Upper Peninsula Michigan

[happ]

Planning to spend 2 to 3 weeks traveling the UP in Aug/Sept. What's it going to be like trying to wing it without out reservations for a night of two here and there as I make the grand circle? I'm thinking casinos, national forest and state parks. There are two of us a class c and me with a trailer.

Appreciate your experience and knowledge.

[AlekP]

I live in MI and just got back from a vrbo in the U.P. Many campgrounds I was hoping to book later after I get my casita are booked solid. Kewadin casino in Christmas is small, but should have some parking lot room.



Woodland campground in Grand Marais has a bunch of first come first serve spots so they might be worth a shot, their reservations are booked full last I checked.



There's a KOA near Munising that I stayed at a couple years ago that's in OK shape, they even have a campground wifi which I was surprised at. This isn't far from the Kewadin casino.



Mouth of the 2 Hearted River is also FCFS, you'll be on dirt roads a while to get to it.


There's another casino with a campground next to it near Brimley, the name is escaping me.


I'd plot your route now and take a list of campgrounds along the way, if you end up with concrete dates I'd try to book what you can as soon as you can. Our reservation/camping rates have gone down since last year by a decent little bit, but they're still higher than they were pre-covid.

[happ]

Thanks

[Cotton]

Haven't been since 19, but have made several trips, without making reservations. Always found a spot somewhere for a night, or 2. It was easy until our last trip, but still came out OK. Haven't been since the virus, but looking to go back. Will likely go without reservations, till I find I can't.

If you want to be in one spot for a week, I'd reserve one. Pick the right spot and you can see a lot of the UP from there, making day trips.

Love it up there when it's hot down south.

[Quest4Quest]

I live on the west UP border and have camped in UP MI on occasion. Two general ways of planning your stay--traditional camper with money and likes lots of company or boon-docker with gas money and prefers few neighbors. Anything in between are also options. So, MI is money hungry on campers--have to have a state sticker, have to pay camping fee, have to reserve first and pay online fee. Michigan is also very undeveloped and has massive state/federal forests up there, so you can simply study the maps, find gravel roads, drive until you find a field spot, and set up. Or, you can cruise into a little town, find a store parking lot, sleep, leave and explore the next day just to find another parking lot, repeat. Great Lakes beach camping is darn near impossible--"No Overnight Parking", "Private Property Keep Out", or "Fee Area, Closed". Some little motels will let you park for a fee, but the parks and campgrounds on the lake tour require reservations; the place is always packed! In land, different story. For instance, Pictured Rocks area has a ton of little USFS campgrounds that are rarely full, but you have to drive in 20 miles on gravel. Heading from Big Bay over Huron Mountain has wide open blue berry patches everywhere, easy to just pull off an set up, free, but to get down you have to maneuver 10 miles of switch backs and logging trucks (on the way to Skanee). I have found plenty of little pull outs with picnic tables created by locals in various spots, but you really have to do your exploring to find these spots, which is good that you have an extra vehicle to do that. So, overall, what is your comfort level and budget like? High budge, just reserve. Low budget, just wing it.

[northwinds13]

We just did a circle around Lake Michigan. I would try to make reservations for Fri and Sat., wing it the rest of the time.

[AlekP]

One thing I forgot to mention the other day. I don't know what route you're planning on taking but if you drive up through the lower peninsula, I would avoid crossing the Mackinac bridge northbound on Friday's 2~6pm or southbound Sundays from 12~4pm. Traffic backs up quite a bit, this last time on my way back, northbound I-75 had about 8-10 miles worth of backup at 5pm on a hot Friday weekend.

[Mike Magee]

MI state parks might be difficult to get campsites without reservations. State forest CGs are usually FCFS. Of course weekends will be harder than weekdays just about anyplace, but not necessarily impossible; a good tactic is to find a FCFS site on a Thursday morning or early afternoon and keep it for Fri and Sat, too.

The MI daily or annual permits are required for state parks and state forest CGs. If you think you'll be in those for at least 3 or more nights, might as well get the annual (nonresident is $39 IIRC). Daily is $11.

I visited the UP last June without reservations, no problem. I was going to stay in the NF west of Munising at a spot on Lake Superior I'd seen on freecampsites dot net but it had been closed off (boulders placed across access road). So I decided to ask the camp host at the Bay Furnace NF CG, and they had sites available on that Sunday afternoon (she helped me get the only available spot right on the water!). After that I drove to a little municipal CG in Bergland, on the north side of Lake Gogebic, and several sites were available there. Stragegy-wise, I always try to have 1 or 2 alternate CGs or boondock spots in mind as backups, that I can try to snag if my first choice doesn't pan out. That has always worked for me, and I only make advance reservations if I know I want to stay at some popular destination which always books up solid.

I just got back from 4 nights at Sleeping Bear Dunes and 2 nights at Whiting Park on Lake Charlevoix. I'd booked 2 nights at DH Day and 1 night at Platte CG. DH Day was the pits for me, sites were too close together with no privacy and my tiny site was ringed with a lush growth of poison ivy. But Platte River had huge peaceful wooded site and was totally relaxing, so I biked back to the office and said I wished I'd gotten a second night (of course it showed booked solid on recreation.gov); the super-helpful rangers said they knew of two open sites due to cancellations, and they input the data with their computer to reserve the one I chose. Then at Whiting Park it showed booked solid when I'd last checked (out of curiosity) but in reality the site next to mine was vacant (no reservation tag on the post) during my Fri & Sat stay. Which all goes to show, sometimes showing up and asking can work out well.

BTW, if you were to find a boondock spot on MI state forest land, there's a simple one-page form you need to download and print (from this DNR page, under 'dispersed camping'), before you go so you can fill it out and post it at your spot to make your stay legal. You might want to have a plastic sheet protector or ziplock bag for the paper to keep it dry while it's out there.

[AC0GV]

Originally Posted by happ

Planning to spend 2 to 3 weeks traveling the UP in Aug/Sept. What's it going to be like trying to wing it without out reservations for a night of two here and there as I make the grand circle? I'm thinking casinos, national forest and state parks. There are two of us a class c and me with a trailer. Appreciate your experience and knowledge.

I did that last year and it was great. My calendar included a couple of UP pictures. Here are the links to the calendar and my two favorite stops.
https://quincymine.com/
https://www.michigan.org/property/fo...ric-state-park

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFCBdQPot3U&t=18s

[Mike Magee]

I forgot to say that it should get somewhat easier to find campsites after Labor Day. Families with kids are less likely to be out camping after school starts.

[theremin]

One thing to watch out for in the UP is cellphone service. Last year, coming back from Minnesota with a new Scamp, I camped in Michigan State Parks--they were all quite nice. I did have reservations at each, but didn't make them super early.

At any rate, leaving one of the parks, I hit a deer and ran over it with both car axles and the Scamp axle. Scamp was undamaged, but the front end of my tow vehicle was pretty banged up. Fortunately, it was still driveable because I had no cell service whatsoever. I had a portable Ham transceiver with me if I had needed it. But if you're relying on cell service for GPS or anything, be careful.

Dave

[George n Mary]

We are life long Yoopers and will tell you that finding two spots in a state park in July or August is going to be near impossible. Those are prime camping dates and even trying to book something now will be tough.

[Rzrbrn]

Raised in MI, live in TN now, took a Casita up through MI north through the UP about 4 years ago. Stayed in private and State campgrounds maybe 2x. Usually just pulled off into State and national forest areas as needed. Did not get permits. Was not bothered by law enforcement at any time. Mind the mosquitos, horse flys, black flys, noseems, etc: Maybe I should put this in caps and bold print. Highly enjoyable.

[Meadowlark]

Raised in MI, now in WA. Happ, there's lot to see and do in the UP. A bit of advice? Sault (of Sault St. Marie) is pronounced "Soo". A left over from when the French owned Michigan. (half my extended family still lives in Quebec,eh?). A "Yooper" is someone who's from and or lives in the Upper Peninsula, a Troll is someone who lives or is from the Lower Peninsula. A fudgie is a tourist.

Look for agates and fossils called "Petosky stones" on the shores of Lake Superior but beware, the water is ice cold, even in August...although, sorry to say, climate change is warming all the Lakes up. And as someone mentioned, the bugs...the deer flies are ferocious, the skeeters, too. Ticks are everywhere as is poison ivy. Be careful.