Mackinaw Bridge Walk

luvztheoutdoorz1 wrote:
Has anyone tried Aloha SP? I was looking at park reviews and the two that I saw were positive.

I think we will stay away from Mill Creek. I have seen some reviews that said there was not even enough room for their little doggies to go. Although we will not be in the park a lot, we will be there for three nights and at that cost I would prefer something a little less congested.

We have stayed at Aloha SP for 29 of the last 30 years, and walked the bridge 34 of the last 35.

Aloha is a nice state park. The sites are nice, several are large. Bathrooms cleaned on a schedule.

The south end had many trees cut down this October. Not sure why, or what the plan is.

We leave Aloha by 5 am on day of walk. We drive to Mackinac City, and find free parking. We walk to buses ($5 per person), and use portajohns on North side before walk. This gets us there for the start of the walk at 7. Last year we were done by 8:10 am.

Bowti wrote:
As you can see from the many replies, this is a popular area. I would encourage you to explore the area further especially the U.P. The drive along upper lake Michigan west from the bridge has some great camp grounds. If you then head north to lake Superior you are in for a special treat. Heading towards Munising and Marquette and all the way to the Copper Country is a trip you will remember for ever. So many things to see and enjoy. Pm Me if you have any question,s as I grew up in the area.

Thanks. I appreciate the offer. I have camped on Lake Superior in Ontonagon for the past 11 years and it is my absolutely favorite place in the world. We go from there every year up to Copper Harbor and explore both side of the peninsula. Munising was a favorite of my mom's and we have been there often.

I have camped along Lake Michigan as I went "over the water" to visit my folks downstate last summer. Always get the out-of-state permit for the parks.

We are also looking at an overnight at Woodland Park on the way to Ontonagon this year.

As you can see from the many replies, this is a popular area. I would encourage you to explore the area further especially the U.P. The drive along upper lake Michigan west from the bridge has some great camp grounds. If you then head north to lake Superior you are in for a special treat. Heading towards Munising and Marquette and all the way to the Copper Country is a trip you will remember for ever. So many things to see and enjoy. Pm Me if you have any question,s as I grew up in the area.

Aloha SP is nice however it's a favorite of the S.E. Michigan large population area residents and they keep it really full and we don't like to make reservations ever if we can help it. We most often RV impromptu on the spur of the moment! So we usually avoid Aloha since it's out of the way for us and Burt Lake SP is right off I-75 and on Burt Lake with an excellent boat ramp in the park with lots of paved large vehicle parking and it's free for registered campers or annual $10/yr paid extra with our annual vehicle license tag.

All Michigan SP's entrances/use, trails, ramps and so many other things are included at no extra costs by having the cheap $10/yr "P" on your Michigan registered vehicle plate. There's an annual permit sticker for out of state SP users also that give unlimited use at any SP for the whole year. If using any Michigan more than 3 times in a year, the annual permit is the cost effective way to go. Burt Lake SP is also next to to the long inland waterway system by water that connects many gorgeous inland beach sand bottom lakes and little towns etc all the way from Lake Huron at Cheboygan to just north of Petoskey with bouyed well marked and plenty deep enough rivers and channels and it has 2 locks on it also. Takes about 2 days to enjoyably go from one end to the other in just one direction unless you do high speed boat travel and there's no marine sheriff boats (there's a lot of them!) that see you in the rivers and channels in the no wake etc areas. Lots of 35+ ft cabin cruisers use the neat Inland Waterway daily. There's several other inland waterway systems in Michigan also and over the years, I think we've done them all at least once. We're "boatnutz" also!

Here was our site at Mill Creek



These were directly behind the "bridgeview" sites. as you can see they are plenty large. I could have put my Excursion in there and still had room.

Has anyone tried Aloha SP? I was looking at park reviews and the two that I saw were positive.

I think we will stay away from Mill Creek. I have seen some reviews that said there was not even enough room for their little doggies to go. Although we will not be in the park a lot, we will be there for three nights and at that cost I would prefer something a little less congested.

State Parks close to the Straits area we prefer are Burt Lake SP, Wilderness SP, Petoskey SP can be ok too and Cheboygan SP is just ok for an overnighter on the south side. Straits SP on the north side is excellent too and we like the lower section to the left or right that is right on the lake shore.

We like Foley Creek National Forest CG just north of St Ignace too as it gorgeous and real camping in real woods and nature. We are truely self contained but some want or demand hookups and there's none at Foley Creek. The huge Casino on the northside of St Ignace also has a CG with hookups as it's cheap but it's around the edge of the aux parking overflow lot.

We're not much fans of private CG's most anywhere as most are just glorified parking lots crammed in a small piece of land and are a lousy bang for the buck overall. Like having 6 lbs of ____ in a 3 lb bag! Mackinaw Mill Creek is a very large CG both in site numbers and land area and we avoid their crowded together tiny site Bridge View area also as there are so many other great sites to be had. Ironic that they built the Bridge View section for MH's mainly and so many avoid it because of the tiny site sizes. If they eliminated every other site it would be a good section like the others. They have plenty of good land to move the lost sites to so they'd have the same total number of sites yet. Overall, it's a very good CG for a privately owned one.

I prefer the state park just north of the bridge... We've stayed at Tee Pee, Mackinaw Mill Creek, and the KOA - all south of the bridge.

TeePee: Very tight park, with cars backed up right against each other, sometimes to the point that they actually block the roads. Good access to the bike path that leads into town.

Mackinaw Mill Creek: Nice variety of sites, some of the interior ones without hookups are decently large if you don't mind not being on the water. The sites on the water are very small - either very shallow or very narrow. The tree maintenance could be better (there was a branch too low for our small trailer to fit under). This is a large park and the pool and showers tend to be very crowded. Good access to the bike path that leads into town.

KOA: Not bad, not great - but overall the nicest of the three. Some small sites in the middle with somewhat larger and less used sites on the sides (with fewer hookups). Very nice trees, and nicely maintained. There's a road that can be used as a short trail that goes further back into the woods, and a dog kennel within walking distance (left side, just a bit up the road). The KOA isn't on the water though. It also has access to the bike path - just up the road near the kennel. It's the only park I've ever stayed where some guy felt it necessary to openly carry a side-arm while going to the bathhouse with his son. (For no apparent reason, as far as I can tell - the park strikes me as quite safe. I could be wrong though...)

It's a shame there's no SP on the south side near the town. I've not tried the SPs that are further out on the south side. There's one on Lake Huron, and another on Lake Michigan. There are also some Forest (state or national? not sure) campgrounds a ways south of town - but I've not tried those either.

I've been to Mill Creek, and it's not for me--too crowded. I highly recommend Wilderness State Park, about 15 minutes west of Mackinac City. Get one of the lakefront sites and you will be right on the beach. The little store west of the park has fresh, homemade donuts straight from the deep fryer every morning.

luvztheoutdoorz1 wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
Mackinaw Mill Creek! We stayed there and loved the place. Just don't get the "bridge view" sites at the west end of the campground, you'll be lucky to put your awning out without it hitting your neighbors RV, seriously! Otherwise it's a great place.

Nope, we definitely do not want to be crowded. What would you recommend that we ask for?

We had the sites right behind them. They were double the size which offered plenty of room for everything. The sites just to the east of them are also regular campground size sites. Anything but the "bridge view" sites will be good. And some of the sites along tje campground road that runs along the lake have great views of the bridge, lake and island!