More on Mich state parks

Born and raised in Michigan with many memories of camping on Duck Lake etc. returned for a trip up the west skied two years ago . Loved the scenery , Travese City state parks not so good. I reserved a site at Traverse City, well I couldn't get in so I had to pay a charge to move, that coupled with dirty baths left me with ruffled feathers. I'll never understand why sites are dry, it's a joke. Defend if you will but it will be a while before I book another trip.

Bob

Gee, whenever I used the Michigan DNR website, I could drill down to the campground map and get a full description of each site. The OP probably did not use this feature. His loss.

JaBob,

Well, I wonder who selected the site you had reserved that you couldn't get into? The Traverse City State Park CG map is pretty detailed and your MH is 36 feet long. DUH!

Traverse City State Park is a very old CG and was built long before even 25' RV's were around and the sites reflect it. The electric lines and the CG roads pretty much dictate what site layouts can be had. TC CG is land locked on all 4 sides and not much can be changed as it doesn't even have enough sites there now and by far, most campers do not have any problems getting into their site.! Only so many feet between interior roads and you can't stretch land!

We haven't seen dirty bathrooms there in our approx 6 times camping there but I have heard others say they have seen them dirty once or twice between cleaning. The park is full of kids as the beach on the bay is right across the road overpass. I don't have to go into detail what a lot of kids around does to bathrooms/showers! Advising the office about dirty baths and toilets usually gets something done real fast. Sure beats constant griping!

I'll never understand having a water hookup at a site without having a sewer also. Most RV's including all our various MH's, TT's, 5th wheels, etc have holding tank capacities in relation to their fresh water capacities. When the fresh water tank is empty, the holding tanks are usually full anyway so just go dump and refill the water tank! Takes maybe 15 minutes to half an hour max and the ice in your cocktail won't even be melted yet when you are back on your site! Amazing how that works! Why is that so hard to understand???

When we're in Florida Alabama, Georgia etc CG's every year we hear similar type complaints about "why don't they have sewer hookups since they have water hookups and I'm always having to go dump my holding tanks"! DUH!!! Sure makes the "Blue Lagoon" a very wise investment. Some people are just never happy! It's a campground not a motel or hotel!!!

Jayco-noslide,

Sorry you didn't enjoy your trip to the Michigan State Parks. If you decide to come back to Michigan, next time post before your trip or as you are making reservations. I think I have seen several proud Michigan residents on here that would be happy to help guide you to some of the best campsites and campgrounds run by the state.

ktosv,

Yes, of course most any of us would help the OP as much as we can if he asks. On the same note, there's so many state park CG's to choose from and it's up to him to decide what floats his boat to his liking. Michigan State Parks were designed and built for outdoor and nature enthusiasts in mind and a nice place to spend time on inclimate or resting days. Not for long term fulltimers etc to stay at and thus the 14 days limit so others can have a chance to camp.

D H Day (David Henry Day) donated the 32 acres of land on the Lake Michigan beach for a Michigan State Park CG on Nov 11th 1920. It was the first Michigan State Park for camping and the cabin there was built in 1923-24 and is still being used for church services on Sundays and is very well maintained. However, D H Day State Park is now part of the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore Park and remains a rustic (no hookups) campgroung and has very modern non-smelling clean pit toilets today but the pitcher pumps of old have been replaced by a modern electric motor water well system with about a dozen fountain/spigots scattered around the CG. You'd be surprised at the number of very large ultra expensive motorhomes that wiggle their way into the sites off the gravel interior roads. Seeing 5 to 10 of these big MH's or 36' plus 5th wheels and large TT's is a given all Summer long even though there's no hookups and the sites are tight but there's a space between. We've probably camped there well over a hundred days ourselves over the years and love it.

More info on early Michigan State Parks:

http://www.leelanaunews.com/?q=node/16437

Also

http://www.nps.gov/slbe/historyculture/dkhday.htm

Some will enjoy this bit of history and what it has to do with Michigan State Parks

Sigh. There's one of these "I hate Michigan State Parks' Fees" at least once a month. You'd think people would do better research before coming. I would much rather get some sleep then get up early to reserve a site 6m in advance, so please, stay out of the state parks.

You might be a Michigan State Park hater if...
You want to be guaranteed a site that won't require leveling blocks
You want a shaded site with water hookups or FHU
You want to be guaranteed satellite signal
You want the grass to be mowed
You want entertainment such as arts and crafts activities, wagon rides, or go cart rentals provided
You want park staff to remove sand from the bath houses more than twice a day

I'm too lazy to type more tonight .. you get the idea

travelnutz, I think his $32 price was from the price of the daily stay with the non resident passport and reservation broken down and added to it for his length of stay, which would bring it to that price easily for a few days.

While the OP is entitled to his opinion, Michigan has a very popular state park system. The rates are not out of line. There are other states that charge non residents additional fees. The OP is beating a dead horse at this point

wbwood,

With that kind of thinking, do you suppose you should add your yearly vehicle registration fee, insurance fee, gallons of fuel used, tire wear loss, vehicle depreciation, etc to your yearly grocery costs broken down by how many times you went to the grocery store each year?

He purchased a yearly pass good for any Michigan State Park for that calendar year and he only lives 220 miles from Michigan not a thousand or more miles away. Of course he could just go to state's next to his like Wisconsin where the yearly entrance fee is $35 for non-residents or Indiana where the yearly fee is $60 for non-residents. And these fees come with a lot less parks to choose from!

Michigan's $30.50 for a yearly permit to over a hundred state parks sure isn't high then, is it?

I'm in Texas & our SP's charge a daily PP use fee (over 13) even if you are camping. I buy a SP Pass every year for $70. I'm too lazy to look it up but I THINK any person can buy one -- TX resident or not. That exempts anyone in your party from the daily use fee.

BUT ...... With that SP Pass you also get 4 50% off nights loaded onto your card to use on any visit of 2 nights or more (1 per visit). So potentially you 'get back' at LEAST $50 of that $70 in reduced fees. So it's an awesome deal.

That said, we've also camped in NM, FL, & AR. Their campground charges are researched fully as I check out IF a SP Pass is available to non-residents and IF I purchased one would it pay for itself during my trip.

At any rate ALL the SPs I've had the pleasure to stay in we're great. I LOVE supporting the SP system. Although, being from Texas where sites come with JUST water, W/E, or W/E/S, I WOULD be confused to find an electric-only site. We just don't have those except maybe in tent-only areas.