Big Great Lakes Trip (Campground Recs Please!)

State parks on the west side of Michigan:

Van Buren, Ludington, Hoffmaster and Wilderness near Mackinaw Bridge.

East side:

Tawas Point, Algonac (just to watch the freighters go by).

The Upper Peninsula has several state parks but we haven't camped in many. Straights state park in the U.P. is just over the bridge and is close to Mackinac Island if you want to take the ferry over there for the day.

My DD stayed at Brimley SP and said it was really nice.

My favorites in Michigan are:
Woodland municipal CG at Grand Marais (right on Lake Superior)
McLain SP north of Houghton, great views of Superior and an ice cream shop in the park
Ontonagon municipal CG, some sites have lake views
Porcupine Mountains SP, east and west units

In Minnesota, all of the state parks along the Superior shoreline are nice but they can be full in summer. If so, there will probably be space at one of the forest campgrounds. Last time I was up that way I tried Tettegouche but it was full, so I went to Eckbeck CG just a couple miles away toward Finland and there were plenty of open sites. After 2 nights there I went up the Gunflint Trail and spent 2 nights at Bearskin Lake... the loudest noise most of the time there was the loons, a good noise to have. BTW there is a free RV dump station in Silver Bay. If you are able to stay in a state park CG, you usually have nice trails from the CG right to the river, waterfall(s), and Superior shoreline.

We spend a month just on the North Shore of Lake Superior from Duluth to the Canadian border. This is among the most scenic parts of the Great Lakes with lots of camping and great towns too.

Grand Marais Municipal Grand Marais MN
Lamb's Resort
Lakehead Boat BAsin Duluth (Great RV parking on the harbor)
Burlington Bay Municipal Two Harbors MN

Previous posts covers State Parks and State Forests.

Can boondock at Grand Portage SP Just before the Canadian border.Great
parking area and full rest rooms and great hike up to the falls (paved).

You can reserve Michigan state parks 6 months out from the dates you're trying to reserve. Website below.

https://www.midnrreservations.com/

The west side of the state along Lake Michigan you will find that the state parks fill up very quickly, especially Ludington, Charles Mears SP, Holland, and Grand Haven. We often stay at Van Buren SP near South Haven and like it. We've also stayed at Orchard Beach SP near Manistee a couple of times. In the U.P. Brimley SP just west of Sault Ste Marie is very nice with grassy sites and a nice beach.

On the private side we've found Silver Creek RV Park to be especially nice with FHUs. It's near Hart, MI along Lake Michigan and near Silver Lake Sand Dunes. Website below.

http://www.silvercreekrv.com/

Further north, west of Traverse City and near Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore is Indigo Bluffs (officially listed address is Empire). Most sites have water & electric. This area of the lower peninsula is by far my favorite and includes the Leelanau Peninsula (Glen Arbor-Leland-Suttons Bay & to a lesser extent, Traverse City). Website below.

http://www.indigobluffsrallypark.com/

A municipal campground in the U.P. that we like, Woodland Park in Grand Marais. It's right on a bluff overlooking Lake Superior and the small village of Grand Marais is nice. You will be just east of Munising and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and can take a nice county road to Munising called H-58 or camp in Munising.

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Michigan/Grand_Marais.html

In the far western end of the U.P. is the Porcupine Mountains SP just south of Ontonagon. There is a state park there, but we prefer the township park on the north side of Ontonagon. The beach is nicer there and it has water & electric.

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Michigan/Ontonagon.html

There are a lot of nice campground all around the state, upper & lower. I prefer the Lake Michigan side with the beaches and dunes. Still, the Lake Huron side also has some nice campgrounds and of course the area around the Mackinac Bridge is a hot spot for tourists. Aloha SP, just south of Cheboygan is nice, but many people like the Mill Creek Campground, a private park just east of Mackinaw City.

Have a nice trip!

saving post

Have you seen this?
I did this about 20 years ago over 4 summers. Lakes Erie and Ontario
in a two week period and the other three, 2 weeks each.
You'll love it.


Great Lakes Circle Tour

Thanks for all this great info! Woodlands Municipal is a no reservations park--which always make my wife nervous. We would be going in July at some point after the fourth--not during. Anyone ever have trouble getting a site there before?

Harrisville state park has sites right on the beach…..east side of the state. You should list what type of RV you have because there are many nice private resorts but some have restrictions on what you can bring in. Also, many of the state parks only have a few sites that will accommodate a 40-45 ft. coach.

Occupying 7 miles of the lakefront on the West side of Lake Michigan, is
Illinois Beach State Park - 240 campsites, some of which are within 300 feet of the lake.

IBSP is about 20 inutes from Six Flags Great America, Gurnee Mills Mall The "Ren Faire" and the Jelly Belly plant (free tours).

In Caledonia, Wisconsin is Cliffside Park (Racine County);
~4 miles from the Wind Point Light.

Danger: this park is very close to the Seven Mile Fair.

livelylittlecampers wrote:
Thanks for all this great info! Woodlands Municipal is a no reservations park--which always make my wife nervous. We would be going in July at some point after the fourth--not during. Anyone ever have trouble getting a site there before?

It's called Woodland Park campground in Grand Marais, MI. We went there 2 years ago in the middle of July. I was also concerned about getting a site so we went from Gaylord (about 55 miles south of the bridge) and got there around noon. Nobody in the office, just a sign that said to pick out a site and come back when they returned. There were plenty of sites. We got there on a Wednesday or Thursday so there were lots of site available. The weekend had more people come in, but there were still sites available. Some of the sites were a bit uneven and some on the small side, but we had no problem finding a spot for our 5th wheel. The eastern end of the park had campers that appeared to be there for a longer stay, thus getting some nice sites. Our site was at the western end, site #64. BTW, they have cable TV.

Grand Marais is at the end of M-77 north of Seney. There isn't much through traffic in that area like there is in other towns located along the main route of the U.P. Munising, just west of Grand Marais, is more of a tourist town catering to folks wanting to visit Pictured Rocks and Sault Ste Marie has tourists to visit the Soo Locks. Grand Marais has Lake Superior Brewing Company, a nice harbor, and a very nice beach made for rock hounds due to the large number of agates found in the area. The water can be a bit cool, but it's crystal clear.