bigger camping brands where you may have to wait as long as 18 months for a new rig right now!

Selfie in front of the camper — Setting up camp for the first time at Cumberland Falls.

As tent campers, this little camper is really everything we need right now. If you read this blog regularly, you know that we love to take road trips, but setting up and taking down the tent many times on a trip really starts to get exhausting. With the camper, all we have to do is make sure the doors are locked, hitch up, and move on. The few times we’ve been out in it we noticed that not only is it faster to set up and take down than a tent, but it’s also easier than packing up a lot of the big rigs we see in the campgrounds. We refer to our RangeRunner as our tent on wheels.

Our little camper has also allowed us to camp in conditions that I’m not brave enough to tent camp in. We definitely wouldn’t have gone to D.H. Day with snow on the forecast in the tent, but the Runaway kept us warm and we had some power banks to run a small heater and charge our phones.

I am very excited to Runaway when the weather warms up and the snow melts. We already have four reservations booked for this summer to try out new campgrounds! To learn more about Runaway campers visit Runawaycampers.com.

Thanks for stopping by! To read about some of our previous trips, click here. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my updated Gear Page.

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