New Michigan State Park System is Operational

[JRS___B]

It appears the new system actually came online early.

You can navigate the site without typing. It all pretty much clicking on menus. Kind of neat, and faster.

And, of course, the big thing is the pictures of all of the individual sites.

I got a kick out of the fact that Site 152 on Muskallonge Lake State Park includes a picture of my tent and boat trailer. I guess they were on a tight deadline and could not wait until I vacated the site to take the picture.

[magnusfide]

wingsfan20 wrote:
Just went there. Wow! Checked out site we were on just a couple of weeks ago. This is the best state park site I have ever seen. Maybe ReserveAmerica can take a hint from this.

Agreed. Better yet, show the others how to set one up and get rid of the Reserve America issue period. Georgia had a great system too until some politician's relative wanted a commission and sold them RA.

[travelnutz]

I understood your post about the cable ending at the subdivision where the politician lives and my reply was in gist as in light hearted. I had heard about this subject before from a SP Ranger at Muskallonge.

Yes, very interesting that so many poor or average persons get into politics and amazingly soon becomes wealthy or filthy rich if they are elected to go to Washington DC! Must be something in the water so many of the politicians drink, ya think? Couldn't be compromised ethics at play, could it? Who'd a thunk that?

[JRS___B]

travelnutz - I am serious. As you may have noticed, electric and phone service stops right after the park (actually with a few cottages and the Northmere store). But, there is a right-of-way cleared all the way to Grand Marias with warning signs posted for people not to dig up the buried fiber optic cable. I assumed it kept on going to maybe Marquette because colleges sometimes get that perk in exchange for granting a company a franchise by their city. But no, it only goes as far as this particular subdivision by Grand Marias. In the last couple of years the charges finally came down and the locals can now afford to use the service as well, so I guess it wasn't a totally bad thing in the end.

[travelnutz]

JRS & B,

True that the old CG map wasn't perfect but it was very close as to the shape and size of each CG campsite in a SP. We have used it for years now but I can't paste an exact web address because it no longer shows the same thing it used to when I do it.

I hear you on the H-58 situation. The present gravel etc H-58 road section goes from well graded and very smooth to a wash boarded rough with wet mud holes about 20 MPH travel. Depending on a lot of factors over a time period and the weather/grading situation. We've seen the gamut over the years! It's such a pretty drive and fun when the road's good. The real issue is that it's the only way to go from Muskallonge SP to Grand Marias without making it a very long trek of 49 miles using some gravel/dirt back roads to the south or 63.3 miles on paved roads using M-28 (McMillan/Seney) VS a short drive of 18.5 miles on H-58.

You can't be serious, can you? Ending a fiber-optic cable right at a politicians home? Duh! Must have run short of cable or maybe it got wet and shrunk? haha

[golfknut]

After doing a little more research I see that this new website will not be fully activated (to be able to make reservations) until November 1.

The website is available this week for people to peruse and become familiar with.

The lack of being able to make a reservation online between October 22 and October 31 is probably why I cannot "sign in" under my previous accounts on this new website right now.

I assume they would want the new system to be able to accept existing accounts as they all have a history tied to them.

[JRS___B]

I have assumed all along that everyone has to start from scratch.

We also had two accounts. Each had its own unique username, password, email address and customer ID number (one for me and one for DW).

But if, for example, I forgot my password, I could have set up a new user account in a minute or so. There are probably people out there that set up a dozen different accounts over the years. It was an opportune time to clean house.

[golfknut]

I see the "log in" (or "sign in" as it is referred to now) is a bit different.
The previous website used a "username" and "password" to access an account. Now they are asking for an "email address" and "password".

We had two accounts on the previous system and I tried both those passwords with our email address and neither worked to get us into this new system.

I wonder if everyone has to recreate their accounts on this new system?

I expected to receive an introductory email from the MI-DNR before this site went active.....guess I was wrong. 🙂

[JRS___B]

travelnutz - I'm not familiar with anything that showed the relative size. I remember talking to the people at Muskellonge years back and telling them their map scale was off base, especially in that some sites that look to be close to the lake were not close at all.

As far as H-58 goes, the section in Alger County was done back in 2010. The section in Luce County is still gravel.

I couldn't find anything in the MDOT site showing any paving project for H-58 or any nearby Michigan state roadway for 2013. They have been talking about paving that section of H-58 in Luce County for 25 or 30 years now.

I will believe it when I see it.

But anything is possible. They have had fiber optic cable up there in the boondocks for years, but with almost no customers because service was too pricey for the average customer. This very expensive fiber optic cable line was built anyway "for free" and it dead ends at some politicians subdivision. Imagine that?

All we need is for the right politician to build a home on H-58, an then just step back out of the way of the concrete trucks.

[travelnutz]

JRS & B,

Yes, I can find a see the same thing you did. However, it does NOT show the site's relative size by giving the shape and lines depicting the actual campsite. The old DNR site DID and for every section and the entire CG. It was very helpful and the only thing I see missing on the new DNR site. It's going to leave a lot of guess work now and worse for those who have never been to a park and trying to make good or required reservations to fit their particular needs.

In Muskallonge SP CG, we've stayed in section 1 sites 23, 26, 15, 64, 65, 66, and 72 over the years that I can remember right off hand. Only once in section 3, site 149 if I remember correctly. We really like Muskallonge SP and it's always a part of our annual fall colored leaf peeping trips. Just like the River Bend CG at Tahquamenon Falls SP at the lower falls is.

Do yuo know if they are going to pave/rebuild H-58 yet to Grand Marias? I know it was on the schedule to be done.

[JRS___B]

travelnutz - I am probably just a little slow today, but here is what I did.

1.) Went to DNR Site
2.) Under "Find Site" I clicked "On a Map"
3.) A map of the entire state came up.
4.) I clicked on the U.P.
5.) I got the U.P. map with the campgrounds identified
6.) I clicked on Muskellonge state park
7.) I got the overall map of the total state park
8.) Clicked on (for example) Section 3
9.) This got me the individual sites with the Red, Green and Yellow codes.

Note - For this particular campground, the map of the sites is not even remotely to scale. Everything is kind of smoothed out, but that is not how all of the roads run nor where all of the trees are located. It is just a rough sketch kind of a map.

[travelnutz]

JRS & B,

Thanks as I have seen the overall individual State Park map/layouts now on the site.

What I was referring to is that the DNR site used to have a map/layout that covered your entire puter screen with each site in a section or the entire CG shown in color (yellow or green) and numbered so you could see exactly where the site was in the CG. It's size and also it's relation the a bathhouse etc. Also helped to be able to see how easy it would be to back a long rig into and how much area there was to park a trailered boat plus the tow vehicle and the RV. We often double tow with having our boat behind the 5th wheel so some usable parking room is needed.

Knowing the location in the CG is important to us because my wife is permanently disabled in that she can only walk short distances etc. Some days are better and some are worse and she doesn't get to pick when the good days will be. Permanently disabled but not in a wheelchair and has a lifetime disability vehicle license plate on all our vehicles and RV's. Also has one that hangs from the vehicle's mirror if she rides in someone else's vehicle. The old CG maps were very helpful for us.

Maybe they don't have that feature ready yet or perhaps it belonged to the prior reservation system and they new reservation people can't use it. Without it, how would you know where in the CG the particular site number was located before you reserved it?

[dverstra]

Great Find!
I don't see a map showing the individual locations of the sites, though. Am I missing it?

[sch911]

Jeeze... Post the link please!

Michigan DNR Reservations New Site

[JRS___B]

travelnutz - I found it as soon as I clicked on the campground I was interested in. But the size of the campground layout map is now much, much smaller than before because they changed the scale to include more of the surrounding area. Pretty easy to miss if you are not looking for it.