We are heading to Michigan in July, we are trying to mix up the experience as we will have a range of kids ages. We will SP it in Porcupine and then try and get CG's with pools for the other times. Could anyone tell me if they've stayed at any of the three campgrounds (Mill Creek, Mackinaw KOA or St. Ignace KOA)? What they are like? What would be our best bet. Thanks for all the help.
Mill Creek get my vote, some sites in view of the bridge, and water. We stayed at all three and find sites are about the same size in all three but Mill Creek was the best.
We've been to Mill Creek and St Ignace KOA, and prefer the latter. Mill Creek does have a great view, especially from the FHU sites, but those FHU sites are like camping in a parking lot (seems that way to us, anyway) - tight, no shade or privacy. Other sites, with fewer hookups, are in the woods, so it can be very buggy, though pretty and of course shaded.
St Ignace KOA was pretty shady in the sites behind the main bldg, and didn't have much road noise. (We were in a PUP, so we'd have noticed!) IIRC, many were pull-through sites, not especially large, but a bit bigger than in the Mill Creek FHU section. To be fair, we camped at Mill Creek in the summer when it was pretty full, and at St Ignace when it was mostly empty. Still, I'd opt for the S.I. KOA. Or perhaps Straits SP. Just MHO...
Mill Creek is a really nice park but extremely busy. Kids running everywhere so you really have to watch for them and drive very very slow. We almost hit a small child as he darted from behind a bush right next to the road. The pool and game room were over run with kids so we never got to use them. Yes the views are the best around and the lake front sites are arranged like a small subdivision. Very very close sites. The fire pans you must get from the office are little more than oil changing pans and the wood doesn't fit so well. The showers have nothing more than shower curtains between them with little room. When you bend over your butt will touch whoever is in the next "stall." All in all it is a nice park and I would probably stay there again for a weekend but not anytime soon. We stayed in the front of the park where the sites are a bit larger.
We had a long thread on Mill Creek last year, might be worth the search to find it.
Basically just don't stay in the full hookup "bridge view" section which is a parking lot. There are plenty of sites like the electric/water site we stayed on that is so large I could turn my SUV around on it without having to back up. If you can't live without full hookups they have a new full hookup section in the back that have much larger sites, just not bridge view.
The showers were cleaned several times a day and they do have more private showers right next to the pool (each shower is a self contained room like you find in the modern state park buildings). The main shower building is like described above but there is plenty of room, didn't bother me. I have heard they have remodeled the shower facilities so this may have changed since we were there last year.
The fire pan concerned us a lot since a fire is our #1 thing we like about camping. When we talked with them you can bring your own fire pan/fire pit, you don't have to use theirs. We used their pan and put a fire ring around it giving us more room and we cleaned up any ashes that were on the ground. So don't let the fire pan concern you, you can bring your own.
It is a busy park on holidays and certain weekends like the car show. If you avoid these weekend it won't be packed. And with gas the way it is it may be less packed then usual.
All in all a good stay.
My other favorites in the area are:
1) Wilderness State Park - about 10 miles west of town, isolated and on the lake. Check site size if you have anything bigger then a popup.
2) Straights State Park - just north of the bridge, many large sites. Would be my second choice in the area after Mill Creek.
3) Mackinaw City KOA - usually don't like KOA's but pretty impressed with this one. Just south of the city. I wouldn't mind staying here.
All the other places in the area did not impress us.
I had reservations for Mill Creek for the end of August at a lakeside. In reading the forums here and looking at pictures and PM-ing a couple of the kind folks who posted, I canceled those reservations (was told that you could not hardly put out your slides because the next campsite was so close - that was the clincher). After other readings of this forum, I made reservations for the same week at St.Ignace KOA. The reservationist was VERY nice and helpful - even told me how I could get the 10% off special without being an "official" KOA member. Thought about the state parks, but in reading these forums again, Michigan state parks add on a LOT of extra fees so the price ends up being as much as, or more, than the other campgrounds. So . . . St.Ignace KOA, here we come!! I'm confident it is the right decision due to all the info from the wonderful folks here and the ones who answered my PM's. This is such a great forum!!
Noooooo!!!! to Mill creek and mackinaw koa. Wilderness is great, esp the pines campground. Bridge view in st. Ignace or the state park in st. Ignace. JK
We have friends who love Mill Creek so we drove thru it. There are some nice lake front sites but most of the campground looks like an RV parking lot.
I would go for Wilderness SP.
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Just MHO...
