Still some spaces available at State Park Campgrounds

Surprisingly enough there are still campsites available at State Park Campgrounds. Usually the 4th of July holiday sees 100% capacity at nearly every park. It is one of the biggest (along with Labor Day Weekend) camping dates on the summer calendar. You will be most successful in finding a site if you choose one of the lesser known (but still wonderful) Michigan State Parks. The Detroit Free Press has a list of the current occupancy report and you can visit Michigan.gov/dnr for a list that is supposed to be updated each morning.

Mackinaw City Travel Deal

There are some great travel packages to Mackinaw City that start at $154.97. Go to www.mackinawcity.com for the full list. Here are the details on one of the better looking packages -

• 3 Nights Lodging at your choice of hotels
• Round trip ferry boat ticket to Mackinac Island
• Mackinac Island carriage tour
• Admission to your choice of three parks (Fort Michilimackinac, Historic Mill Creek, and Fort Mackinac)
• Mackinaw Trolley Tour
• Live show at Mackinaw Theater

Prices for this package start at $154.97 (now until June and then again in October) and go as high as $374.34 in-season at a premium waterfront hotel.

If you were to pay for all of these items separately it would break down as follows -

1 Adult Roundtrip Ferry ticket - $20.00 1 Adult admission to Fort Michilimackinac - $9.50 1 Adult Mackinac Island carriage tour - $19.00 1 Adult Mackinaw Trolley Tour - $20.00 1 Adult ticket to Mackinaw Theater - $19.00

A grand total of $87.50 without even considering the hotel costs. A nice hotel room in Mackinaw City could easily run in the neighborhood of $80-$100. This package deal looks pretty good with all of the extras they are giving you.

If you are going to be heading up north this summer I would recommend that you look into taking advantage of one of these packaged deals.

Sleep in a Tipi at Wilson State Park

Want to stay someplace so unique that your kids will talk about it years later? Wilson State Park offers such a place. For $30 you can spend the night in an actual tribal replica tipi. The 20-foot tall tipi stands on a wooden platform and sleeps up to four people. Don't worry, the park staff will have your tipi set up for you in advance. Just call 1-800-44PARKS or on the web at www.midnrreservations.com to make your tipi reservation. Wilson State Park originally was the site of the Wilson Brothers Sawmill and Company Store, which was a big part of the lumber boom in the late 1800s. Located on Budd Lake just north of Harrison, Wilson State Park offers swimming, fishing, hiking, and even a metal detection area.

Apparently metal detecting is so big at Wilson State Park that they have a designated area. Those wishing to use metal detectors are limited to the beach area only. Evidently since there was a lumber mill and other buildings previously located at the park people have been using metal detectors in the campground and other areas and making a mess with their digging.

If you go:

From S. US 27 to Harrison Exit, right 3.5 miles to park; from N. US 27 to Harrison Exit, right 4 miles to park.

P.S. Don't forget to purchase your annual state park pass for $24. A daily state park pass will cost $6, but if you are staying a couple of nights you might as well spend a little extra and get the annual pass. That way you won't have an excuse to not check out Michigan's many other state parks this summer.

Fun Camping at Wilderness State Park

Features:

• 6 Rustic cabins with 4-8 bunks
• 3 Rustic bunkhouses with 24 bunks, available for families or groups
• 250 sites
• Average Nightly Rate - $27 (in season)

The majority of the sites are the perfect size for tent camping or pop-ups and mid-size campers. There are only a handful of sites large enough to accommodate the large RVs and none of the lakeside sites offer space for these.

The 8,000-acre Wilderness State Park is open all year and offers park visitors a variety of activities. Winter activities include twelve miles of cross country ski trails and places to snowmobile. Summer activities include sixteen miles of hiking and mountain biking trails in the park. Picnic areas are available along the 26 miles of beautiful shoreline and provide great places to observe nature and catch a glimpse of a Great Lakes Freighter making its way through the Straits of Mackinac.

The campground area of Wilderness State Park is divided into three areas. The East Lakeshore, West Lakeshore, and The Pines. The Pines campground is on the south side of Wilderness Park Drive within walking distance of the shore. Each of these three areas has their own playground and modern restroom and shower facilities.

A summer 2002 visit to site 64 in the East Lakeshore campground was quite pleasant. Site 64 is within a stones throw of the water allowing for great views of sunsets and moonlight upon Lake Michigan. The site was also far enough away from the restrooms to avoid the noise and extra traffic near those facilities, but not too far of a walk to make it inconvenient.

Many Pine trees surround all of the sites, which are small, but roomy enough to not feel closed in by your neighbors. The sunsets into the water were picture perfect and the waves crashing on the sandy beach made a pleasant lullaby for sleeping.

If you go:

Take Wilderness Park Drive 11 miles west of Mackinaw City. If you need extra food or other camping supplies don't stop for them in Mackinaw City. Stop in at the B&L Campstore for ice, groceries, souvenirs, or camping supplies. It might not look like much on the outside, but their prices are much lower than you can find in town and their unique items for sale inside make the stop worthwhile.

Make your reservation today at www.midnrreservations.com.

The Internet is on at Traverse City State Park

The Traverse City Record Eagle reports that you can now log on to the internet through a wireless connection at Traverse City State Park. Michigan is the first state in the country to offer wireless internet access outdoors. Wireless internet access is also available at Ludington, Holland, and Grand Haven state parks.

Make Your Campground Reservations Today

It might already be too late to get into the Michigan State Campground of your choice for this summer. You can only make reservations up to six months in advance. The weekends are already booked up at such popular campgrounds as Grand Haven State Park which opened last week. Call 1-800-447-2757 (which is routed to Kentucky, I believe) or visit www.michigan.gov/dnr to make your reservation online. This year the non-refundable reservation fee is $8 whether you call or place your reservation online. Don't think you can save much by not making reservations.

There is still a $5 charge for those who take a chance on finding available sites and just show up at a campground the day they want a site. I wouldn't recommend doing this at all, but especially on the weekend in the summer. If you make your reservations now, you still have a great shot at finding camping sites available on weekdays and there are still weekend slots available at many of the less popular state campgrounds.