Learned something new about camping....

travelnutz wrote:
Ahhh, site 35 on the end right across the loop 1 road. The path that goes between the dunes to the beach! That's the same path that was there back 40+ years ago before those campsites were built. The path went thru and from the then parking area to the beach. Cars got there by going across the creek on a cement bridge from the north side. You can still where the road went down the hill from each way to the bridge. The old entrance blacktop road (still there) went on the north side of the baseball field.

From where you'd started from your campsite 35 towards the beach, the now very grown over area to the between the dunes was the long ago parking area on both sides of the path and the yellow concession stand/bathrooms building sat on the small knoll on the north side of the path. The parking area could only hold about a max of maybe 60 cars between the creek and the high dune to the south so the day use/beach lot was moved to where it is now. You probably noticed the many stumps at ground level around site 35 and that end left from the gobs of trees they'd cut down on that end of loop 1.

Windshield sticker? Haven't had a windshield sticker since the "P" on the plate year colored tag came out about 3-4 years ago or so. Only $10 per vehicle added to the yearly Michigan registration fee when you renew so why not? Same for all our vehicles and all have handicapped plates. All they ask us at the entrance/checkin is if we have a yearly pass and I say: Yes.

I'd have no problem also having a windshield sticker also as the "P" on the rear license plate is so small and hard to see by the person at the entrance check window and of course cheap people etc will lie and claim they do have the "P". Even a much larger "P" might be smart also. We'd seen several vehicles getting tickets for lying at Grand Haven State Park the last couple years but they were beach users going to the left at the main entrance, not campers as the campers now use a different entrance. Having about 2 million visitors each year means the booth person doesn't have even squat time to look at the license plates. So the rangers do patrol the beach and also the parking lot there on the ATV vehicles and look at each vehicle plate for the "P" and if no "P", they check for or a daily tag on the windshield. None, write a ticket and it's not cheap, many times the $10 for a yearly pass good at any of the over a hundred state parks.

I must have come across that old road, called the Ridgeview trail now? Wondered why it was paved and now I know!

Regarding the tiny "P", I agree it's hard to see for folks working the gate. I would think surely the State could print the sticker in a different color for those with the rec-pass without breaking the bank, or sell us an upgraded license plate like they do for the sports teams, sunset plate or bridge plate, that would make it super easy... who knows? I like the program and have been on board for both my cars since it started.