I think your right Mich Doc. I own a small motel on the beach just down from the state park and the occupancy for memorial day was 40% this year......Last year 90%.......the year before that we where sold out.
I've got a feeling this is going to be a slow season up to the 4th of July, from that point on we are sold out almost every weekend.
Jim , MJ & Spirit of Sambuca Bear
2006 Winnebago Vectra
Jeep Liberty Toad
We camp at Hartwick State Park quite a bit - or at least we used to. Between the increased camping fees, the nickel and dime charges that they stick you with ($10 to go to the office and extend your stay, just because you TALKED to someone and they had to put it in the computer??!!??) and the green stakes that line the road that goes to the campground it's just not somewhere we want to go so much anymore. Just like everything else in this state - they've messed it up.
MichDoc wrote: I think you noticed the vacancies last year because that was just the beginning of what we saw MORE of THIS year.
Although my reasoning probably doesn't apply to Memorial Day weekend, I think last year was due more to the time of year (3rd week in June). From Harrisville SP, we headed over to South Higgins Lake SP, typically a very busy park. The park was nearly empty for the first few days we were there. By the time we left, every site was full, and the rangers said it would stay that way for the rest of the summer.
bimbert84 wrote: Although my reasoning probably doesn't apply to Memorial Day weekend, I think last year was due more to the time of year (3rd week in June). From Harrisville SP, we headed over to South Higgins Lake SP, typically a very busy park. The park was nearly empty for the first few days we were there. By the time we left, every site was full, and the rangers said it would stay that way for the rest of the summer.
-- Rob
I've found "in season" doesn't start up north until usually June 15th. That's also when the rates go up at most private parks. UP is usually between June 15th and the 4th for "in season". In the south the start of in season typically is Memorial Day weekend.
Hey - Don't forget, if you were fortunate enough to have Wings Stanley Cup Finals, Pistons Eastern Conference Finals, or Tigers tickets....you also stayed home this year instead of camping. Looking at the attendance for those events on Saturday alone was about 75,000. Then both the Pistons and Wings were sold out for Monday - another 40,000 people, although many attended both games for their favorite team. For me, I had to work at the Palace over the holiday weekend and could not get out to camp.
MI Director wrote: 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.
MI Director, I think we know your standard response to MI State Parks by now.
I honestly have no idea what state parks you are referring to with the smoke, drunks, etc...but definitely I'd recommend you stick with your private facilities.
I too was a bit surprised with the reservation rates for Memorial Day, but I can tell you via the reservation system that most of the SP's are their usual full in July and August. I certainly do think because of the gas prices, it will have an impact this season.
I've found that the higher north you go, the more likely you are to find openings at MI state parks. We've been able to get sites in very popular parks (i.e. Wilderness, Porcuppine Mnt., Tahquemenon Falls River Mouth) just one-two weeks in advance. This was in late June/early July.
I do think gas prices will effect how far many people are willing to go. That just makes sense. However, we will continue to camp at the state parks. We have never had a problem with "dirty facilities." Of course, if you camp on a busy holiday weekend and use the facilities at a peak time, the rangers won't be able to get in and clean every hour to keep them pristine. I think you have to be realistic. We camped 54 nights last year, the majority of which were in MI state parks and we never had an issue with drunks or unruly people.
Happy Camping!
2009 Starcraft Star Stream ss22rbh
2005 Dodge Durango Limited
2003 Dodge Ram with Thule rack system
5 bikes
3 kayaks
1 Bayliner 185
1 Mini Australian Shepherd
3 kids
2 Tired, But Happy Camping Parents!
MI Director wrote: 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.
MI Director, I think we know your standard response to MI State Parks by now.
I honestly have no idea what state parks you are referring to with the smoke, drunks, etc...but definitely I'd recommend you stick with your private facilities.
LOL. I'd agree. If you're big complaint is that you have problems with tree branches hitting your huge land yacht then I think that state parks aren't for you.
I still want someone to point out private parks that are cheaper then a state park in season. We're staying at a private park in a couple weeks up north and it was nearly $50 a day and that is the *off* season prices. Only reason we're doing it is because of location and we got 2 days free for booking a week so the price came down a bit. Normal in season price is nearly $60 a day which is pretty typical for private parks on lakes. Cheapest I find private parks in season are around $40 and those usually aren't the best.
We were in Sleeping Bear NP for 15 days and there were few empty sites over Memorial Day, even those without electricity were full. All of the reservation sites were full for the weekend.
I have been looking at the state parks for mid-July thru Aug. They are completely booked. The sites I found available would not accomadate my rig. We are still deciding if we should make Michigan this year. We travel for a couple of months and don't like to reserve to far in advance, so it seems private is our only option. Are we going to be able to find places to stay? We were headed to the western side of the state, up to the UP over to WI and MN. We wanted to stay by the coastline, will we have a problem? Also, we are traveling with a 2nd rig (family) which makes it harder. We figured it was the MI folks staying close to home.
Offline
