We love the muskegon state park channel campground. You are close to the beach, either muskegon lake (great for the kids, no waves but gets deep quick) and lake michigan is a bike ride away. the channel is great for walks. If you walk it at night with a shining light, you are almost guaranteed to see deer, coons, and an occasional bear lol. I have been camping out there since I was 10. There is also a ton of hiking in the dunes. This will be where we spend most of our time when we finally get our trailer next spring. We did find a really cool lake MI recreation area just North of hamlin Lake in Ludington. We were up there geocaching, and I can't wait to get my TT and go up there. This was very rustic, but just awesome. All national forest, and it felt like you were way off the grid.
I had posted some prices in my previous post on that 18rbt at veurinks. Were these their selling prices or msrp from your experince with them. Still deciding between the 18 rbt and the Starcraft 15rb, and prices do make a difference. Looks like I should be able to get the 15rb for about $9500ish, but its smaller with one less drop out bed. I love the one you have, and is my first choice.
bbtwalker, There is a variety of great campgrounds in this area. Here's a list of some of our favorites.
Pioneer Park - Muskegon - On lake Michigan, clean, quiet, gets busy starting Memorial weekend. http://co.muskegon.mi.us/parks/pioneer.htm
Meinert Park - Montague - short walk to Lake Michigan, clean, quiet, not hard to get into on busy weekends. Kinda of a last minute hidden gem. http://www.co.muskegon.mi.us/parks/meinert.htm
Claybanks Twsp Park - just north of Montague - On Lake Michigan, pretty open area, beautiful uncrowded beach. Usually easy to get into. http://claybankstownship.org/park.php
Jellystone Park - Silver Lake/Mears - Lots of activities, lots of kids, crowded, Its a park that is not for everybody but my wife really likes it and for that reason we stay there a lot. I spend a lot of my time out at the sand dunes. http://www.silverlakejellystone.com/
Lake Michigan Recreation Area. - North of Ludington - This is where jdrphs is talking about in the post above. I love this place. Short walk to Lake Michigan, You can park you camper on a nice spacious paved pad or drive down a two track and boondock and not have anybody around you. It is rustic so be prepared for that. In the actual campground there is a couple spots to fetch water. http://www.recreation.gov/camping/Lake_Michigan_At_Manistee_Mi/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=73550&topTabIndex=CampingSpot
This is just a few of the places that we have been to. If you have any questions whatsoever please just send me a PM or ask here. I am always glad to help out.
Lake Michigan Recreation Area. - North of Ludington - This is where jdrphs is talking about in the post above. I love this place. Short walk to Lake Michigan, You can park you camper on a nice spacious paved pad or drive down a two track and boondock and not have anybody around you. It is rustic so be prepared for that. In the actual campground there is a couple spots to fetch water. http://www.recreation.gov/camping/Lake_Michigan_At_Manistee_Mi/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=73550&topTabIndex=CampingSpot
Man, I was blown away with this area. Never knew it existed. This is the great thing about geocaching, you find caches in an area you want to go and find acres of land like this. I have not camped here, but when I get my TT, I believe this will be one of the first places we go.
Couple questions. It did not appear to me that there is any sort of reservation system, right? I found the 3 or so loops that had pads with trailers camping, very nice. Is it just show up, pay at the station I saw, and camp? I programmed my GPS that day to get us to the park using back roads. Boy, that was great, wish we had my truck and 4wd. You can get there using all paved roads, but we were on some awesome 2 tracks (roads? lol) in my wifes 2008 Saturn Vue lol. I was confident, but she got a little nervous. We saw some people just camping wherever, and the deer were staring at us on the trail wondering what I was doing out there in a family car lol. I talked to a ranger, and he said if there is a number sign, its a "road". I can't wait to go up there with my truck and have some fun. (not rip things up, just explore) Any rules or restrictions you can give would be great about this area. Where can you set up camp? What about fires? Any stickers needed? He said no orv needed, which is great. I appeared there was a lot of biking trails too? Busy on weekends, or can you normally find a spot? i cannot wait to go back up there. Cool thing is, we didn't find the cache that day so we can look again. You can PM me if you want, or share the info with the guy from Holland too. Thanks!
Please share the info.. I like to look this up. You buys are selling me on this place for sure. Thank you for the suggestions on the campgrounds. My dw wants to do some close camping this year and some of these will work. We have a couple free weekends that we booked in may and 1 in June already. .. I love being close to lake Michigan I can bring the kayak and surf the waves or just let my son try and paddle it around.
campgrounds we have reserved are
Easy lake campground
Woodchip
Spring lake resort and sandy pines (dw has friends out there)
As for prices of the rv. I'm not sure what the Msrp is. Originally we looked and did pricing on the 16rbt both classic and escape models. Then I came home did some research on the web and saw this floor plan for the 18rbt. I called dealer next day and said if you can order one for this price I will take it. He called back and said we can't do that price but we can do $500 more. I said sold..
Yes, that area is amazing, and I only spent a few hours up there. Hope he tells us more!
well, I was at first looking at the 16rbt also, then I noted the 300 cargo capacity. Not going to work. Once tha tanks are full, your talking about a few sleeping bags and thats it. A dealer here in Muskegon is where I first saw the spree escape 16rbt. His selling price was 11,300, which I thought was good. I would really buy the sportsmen or the escape, but like the escape better. Was hoping to get one under 11K, either one, maybe a bit more. I am looking also at the starcraft ar-one 15rb, which is a little smaller. Rumer has it it can be had for under 10k out the door. I'm now torn between these two, but like the larger 18rbt better. may come down to what deal I can get. Looks like both are at dealers in the same area, so should make for some easy cross shopping. I have been told to finance for 10 yrs, and just pay extra. Prolly going to put some down too.
jdrphs, I was just double checking on things and I did notice they do have a limited number of sites that you can reserve now up to 6 months in advance. It probably would be best if you contacted the Manistee National Forest Rangers at (231) 723-2211 and have them send you more info. I would hate to give you wrong information and get you in trouble. Actually I think I am going to do the same thing in case some rules have changed. But in the past we made sure we got up there in the middle of the week cause they do fill up in the camp loops. There is 1000's of acres to explore besides a few miles of sandy beach to enjoy.
I also got on there and noticed this. I may actually borrow my dads ailiner and take the wife up there this summer. Its small, but I don't need any special equip for my truck. Darn this barely weighs more than my 16' boat. she's a teacher, nothing better to do. I can take a couple vaca days and we could do middle of the week stuff.
Geocaching is something I have tried here locally and enjoy it. It would be night to have something to search for at the camoground.
So i have heard that the State park registration is a Very crapy process. I have been told you have to call 6 months prior to make reservations ( not including holiday). What about the cancellation process ?
As i sit here and play on the internet the Snow started to come down yet again....
Hey MOTHER NATURE SPRING PLEASE...
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lol. I have been camping out there since I was 10. There is also a ton of hiking in the dunes. This will be where we spend most of our time when we finally get our trailer next spring. We did find a really cool lake MI recreation area just North of hamlin Lake in Ludington. We were up there geocaching, and I can't wait to get my TT and go up there. This was very rustic, but just awesome. All national forest, and it felt like you were way off the grid.
