Tahquamenon Falls State Park

You need to slather on 2 gallons of Off onto your person at one campground and only 1 gallon at the other.

Should we start a lottery for what day and hour it will snow on that weekend?

Labor Day weekend would be a wonderful time to visit...no mosquitoes and no snow! We like the river campground. Be sure to plan on the museum at Whitefish Point, too. Have a great trip!

Pirate and the OP,

That's complete bull! We go to Tahquamenon Falls State Park every year in the late summer and fall and have for over 40 years now. All 3 CG's, Rivermouth, Lower Falls upper CG, and out favorite is the Lower Falls lower CG about 1/4 mile from the Lower Falls by trail along the river if it's not full. We never get reservations as there are hundreds of CG's in the UP to choose from and always find a site somewhere as we are flexible. Never had many mosquitos yet. Most times there were hardly any! Most mosquitos are in the late spring and after a rain when it's hot and humid.

To the OP! You may have a problem getting a site this close to Laborday as nearly all Michigan State Park CG's are full by reservations over holiday periods. Right after Laborday there will be sites available as kids are back in school but then when the leaves change, they can be full again as it's knock out beautiful in the UP and the LP too. Leaf change timing depends on the weather and night time temps. A lot of rain ruins the irridescent colors i the leaves but cold nights and dry weather brightens them up so vividly. The weather is something we can't control. The LP is usually about 2 weeks later than the UP in the northern half and 3 weeks later in the southern half than the UP. Snowfall doesn't happer until late October or later and if it does, it melts the next day.

As I recall it's a great park, but I haven't been there since the early 50's! :B

Kemahsabe,

The 3 CG's have been totally rebuilt and really nice since the 50's and are excellent places to camp. The Lower Falls lower CG has a new very modern large bath house and the other 2 CG's bath houses are newly rebuilt and are constantly being upgraded yearly. 30 and 50 amp in the CG's. The Lower Falls upper CG is kept plowed and open all winter long. Even have seen it totally full in January! Winter in the falls areas are simply gorgeous as is all of the U.P. and the northern 2/3 of the L.P. away from the large cities/SE area.

We visited all of the campgrounds and falls 4 weeks ago. We only did a day trip but were scoping things out for a future camping trip. All of the campgrounds looked great to me and made me wish we were camping with the exception of the 90 degree temps.

Anyway...this late in the year bugs may not be a problem, but that is really related to weather conditions and patterns. It hasn't been nearly as wet this past month as it was in the spring. Also, while we there the bugs weren't a problem and we hicked around the island at the lower falls and picniced in the shade with 0 problems. Trust me, with my kids if there were bugs around I would have known it!!

Make sure you look at the description of the sites if you make a reservation as a few could be really tight depending on the size of your rig.

The Michigan DNR site shows Tahquamenon at %80 booked for Labor Day weekend, I would be very surprised if it were to sell out. Other state parks nearby, Brimley is at %70 and Muskallonge is only %44.

Another place to visit if your in an adventurous mood is Crisp Point Lighthouse, by using county road 500 west of the upper falls parking area (don't follow a GPS and have fuel). We will be camping and taking care of this gem the Mon-Fri before Labor Day.

Thanks for sharing! We made reservations and will bring extra bug spray and warm clothes just in case we get snowed in or eaten alive! :)

I was wondering the same thing. I am thinking of going next year in early July, but my only reservations are that I've heard it's full of mosquitoes and some of the sites closer to the river can be super wet and muddy. Being in a bug riddled, wet site doesn't sound appealing, but maybe the people I've heard that from were just really unlucky. It was a very super wet spring this year.