Upper Peninsula of Michigan

I camp in the UP almost every summer. We use the city owned campground in Hancock as our base of operations for the Copper Country. There is a city owned campground and a private campground in Sault Ste Marie that you can use for visiting the Soo Locks. I like Straights State Park when we want to visit Mackinaw Island. Fayette State Park is located at an old ghost town that was once an iron smelting operation. It is very interesting. Van Riper State Park west of Marquette is a very nice campground on a large lake. I love riding my jet skis there. Marquette has a nice city owned campground that you can use as a base of operations for that town.

sch911 wrote:
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Taquamenon Falls SP
Whitefish Point, Shipwreck Museum
Mackinaw Island. Take the ferry from Mackinaw City, stay at Mill Creek CG

Agree with all of the above. We visited Tahquamenon Falls but did it from the south side of the river via the Toonerville Trolley (a 2-foot gauge railroad) and riverboat cruise. You can pick that up at Soo Junction (just east of Newberry). Our riverboat pilot was very knowledgeable and was unbeatable at pointing out wildlife in and around the river.

We used Wandering Wheels CG near Munising as our base for exploring the Pictured Rocks area because we wanted full hookups and WiFi. Take the cruise to see the Rocks in the evening; the sunset can create fabulous colors on the cliffs. We also hiked to Miner's Falls, Miner's Castle and to the light station at AuSable Point. Walking along the shore rather than the road the parallels the lake will save you from some of the insects; the flies can be horrendous and are immune to all but the strongest repellants. Ask me how I know....... You may also stumble on the remains of shipwrecks along the beach.

Mackinac Island - we took our own bikes and had a great time. The route that encircles the island is flat & easy; if you want to ride any of the trails in the interior of the island they can be quite steep. We were there in July. It was quite crowded and it is very cool on the lake when you take the ferry to the island. Nights in general in the UP can be chilly.

Enjoy & safe travels.

We have pictures from 50 years ago in the southern UP. It is snowing in August. Luckily I had thrown in winter jackets for our children.
Not much snow but enough to show up in the picture.
We have also been there in September with weather nice enough to wear shorts. Go prepared.

Dont forget to have a Pasty.

Thanks for the pics. can`t wait to get up there!

Bay Furnace Campground was another great place to camp and more centrally located at Christmas, MI.

They have a few spots you can reserve right near the water if you reserve early!

We went last year. My favorite was Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. Tons of trails and several waterfalls. If you like rustic camping they have a nice rustic campground on one end of the park. And one with power at the other end. We stayed at the rustic one and there was usually only a few tents and one or two campers in the whole place. The other place was 2/3rd full.

A Couple photos from that trip.

Definitely be prepared for fairly big swings in temps. even in August. X10 on bringing LOTS of bug spray. If you go hiking watch for ticks afterward. There are a fair number of black bears all over the U.P. so don't leave food out or coolers out to be gotten into. If it isn't a bear it will be a raccoon or squirrel or SKUNK. The U.P.is a campers paradise. The great outdoors at its finest.

We`ll be in the UP the first week of July. we`re staying at Munising Tourist Park Campground in Munising MI. our site is right on Lake Superior. yes it is a bit tight, but for location and view it should be beautiful! and it`s very close to Pictured Rocks.

Looking forward to it!

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