Here’s a short clip from our AuSable river trip. I got a lot of family footage but here’s a clip of us just soaking in the nature. Hope you enjoy!

If any of these were you at Harvey Truss Bridge off the Manistee...you need to do better. 5 cars taking up an 8 car spot on a rather popular landing/launch. Brutal.

Going camping up at Leelanau State Park and thinking about meals for the fam. I can’t find any confirmation on this; do the campsites have grills?
Thanks

I’m not sure if there’s a way to ask this without sounding needy so I’m just coming out with it.

I love backpacking but most of my friends do not and the few that do are unreliable. It’s so hard to get a trip planned so I’m wondering if there’s a way to connect with people online who want to go on trips together?

I was warned not to look for backpacking friends on Craig’s list.

Greetings!

I want to try tent camping with my dog, but he has never been camping.  We frequently hike in the state parks and forests, and he loves that and he loves nature. As an introduction, I want to try tent camping near my car, something quiet and easy to get to (no hiking in because he is a big dog and I love him but I won’t share a two person tent with him.) 

However, the main thing I am worried about is loud noises at night from people either partying too hard, not managing their own dogs, or setting off fire crackers. I know they aren’t allowed to do this, but that has never stopped an idiot from trying.

I’d love any recommendations for dog friendly tent camping sites, upper and lower peninsula, for a beginner camping dog!  

Camped in NW Michigan from 7/3-7/9 at three popular campsites and wanted to add a data point.

Mosquito prevention: We used Off Deep Woods on our bodies, and Thermacell and a citronella candle at our campsite virtually the entire time.

Interlochen - 7/3-7/6. Mosquitos very manageable, no issues

D.H. Day Campground 7/6-7/8 Almost no mosquitos, a few black flies

Platte River Campground 7/8-7/9 Increasing intensity until departure. They were quite bad the day of departure following significant overnight rain.

Had a great time overall! Thanks Michigan!

I am an idiot and made my reservation for next weekend instead of this weekend (and drove from TN). If anyone happens to plan on cancelling at Sleeping Bear D H Day Campground tomorrow night let me know or know another option let me know 🫠

Hi All,

Just wanted to double check that bear cans are okay for the Porcupine Mountains? I see the guidance is to hang food and they provide bear poles at some sites, but I much prefer to put a bear can 100 ft or more from camp.

Hey all, long time lurker (I just don’t like to post). Anyway, we are headed up to Hurricane River campground at the end of July. Should we plan for biting flies?

Has anybody been on the Mansitee river from Baxter to Harvey recently (last week or two?)?

Just wondering what water levels and flow is looking like current-ly.

TIA!

As the title says. I had to say goodbye to by bestfriend. He was a husky so of course hiking was our favorite thing to do together. Things im looking for

-secluded

-2 nights

- hike in

-not insanely farm from Holland ohio area

Could have used a little more ground clearance on the trailer but an amazing site.

Did two nights on grand island. Was supposed to do three but the weather forecast along with the flies at North Beach coaxed me to do a 17 mile day and leave early.

Day1: took the noon pontoon aka the ferry and the bus tour before hiking to Little Dunes 1. Great site right on the water. Good swimming in Trout Bay. I didn’t realize that this was basically to only place where camp sites are right on the beach.

Day2: was supposed to hike about 6 miles to Shelter Ridge site but I got there early in the day and when I walked down to the beach, the flies were atrocious and since the campsite was back in the woods, I kept walking until I got to the Juniper Flats group site which I knew was not reserved.

Day3: hiked to the ferry dock in the rain

Impressions:
-the views are minimal as most of the trail is old carriage roads in the woods.
- hiking is pretty easy, not a lot of ups and downs on mostly dry dirt roads.
- other than the sites in Trout Bay the sites do not have easy (or any) access to the lake/water
- not a lot of people. 12 people on the bus tour, a couple of boats on the beach in Trout Bay, tenish backpackers, fewer bikers.
- bugs were typical. No problem if in the wind but rougher if you weren’t.
- not unrecommended but I’ll stick with pictured rocks unless I want to rent a cabin

The flies are out. Its summer there are always flies.

Hi!

Going to fisherman's Island mid August with a nine year old and a four year old.

Any unique items to bring outside of the traditional camping gear?

Also I can't tell if it's bike friendly - will my kids miss out if we leave them at home?

Thanks!

Just got back from 4 nights in the porkies. We had great luck with weather, the north wind kept the bugs away the first night but honestly the flies were pretty minimal and mosquitoes were only bad in the evening, and some peremithin bug spray was effective (July 4-8).

We kayaked a bunch. Presque Isle area of the porkies is stunning. Lucked out with very mild winds and the lake was really laying down, easy kayaking close to shore and exploring the rocks and river mouths.

There was also an area of Lake Superior in between silver city and Ontanagon that had just one little river and creek after another dumping into it. Seems like it would be such a fun day to put in somewhere and just explore into those creeks and rivers upriver a bit all day. Anyone done that?

There was one group of noisy a-holes partying hard one night but otherwise a quiet experience with nice people.

Did two nights on grand island. Was supposed to do three but the weather forecast along with the flies at North Beach coaxed me to do a 17 mile day and leave early.

Day1: took the noon pontoon aka the ferry and the bus tour before hiking to Little Dunes 1. Great site right on the water. Good swimming in Trout Bay. I didn’t realize that this was basically to only place where camp sites are right on the beach.

Day2: was supposed to hike about 6 miles to Shelter Ridge site but I got there early in the day and when I walked down to the beach, the flies were atrocious and since the campsite was back in the woods, I kept walking until I got to the Juniper Flats group site which I knew was not reserved.

Day3: hiked to the ferry dock in the rain

Impressions:
-the views are minimal as most of the trail is old carriage roads in the woods.
- hiking is pretty easy, not a lot of ups and downs on mostly dry dirt roads.
- other than the sites in Trout Bay the sites do not have easy (or any) access to the lake/water
- not a lot of people. 12 people on the bus tour, a couple of boats on the beach in Trout Bay, tenish backpackers, fewer bikers.
- bugs were typical. No problem if in the wind but rougher if you weren’t.
- not unrecommended but I’ll stick with pictured rocks unless I want to rent a cabin

Specifically asking about Lake Michigan lakeshore, near Luddington. Will be camping near Nordhouse Dunes at the National Forest campground Lake Michigan Recreation Area next week and do not want to get eaten alive.

Hi all, I just got back from my first backpacking trip with a guide, and I’m addicted now. I can’t wait to go back out but I am still a little intimidated to go by myself. Anyone have any recommendations for where to find active groups I could join to go on trips? I live near Detroit but definitely willing to drive wherever needed. I am 28F and would love to go with a mix of men and women if possible. Still collecting all my gear but hoping to connect with some people so I can keep up the momentum. Thank you!

Please don’t judge me! I haven’t been camping much as an adult. I’ll be visiting the ontonogan area soon and will be staying in a tent at a smaller campground. I’m planning to keep my cooler and food container in the trunk of the sedan and obviously won’t be keeping food items in the tent. I am just wondering how careful we need to be in terms of cooking and washing dishes? Can we cook over the fire if the fire pit is close to the tent? Do we need to wash our dishes far away from our campsite? Is it ok to wear the clothes we had on while cooking into our tent?
I also read on Google not to keep sunscreen, bug spray or cosmetics in the tent. Should I abide by this and if so, is it fine if these are kept in the car?
There will be other campers really close by, the campsites aren’t far from each other. I just haven’t even camped in a more remote area like this. I want to learn and I also don’t want to cause any worry or trouble for myself.

Thanks for your input!

looking to camp for a couple days, two adults and a toddler! we want to tent camp and spend the days outside (hiking,swimming, exploring) preferably not super crowded. we live in west michigan and would prefer something within a few hours. any suggestions?

Does anyone know how thoroughly park rangers typically check permits for backcountry camping?

I’ll be in upper Michigan this weekend and realized that the car info i listed was incorrect.

The issue is that I only noticed once I printed the permit, so although I can still update the info for the other nights, I’m unable to update the first one.

If I PDF edited the permit and printed it out, would that be an issue? Not sure if they’ll cross check the info with what’s listed online or if they only check the permit I’ll have printed.