My husband Josh and I, with our two dogs, drove home to Michigan for my one-and-only sister’s wedding over the 4th of July weekend; then after the festivities ended for the weekend with one family they began with another. Josh’s family was camping at Muskegon State Park which is in the western part of the state, on Lake Michigan. This started our weeklong camping trip and we left the family behind after Muskegon to head north through the Upper Peninsula camping for two nights, then through Wisconsin into Minnesota to camp on the Mississippi River before heading back home to Golden, Colorado. Getting there; from Muskegon Michigan head north to North Muskegon along Lakeshore Drive to the park. Or use the address to find your personal directions: 3560 Memorial Drive, North Muskegon, 49445. Click here for park website or here for additional map information.
Info: Camping at the Lake Michigan Campground costs $28/$26 dollars plus the $6 vehicle fee or buy an annual park pass which costs $24. There is another campground called Channel Campground which offers concrete tent pads and is on the corner of Muskegon Lake and Lake Michigan on the channel. Each site at the Lake Michigan campground has an electrical hookup; there are flush toilets, showers, and water stations nearby. The park has an activity center and miles of sandy beach, boat launch, fishing, beach house, swimming, a picnic area and playground as well as winter activities including cross country skiing. It also has over 14 miles of hiking trails from the shore and dunes to the woods. The Journey; Our first stop on our weeklong camping trip was Muskegon State Park, a huge State Park with all the amenities that we aren’t used to including a shower! The Park is located just off the shores of the beach (with no sites viewing the beach) in a densely wooded area with lots of shade. The sites, like many state parks, are close together with minimal privacy.
However, there are several sites, along the edges of the park (some backing to the road such as in photo above) which are larger and provide more privacy. The sites closest to the beach are situated at the bottom of a hill which backs to the lake, but does not view it. The white sandy beaches are just a short walk from the campground, and we spent most of our time enjoying the Lakeshore and dunes, something that we do not get in arid Colorado. Even though the campground was fairly full (July 5-7th) the beach was never crowded! Our large group walked just a few hundred yards of the beach stairs in either direction and had lots of room to spread out and avoid the minimal crowd of people, unlike our crowded campsite.
After two days of camping and enjoying time with family and friends, we decided after much discussion to take the long route home and drove north into the Upper Peninsula to spend some time together and explore an area that we have never visited before as a couple. We left Wednesday around noon and drove north across The Mackinac Bridge after a few fun stops along the way to our campground on Little Brevort Lake in the Upper Penninsula.
Click here for map and to input your address for personal directions.
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