Family Camping locations?? please

Anyone know of some awesome camping in Michigan..... We bought a fairly large popup the end of last year and this is our first season trying it. We are looking for family friendly with lots of outdoor activities. Fishing, swimming, pool or safe lake, beach, so on. We have 5 kids ages 4,6,10,12 and 14.

Any help would be awesome. We are planning of trying a new place once or twice a month. :-)

Family Camping locations?? please

I think the Burt Lake State Park is very nice. The beach/swimming is great because it goes out shallow for a long way. Close enough to you for a nice weekend trip. Nice camp store. Big Bear putt-putt across the street. Tube or kayak the Sturgeon River. Sit on the patio of The Inn Between right on the Indian River and enjoy a cocktail and some good finger food %26amp; burgers (for me the perch basket).

Don%26#39;t know if you have a boat but you can access the Indian River from Burt Lake and it is great for a trip all the way thru to Mullet Lake or just a nice short trip like we do every night in the summer. Everyone is so nice on the river, lots of waving and saying hello.

Family Camping locations?? please

South Higgins Lake Campground is also great for families because the lake is so very clear, shallow, and sandy. Nearby Houghton Lake has the go-carts, putt-putt etc. Also check with the campground host as they usually plan many kid activities within the park. I would suggest making your reservations ASAP as a lot of the popular parks and those along Lake Michigan are probably close to booked for the prime summer months

We camp last year @ Aloha State Park on Burt Lake. The beach was great, basically most of the beach (very long) is for campers only. It would be in the same area as the prev. post. The only thing I would recommend is to NOT get a beach front spot. Even though it is very nice having a beach right outside your site, when the wind picks up---you don%26#39;t want to be right there. We had a very nice site that back up to the woods (private behind you) and close to the boat basin (I think it was site 92 or 96). You were still very close to the beach. The beach is all sand, and you can walk out quite a ways. The only negative about the campground was not many showers (only 2 womens in each loop). There was also a small store right next to the campground, great place to get ice or their homemade doughnuts (made there every morning) get them while they are still warm. But, for any real shopping go into town.

Again the beach is great, stay back from the water. There is also a long walkway out into the water which is nice to walk out and look at water, or sit at night. Very nice campground.

You need to type into google Michigan State Parks and get to know the website well. There are so many parks that would apply to your circumstances. Of course, I see you live in TC, so that excludes that area I am assuming! Those new large popups are very cool, indeed. Congrats on that. We enjoy most of the state parks in MI, and have stayed at almost all of them overtime. You may want to give Ludinton a try, but at this time of year, they are probably all booked there. We enjoy Young State Park in Boyne City, Hoeft SP in Rogers City, and Holland SP (Lake Macatawa campground) in Holland. Ludington is our favorite. We are trying new parks this year we have not been to. We are using a KOA near Greenfield Village in Detroit in June, to see some of the old Detroit tourist areas. For a quick trip from TC, but a nice park and beach/activities is Mitchell SP in Cadillac. Brimley SP, about 15 miles west of Sault Ste. Marie is very nice, too. Great beach. If you want more specific info, PM me. I can give you more info than you probably want-LOL. Tyme

The state park on Burt Lake is Burt Lake State Park. Aloha State Park is on Mullet Lake. Both very nice parks. But Burt is closer to Indian River and the activities that I wrote about.

Hello tymetraveler,

If the BradyBunch7Michigan PMs (private message) you and it is a good question, could you post it here. With your knowledge of camping it would be really nice if you would share it with the rest of us reading this post. More people read posts then ask questions and I am sure there are a few campers out there that would like to hear what you have to say about different sites.

Thanks.

Absolutely, Yooperbacker! I would love to share more camping posts, questions, stories, reviews etc. with all of you. Let%26#39;s hope BrandyBunch7Michigan gets back with us....Tyme

Hello all! Well thank you so very much for all the wonderful advise so far. I am so new to this that I dont even know what to ask yet. Just looking for good info. This past weekend we went down to Otter Lake and camped. It was a very quite cute campground. Not a lot of people yet. We found a campsite in the back that had no water hookup.. but your sink is out right now so it was not a big deal however the site was extremely private and we were all to ourselves. The kids had a blast just riding their bikes. It was a very nice Mothers Day weekend!

For Memorial Weekend we are going to Interlochen state park.... which yes is right by Traverse City but that is okay cause we have a lot of friends going there as well.

We are planning on going at least once a month. So the more idea%26#39;s the better. At the end of last year we did go to Freemont IN to a jellystone that was way cool! Big waterpark and activities. The kids had a blast! So I would love to have some of those ideas as well as low key as well.

can%26#39;t wait to hear back!

Carol

I generally camp at state Parks but a friend of mine camps at the KOA in Port Huron and her kids absolutely love it.

My favorite campground is Ludington State Park – but yes it is hard to get into and reservation have to be made 6 month in advance but sometimes you get lucky and they have a midweek opening.

Others we have enjoyed in no particular order:

Muskegon State Park

Hoffemaster State Park

Orchard Beach State Park - Manistee

Muskellunge Lake State Park (UP)

Mears State Park – Pentwater – very sunny but great beach and quaint town in walking distance

South Higgins State Park

Tawas Point State Park

Hey Kilarney, we are staying at the KOA in Port Huron over Memorial Day weekend. Looks like a fun park!

We switched our plans for Ochard Beach to Labor Day weekend. Looking forward to going back there.

I 2nd all those parks Kilarney mentioned to you, Brady, except I have never stayed at Muskallunge (sp?) in the UP, though we drove thru it once and had a picnic there, but it totally escapes my memory, except that buggy picnic....LOL.