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Scott and Jackie's Travels – Thousand Trails Reviews, Campground Reviews, Fulltime RVing, European Travel

Tag: Michigan

Campground Review: Jack Pine Lodge and Campground – Manistique, MI

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Jack Pine Lodge and campground is located in the Hiawatha National Forest between Munising, MI, on Lake Superior 30 miles to the north, and Manistique, MI, on Lake Michigan 25 miles to the south. Depending on your point of view, it’s either equally handy or equally unhandy to both! The property has a well-established bar and grill, rental cabins, and a fairly new full hookup campground with 50 amp electric.

The campsites are spacious and generally long enough for most any RV and there are a few pull throughs. There’s good shade but we had no problem getting satellite TV. I can’t say as much for cell and internet. Our Verizon cell service was zero to very poor at its best. The bar and grill on the property offers free WiFi and it is dependable but noticeably slow and easily overloaded. You have to be either inside the building or at least right at the door to use the WiFi. There’s a playground for the kids and some horseshoe pits but the big attraction is the many 4-wheeler/snowmobile trails out through the National Forest. Several of the RVers had 4-wheelers and they headed out every day to explore the area via the many miles of well-used trails. It looked as if it would be a lot of fun. In the winter the Lodge hosts snowmobile rallies. I don’t think I’d like the cold and snow through the long Upper Peninsula winters but I’d sure like giving that sport a try. The campground has a heated bathhouse and a small laundry. The next time we travel in this part of the country I’ll be happy to return.

Sightseeing Review: The Central Upper Peninsula of Michigan

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The highlight of our stay in the central Upper Peninsula of Michigan was time spent at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior at Munising. This is a beautiful area overseen by the National Park service. We spent part of one day in the town of Munising, MI, where we visited a waterfall, the beach, and a maritime museum. The self-righting Coast Guard boat there was interesting. The view from the beach was lovely. There is a lot of driftwood up and down the beaches. It would be a nice place to picnic and relax, however it was cool and very windy on the day we visited. We came back another day to hike a little and take the Pictured Rocks boat tour. We enjoyed our hike to Miners Falls and a shorter hike to the Miners Castle overlook. From there we picked up our tickets for the two hour cruise.

We enjoyed the cruise very much. We saw the lighthouse on Grand Isle, many beaches, and rock formations including an arch and a cave with water dripping into the lake. The Pictured Rocks and Spray Falls were the highlight of the tour. We hope to come to this area again and spend more time hiking and looking around.
We also spent time on Lake Michigan at Manistique, MI. We took a scenic walk on a boardwalk and out to the East Breakwater Lighthouse. We enjoyed this nice walk on a sunny day with the sound of the waves all around. Manistique has lots of small shops here and plenty of restaurants and sandwich shops.

Campground Review: Gladstone, MI Bay Campground

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Gladstone Bay Campground is a city operated campground, right on Little Bay de Noc at the northwestern end of Lake Michigan. The campground has a variety of camping setups ranging from grassy tent sites to electric only, grassy RV sites to full hookup, 50 amp gravel pull through sites. The tent and grassy RV sites are generally larger. The pull through sites are crammed in to the point that your neighbor’s awning will come within a couple of feet of your camper.

The campground boasts modern restrooms and private showers, all kept quite clean. There’s decent WiFi throughout the property, however during the busy weekend it slowed considerably under the heavy load. One of the nicest features is a wonderful boardwalk and paved trail that runs along the bay. We enjoyed several walks along it and then out into the neighborhood.
There are huge fire pits at each campsite and some folks built large, almost bonfires. Depending on the wind direction the smoke was objectionable at times. My Verizon 4G was good and I was able to get satellite TV with little problem.

Our neighbors were very close by but folks were generally friendly and just wanting to enjoy the cool Michigan Upper Peninsula summer weather. In fact, we made some good friends whose company we enjoyed very much.

At $30 a night this was a more-expensive-than-usual stay for us as fulltimers. With the short summer camping season in the area we understood that paying a premium (for us) price was acceptable. We did wish there was some level of discount for a weekly stay; or maybe some membership discounts – but alas, there were none. This is a popular summer place so I recommend you make reservations if you plan on staying over a weekend.

On future visits I think I’d pick either one of the end spots, giving us a bit of room out the front door, or maybe one of the electric only grassy spots which are much roomier. Not only would a grassy spot give us some elbow room, but since they offer only partial hookups, they cost a bit less too!

Sightseeing Review: Escanaba, MI and vicinity

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Our campground for this stay was in Gladstone, MI – just north of Escanaba, which is the primary city of the area. Gladstone is a friendly town. There are some gift shops in the downtown area although it is sad to see that several shops have closed. We went to the farmers market for some fresh veggies and also attended a concert in the nice park. Many people were there, enjoying the music and a beautiful summer evening. In Gladstone the Delta-Menominee Health Department provides free yellow bikes to ride around the area, encouraging people to ride the many bike/walking trails along the beaches and parks.

Nearby Escanaba is where the primary shopping for this area is centered. The historic downtown has many stores and unique restaurants. We enjoyed a good meal at the Swedish bakery and restaurant. We also visited a local shop that specializes in an Upper Peninsula staple, the “pasty.” This is a hearty baked meat pie. We enjoyed our beef and potato version and plan on trying out those with other fillings during our time in the UP. We also enjoyed touring the Sand Point Lighthouse. This lighthouse has period furniture and looks as it did in the nineteenth century when it was an active lighthouse. The adjoining museum, which is operated by the Delta County Historical Society, has many artifacts from businesses and families that tell the story of the county from its early days to modern times. There’s a nice walking path around the point of with a good view of the Harbor Light which stands guard over the entrance to the marina. The August temperatures during our stay were just a bit cool for me, but Scott just loved it. We both, though, had a hard time imagining the bay being covered with ice so thick that, in the winter, people drive their vehicles out onto the bay and move huts out on the lake for months of ice fishing!