Northern Lower Peninsula – Camp Michigan

The Sears House at Hoeft

Posted on March 1, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg

Near the shores of Lake Huron in Hoeft State Park is a pleasant little house that is available for visitors to rent. This is no ordinary house since it is a historic Sears mail-order kit house. Built by park rangers and the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1929, it was erected on the road the leads into the campground. The model was the Sears-Roebuck Rodessa, but the floor plan was modified by the builders so the house could accommodate two ranger’s families if needed. The house has three bedrooms and sleeps up to eight people. It includes a Sunroom, game room, master bedroom with an attached bathroom. Sears Catalog Homes were catalog and kit houses sold primarily through mail order by Sears, Roebuck and Company. Sears reported that more than 70,000 of these homes were sold in North America between 1908 and 1940. More than 370 different home designs in a wide range of architectural styles and sizes were offered over the program’s 33-year history.

If you’re looking for a house to stay at in northern Michigan, check out the lodge at Hoeft state park. Or next time you are at Hoeft and drive past it going to the campground, you will know a little bit about this magnificent little lodge.

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Onaway State Park Review

Posted on June 20, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg

Onaway State Park is situated along the shores of Black Lake north of Onaway Michigan. It is a heavily wooded park and if you like to fish and want a quiet park to stay at I think you will enjoy Onaway S.P.

158 acres

85 campsites

Official Website http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/Details.aspx?id=479&type=SPRK

Address
3622 N. M-211
Onaway MI, 49765

Pros

Wooded Sites with Shade
Boat Launch
Newer Shower Building
Waterfront Campsites

Cons

Small Beach
Shared Power Posts
Small park
Small Sites that can be difficult for large trailers

Campground

The campground at Onaway is an older campground with gravel roads throughout the park. The sites are nice and shaded but also have a lot of trees on them so it can be challenging if you have a larger trailer to get it to fit. The campground is also hilly and not level so be sure to bring some leveling boards if you have a trailer or motorhome. The multiple campsites share electrical posts and if you are between posts you will need a long power cord to reach the post. I would recommend at least a 100 feet of cord. Sites 1 through 24 are down near the lake and sites 1 through 14 are on the water. The shoreline along the sites are rocky so you won’t be able to pull a boat up to your campsite but you could probably launch a kayak or rowboat. The one drawback of being near the water is the park only has a vault toilet for the sites near the lake. The sites are also kinda small and you will have to “parallel” park your trailer to get it on the lot. Most of the sites in the campground are small and when checking the box for a 30’ trailer it cuts down your options to only about 35 sites that will fit a trailer 30 feet or longer so be sure to check your trailer size when making a reservation.

Waterfront campsite on Black Lake

Reservations

Onaway state park is not as popular as some of the nearby parks so it is somewhat easy to get a reservation. For holiday weekends be sure to book 6 months to the day if not at least 3 months in advance. For the rest of the weekends, you can usually get a site a few weeks in advance or not the day before. This is a great campground for a last minute trip. The big issue is trailer size. If you want to stay here and you have a large trailer the sites are limited and you want to reserve the large sites as soon as you can.

Bathrooms

The bathroom building is an older building but it is in good shape and maintained. There is only one modern building in the campground, when it is closed for cleaning vault toilets are available across the street from the building so be sure to look at the posted cleaning times. A new building is next to the bathrooms and houses the showers for the campground.

Shower Building

Beach and Boating

The beach at the campground is rather small but it is a nice little sandy beach. If the beach is crowded and you want to lay out in the sun there is a nice grassy area next to the beach. The beach at the day use area looks as if it is not used much since it is covered in rocks, driftwood, and woodchips. Onaway S.P. does have a nice boat ramp and being on Black Lake I would think the park is popular with fishermen or fisherwomen. I did not see a dog beach anywhere so I am not sure where you can take fido swimming.

Campground Beach

Day Use Beach

Shopping

The park does not have a store but, there is a large party store right outside the entrance to the park. If you need something that the party store does not have the town of Onaway is about 7 miles away. If you really need something at a big box store Cheboygan is about 34 miles away.

Party store at the entrance of the park

Things To Do

Besides enjoying Black Lake, Ocqueoc Falls is 13 miles away. If you like to hike or hunt there is lots of state land around Black Lake including Black Mountain Recreation Area with miles of hiking trails.

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Otsego Lake State Park Review

Posted on March 22, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg

Nestled on the shores of beautiful Otsego Lake near Gaylord is the Otsego Lake State Park. With a beautiful beach and close to I-75 this a very popular park. With the town of Gaylord only a few miles away and lots of golf courses in the area, you can find plenty of things to do and places to see.

Official Website http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/Details.aspx?id=482&type=SPRK

Address
7136 Old 27 S.
Gaylord MI, 49735

Pros

Near Gaylord
Next to I-75
New Bathroom Building in South Loop
Beautiful beach and clear water

Cons

Popular park and can be difficult to get reservations
Beach can get crowded on hot summer days
Sites near the road and railroad tracks can be noisy

Campgrounds

The campground is divided into a north loop and a south loop. The south loop is more popular because it is closer to the lake and has one of the newest bathrooms in the state park system. The north loop is the larger of the two loops. It has its own little beach with a ramp that leads to it. Most sites in either loop are well used and dirt surface. Booth loops are wooded and shaded. There are some small hills in a few areas of the park so you want to make sure you get one that the DNR calls level. The sites on the east side of the park are closer to the water. I would not say they are right on the water like some of the sites at Young State Park but they are the most popular. Old 27 runs next to the east side of the park and you can hear some road noise so the sites on the west side are better too. There are also some railroad tracks that run between the road and the park. I think they are not used frequently but a train did go by during the daytime when I stayed there.

one thing to note about the campground is the location of the dump and water stations. They are located next to the booth at the entrance and can be tricky to get to after you check in. If you are like me, and fill up with water when you get there, be sure to squeeze over to the right as far as you can when you stop to check in so you can make the u-turn to get back to the water and then you have to do the same to get back to the park so you want to use the outside water station if you can.

Reservations

Otsego Lake SP is one of the more popular parks and if you want to camp here you need to make reservations six months to the day. The lots closest to the lake are taken first so you have to be sure to try for those right when the system lets you reserve them at 8 am.

Bathrooms

The recently constructed bathroom building in the south loop

The bathroom in the south loop is one of the nicest bathrooms in the state parks. It’s like the Taj Mahal of bathrooms. The state must have gotten a grant to build this new modern environmentally friendly green building. I would definitely try to get a site in the south loop because of the bathroom building. I stayed in the north so I did not use the showers and I read some reviews that they are low pressure and not as warm as people would like because of the green design. The bathroom buildings in the north loop are older buildings but adequate.

Beach and Boat Launch

The beach on Otsego Lake is nice and sandy with crystal clear water. It’s a little bit of a walk from even the closest campsite. There is a large parking lot for the beach and on hot weekends it fills up and the beach can get rather crowded. You can go down to the north loop and take the ramp to the beach. It may be a little less busy than the main beach. A boat launch is located a the south end of the parking lot for the beach. I don’t have a boat but from the number of trucks and trailers parked it must be a popular boat launch. The shoreline along the park is sandy and I have seen a lot of boats pulled up to the shoreline and tied up. I think people camping can leave there boat in the water if they chose to do so. that’s one of the reasons why the sites along the lake are so popular.

Shopping

The state park has a store next to the beach that sells firewood and basic necessities. Opposite the entrance, is a party store if you’re looking for some adult beverages. About 8 miles away in the north side of Gaylord is Meijers, Walmart and Family Fare that has a Starbucks and a Dairy Queen, I like to go there to get groceries then I can get a Peanut Buster Parfait. East of I-75 on Main Street near the courthouse is lots of downtown shopping and restaurants.

Things to Do

Otsego Lake State Park is not a large park in terms of area and does not offer much in the way of hiking trails. I don’t play golf so I am not sure what makes for a good golf course but I know there are a lot of golf courses in the area. Besides shopping in the gift shops in downtown Gaylord I like to go see the deer and elk at the Gaylord City Elk Park. there is a viewing area behind the Secretary Of State office on Grandview Blvd. Not far away from there next to Jay’s Sporting Goods is Cops and Doughnuts. My favorite is the peanut butter cream long johns.

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Interlochen State Park Review

Posted on March 12, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg

Interlochen State Park is the largest and oldest park in the system with over 500 modern campsites. There is a lot of people in the campground when it’s full and the population can be like a small city. It’s location near Traverse City and the Leelanau Peninsula makes it a great location for lots of stuff to do and is a place I would recommend if you’re looking for somewhere to stay for a week-long summer vacation with your kids.

Official website http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/Details.aspx?id=460&type=SPRK

Address
4167 M-137
Interlochen MI, 49643

Campgrounds

The modern part of the campgrounds, situated on Duck Lake, is divided into two loops with a north loop and a south loop. When I was there the north loop was more popular probably because the sites seemed a little bigger and more accommodating to larger rigs. The southern loop is larger and has a lot of campsites. The one drawback to the southern loop is there is a large valley the runs through the middle of the campground near sites 320,499 and 396. The sites are “ stair-stepped” so they are somewhat level but I would avoid this area if you can. I would recommend staying in the southern half of the south loop where it’s more level. The campsites have trees through but I would not say they are heavily wooded. You will have to look on the DNR website to see if the site you want is shaded or not. There is a boat launch in the south loop which is popular with kayakers and fishermen.

the rustic campsites are on the other side of the street from the main campground and are on the shores of Green Lake. I did not drive through the rustic campground so I will have to check them out next time I am up that way.

Reservations

Reservations for Interlochen are usually easy to get since the campground has so many sites. The sites along the lake are the most popular and you should reserve those as soon as you can. I would also make reservations as early as you can for holiday weekends. The most popular weekend is the Fourth of July with theCherry Festival happening in Traverse City. For the most part, this is a good park to check for last minute campsites because they may have some available because of the size of the campground.

Bathrooms

The bathrooms at Interlochen are ok as state park bathrooms go. They are older but seemed to be maintained. I hope to get back there soon and get some pics to post

Beach and boat launch

There is a nice sandy beach at Interlochen on Duck Lake located between the north and south loops. I was there in the middle of the week and it was not too crowded but imagine when the park is full the beach could be crowded. If you like to be near the beach I would recommend the sites on the north loop. The sites closest to the beach on the south loops are not totally level but would be ok if you had to. There was a sign warning of swimmers. I have not read about anyone complaining online about it like they do for Higgins Lake but I would take precautions like showering after swimming.

The modern campground on Duck Lake has two boat launches. one near the park store by the main day use parking lot and one in the south loop of the campground. Parking is not available for the one in the campground so if you launch a boat from a trailer you will have to take your trailer back to your campsite. There is also a boat launch at the rustic campground on Green Lake.

Shopping

Interlochen is not a large town, but there is a nice size grocery store about 2 miles from the campground. There is also a gas station for when you need to fuel up after towing a big heavy trailer. If you don’t feel like cooking Bud’s is about a mile from the campground. The food is excellent and they also have a gift shop and a grocery store. A hardware store about 10 miles away at Chums Corner at the intersection of M31 and M37. I know this because I needed a fuse for my trailer. Always keep some spare fuses.

Things to do

I think Interlochen SP is a great place to stay for a week or longer since there is so much to do in the area. It’s between Traverse City and Sleeping Bear Dunes. You can also go shopping in downtown Frankfort and visit the lighthouse there. If you like lighthouses you are not far from Point Betsie, Grand Traverse Lighthouse and Old Mission Point Lighthouse. and the Music school is right across the street if you want to listen to a concert check their schedule. They have some concerts performed by the teachers that you can listen to for free. Or some big-name artists that you will need tickets for.

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Burt Lake State Park Review

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg

You’ve heard the saying “location location location” and I think the best thing about Burt Lake State Park is its location in the Lower Peninsula. Located next to I-75 it’s easy to get to, especially if you have a large travel trailer or motorhome. The park is centrally located in northern Michigan which makes it a short trip to many popular tourist destinations. It’s a wonderful park if you are looking for someplace to camp for a week or two. It’s easy to take a day trip to Petoskey, Mackinaw City, The Upper Peninsula Cheboygan or Mackinac Island. Or you could just hang out at the park and Indian River is close by if you need anything with a grocery store walking distance from the entrance to the park.

Pros

Located in the northern Lower Peninsula
Easier to reserve a campsite than some other parks
Grocery store and shopping close to the entrance
Beautiful sandy beach with clear water

Cons

Long drive to park from southern Michigan
somewhat a long drive to a large city from the park
Not a lot of trails for hiking in the park
can be crowded and noisy when sites are full

Official Website for Burt Lake State Park HERE

Address:
6635 State Park Dr.
Indian River MI, 49749

Campsites

The park is one of the larger parks in the state park system in terms of the number of campsites with 306 of them. A few years ago the park removed some sites reducing the number, but also enlarging the sites to accommodate larger RVs. The sites towards the lake have few trees so the will not have any shade. A few rows away from the lake the sites are wooded and most all of them will have full shade. Most site are level but well used and are mostly a dirt surface. I would stay away from sites around the 191 thru 196 area since there is a hill and I would not want to set up a trailer on them. the sites in the back of the park around by site 214 it can be noisy on Sunday morning since the Cross In The woods shrine is next to the park and you can hear the morning worship. All sites have electrical posts but some are 30 amps and some are 50 amps. the 50 amp sites are a few dollars a night more than the 30 amp service. If you need 50 amp get it, but if you don’t you can save a little money with the more common 30 amp sites.

Reservations

Burt Lake is not as popular as Ludington or a handful of other parks but it is rather popular. For holiday weekend you definitely want to make reservations SMTTD (six months to the day) for other dates between memorial an labor day you can probably reserve sites 3 months before but tell be safe I would make reservations as soon as you can. The sites closest to the lake seems to be the most popular and the sites closet to the beach fill up fast all summer long

To Make Reservations at Burt Lake click here

Bathrooms

The bathrooms at Burt Lake vary from recently built to some that are rather old. The two bathroom buildings farthest from the lake are newer buildings but not brand new I would say they are about 25 years old and what I would say is the typical state park bathroom. It has a covered walkway with the bathrooms on one side and the other side of the walkway are 5 doors with showers. The bathrooms close to the lake are older bathrooms which I am guessing were built in the 50s. They are not as nice as the newer bathrooms. When I have camped at Burt Lake I would say they do an ok job of cleaning the bathrooms. I think it depends on how busy the park is.

Beach and Boat Launch

The beach at Burt Lake is one of the best beaches in the State Park system. It’s large with hundreds of feet of shoreline. The water is clean and clear with a shallow sand bottom so it’s great for little kids or setting your chair in the water and relaxing. The beach is kept raked and cleaned. There can be a lot of people from the large day use parking lot but the size of the beach can handle a large crowd. A separate area is fenced off for dogs so they can have a chance to cool off on a hot day.There is a boat launch but no lagoon like aloha. Most people anchor their boat offshore in the shallow waters south of the beach. The park is near the mouth of the Indian River which is part of the inland waterway the foes from Alanson to Cheboygan.

Shopping

Right outside the park exit is the town of Indian River. Ken’s grocery store is less than a quarter mile from the entrance and if you’re in a motorhome without a tow car you could walk or bike to it in a few minutes. If you don’t feel like cooking there are some good restaurants in the area and some fast food including McDonald’s, Burger King, and Subway. If you like to finish a hot summer day with some ice cream Indian River has you covered. There are a few different places to get some of your favorite flavors. My favorite is Drosts and their blueberry waffle cone. If you want to go to a big box store like Walmart or Meijers it’s about a 30min drive to Cheboygan or Petoskey. There is also a park store near the beach with Snacks, Ice cream, ice and a small selection of groceries. The prices are a little more than in town but convenient. If shopping is your thing there are a few nice gift shops in Indian River and you are not far away from some of the best shopping in Michigan with downtown Petoskey and Mackinaw City nearby.

Things To Do

The park has a one-mile long foot trail in the park for hiking, but I would say Burt Lake SP is not the best choice if hiking is what you love to do. The sturgeon river flows through the northern edge of the park and is ideal for kayaking and canoeing. If you don’t have your own there are a few places In Indian River that you can rent them from and they will take you to upstream and drop you off. Indian River golf club is just north of town if you looking for somewhere to hit some balls around. To the south of the park on old 27 is the ORV trailhead if you looking for somewhere to ride your ATV or dirt bike.

Burt Lake is an excellent park if you’re looking for a place to stay in the northern Lower Peninsula surround by plenty of places to explore and things to do. I would highly recommend it if you are looking for somewhere to stay for a week-long vacation. I would love to read your comments on what you like about Burt Lake S.P.

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