My DW and I walk thru the Harrisville state park almost daily in the spring and summer. This memorial day weekend we asked the camp host what the occupancy was and they stated about 30%. Another interesting note was that there was only one motorhome in the whole park! Lots of TT's, 5th wheels and tents but just one class C motorhome!
Last year our state park was about 70% full on memorial day and already sold out on Labor Day......this year there are still openings for the labor day weekend. There must be some truth to the whole "scaling back" on travel here in Michigan. Just wondering if others noted the same? The weather was perfect low 70's on Friday & Saturday and near 78 on Sunday.
Jim , MJ & Spirit of Sambuca Bear
2006 Winnebago Vectra
Jeep Liberty Toad
We haven't used a MI SP in the last 8 years. With there last rate increase, we can find private camp grounds with just as nice or nicer sites for about the same cost and don't have to put up with the smoke, drunks, narrow driveways with tree branches, and dirty facilities. When they find someone who knows how to run the SP system right we'll give them a try again but until then we'll camp elsewhere.
We camped at Potato Creek SP by South Bend, Indiana, and it was completely full. There was a near 2 hour wait Monday to dump....we sat that out at our site, having lunch instead
I think it's a combination of things. The state parks close to the metropolitan areas were at, or close to, 100%. However, those that were further "up north", especially the U.P. were virtually unoccupied (10% to 75% full according to the DNR). These were always the first ones to fill up on the long weekends, but apparently people don't want to spend money for the gas to get there. I think that a similar situation would be found for the upstate private resorts as well. Also, the Michigan State Parks have, in my opinion, gotten so greedy that they are pricing themselves out of business. I've always used the State Parks because the scenery was nice and the price was better. However, it now seems that you can get more "bang for your buck" at some of the private campgrounds, which offer water and sewers at the site, as opposed to most state parks that give you only electricity. Further, the private campgrounds that are "up north" offer the same scenery that the state does. All of the miscellaneous fees that the state is adding on to the price of the site is keeping people from camping here. Florida offers campsites for as little as $10, and you don't need to buy a $30 vehicle pass in addition to the site fee. Texas charges less for the site, and a fee to get in, but then allows you to fish without buying a licence which saves you $40 or $50. Michigan charges for ALL of it! Pay toilets and a charge to dump your holding tanks on the way out are the next surcharges we expect to see. We found that we can go to Kentucky, or even Tennessee, in about the same amount of time, and pay so much less for the site that it offsets the extra gas necessary to get there. The state legislature and its governor couldn't chase tourists away any better if they had planned on it!
MichDoc wrote: I think it's a combination of things. The state parks close to the metropolitan areas were at, or close to, 100%. However, those that were further "up north", especially the U.P. were virtually unoccupied (10% to 75% full according to the DNR). These were always the first ones to fill up on the long weekends, but apparently people don't want to spend money for the gas to get there.
You got it. Anything in the south or middle of Michigan was jammed packed. We drove thru 3 state parks we had never been to before on a trip to Birch Run and all 3 were full. But they were all south of Grand Rapids/Saginaw line.
Many parks up north and the UP were quite empty. $4 a gallon gas will do that when there is very little population up north and everyone has to drive. Many other states do better because they have population centers scattered about instead of like Michigan where they are all in the middle and south.
I think there are other reasons the more northern parks are not yet full: it's still cold up there. Last year we camped at Harrisville during the 3rd week of June. We counted 34 sites occupied (out of 195). It's a beautiful park, but that time of year, the water is not exactly balmy. I swim comfortably with water temps in the low- to mid-60s, but the water there was quite a bit colder than that.
bimbert84 wrote: I think there are other reasons the more northern parks are not yet full: it's still cold up there. Last year we camped at Harrisville during the 3rd week of June. We counted 34 sites occupied (out of 195). It's a beautiful park, but that time of year, the water is not exactly balmy. I swim comfortably with water temps in the low- to mid-60s, but the water there was quite a bit colder than that.
-- Rob
I agree, but if your waiting for warm water up here on Lake Huron it's usually Late August!....
We live just down the beach from the park and crazy as it sounds my wife and I jumped in the lake on Sunday......REFRESHING!
bimbert84 wrote: I think there are other reasons the more northern parks are not yet full: it's still cold up there. Last year we camped at Harrisville during the 3rd week of June. We counted 34 sites occupied (out of 195). It's a beautiful park, but that time of year, the water is not exactly balmy. I swim comfortably with water temps in the low- to mid-60s, but the water there was quite a bit colder than that.
-- Rob
I really don't think it's got much to do with the weather. This past weekend was predicted to be perfect weather, 70's to mid 80's and sunny. But even if it wasn't, most people that we knew would go up north rain or shine (or even snow) and when we got there, it seemed as if everyone else had the same idea because all the campgrounds were packed. It was a three-day weekend, and we weren't going to miss any of it, no matter what. I think you noticed the vacancies last year because that was just the beginning of what we saw MORE of THIS year. From the people I've spoken with, I believe that the rise in gas prices over the past couple of years has done more to curtail travel than some on this forum would like to believe. Some are still traveling, but certainly not the numbers we saw just a few years ago.
Offline
