The next destination for our month-long Ohio-Michigan-Pennsylvania camping trip was the Upper Peninsula (the U.P.) of Michigan. We planned to spend 3 weeks traveling in the U.P. because there are a lot of the kinds of things we like to do and see there. This entry of the blog describes our drive north and the campground we stayed in for the next week. Although it is located closest to Lake Superior, staying at this campground allowed us to explore sites between Marquette and Grand Marais on Lake Superior, as well as to the area around Manistique on Lake Michigan.
July 13 - 20, 2024
To get to the UP, we had to cross over the Straits of Mackinac. We left Mackinaw City at 11:00 a.m. and headed straight for the "Mighty" Mackinac Bridge with it's beautiful views out across the water.
After crossing over into St. Ignace, we turned onto scenic Route 2 and followed along the northern coast of Lake Michigan. The views were beautiful!
We stopped for lunch at the Cut River Roadside Park where we found a nature trail leading down some long stairs under a bridge. The bridge was originally built in the 1940s and is 147 feet above the Cut River. The 230+ steps take you under the bridge, down to the Lake Michgan shoreline, and back up a trail along the river. Sometimes we find unexpected treasures during our travels, and this was one of them.
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About 2-1/2 hours after leaving Mackinaw City we arrived at Pictured Rocks RV Park & Campground in Christmas, Michigan. The park is located just 5 miles west of Munising and is very conveniently located for visits to Grand Island and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
The campground has 71 campsites (no permanent sites), all with full hookups and long enough to fit the longest RVs. Several of the sites have large concrete parking pads. The sites are arranged at an angle to the park roadways, making it very easy to back into them. When looking at a map of the campground the sites appear to be close together, but due to the length and angling of the sites, we had plenty of room and didn't feel like we were too close to our neighbors. Every site had a picnic table and a fire ring. In addition there were a couple of cabins at one end of the campground, however they looked like there were unused.
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| Pictured Rocks RV Park |
The campground advertises free WIFI, but as in the case of most campgrounds in our experience, the WIFI was not working. Due to the remoteness of the location, there wasn't any TV reception with our antenna, and they didn't have cable. Nature would serve as our entertainment during our stay here.
This is a fairly new campground with very little shade. Trees have been planted but would need to grow quite a bit before providing any respite from the sun. Fortunately, the temperature during our week here was quite comfortable - warm, but not too warm, and low humidity. Our RV's awning provided all the shade we needed. Due to the openess of the site and the location of the park at the top of a plateau, we often had a breeze, which helped a lot. We just needed to make sure we pulled in our awning before leaving each day just in case a storm blew in.
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I would be remiss if I didn't mention the absolutely beautiful night skies you can view from this campground. Seeing the Milky Way has long been on our bucket list. On our second night there we got up at 3:30 a.m. and were treated to a starfilled sky... and the Milky Way! It was a little dimmed due to the moon shining low in the sky, but we could definitely see it. Unfortunately we weren't able to capture it on camera, or we would share it here.
Pictured Rocks RV Park is a no-frills campground. There isn't a camp store. Although there is a small playground for children, there really are no other activities within the park. Having said that, there are plenty of things to see and do within a short drive. However the office did have a small library of books to borrow or swap.
The bathhouse was large and very clean, with shower rooms all along one side. There wasn't a shower curtain dividing the shower area from the dressing area, but each shower room was deep enough where that wasn't a problem. The water pressure was very good. Attached to the bathhouse was a laundry room with 3 washers and dryers, as well as a folding table and a chair to sit on.
All the people we met during our stay at this campground were very friendly and the person who staffed the office was very helpful. We enjoyed talking with one fellow RVer in particular who had quite an ingenious setup. Check out the video below.
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We enjoyed our stay at this campground and would stay there again. It fit our needs perfectly. We were only 5 minutes away from 4 lighthouses, the beach at Hiawatha State Park, the town of Munising and a few waterfalls, not to mention only 15-20 minutes from the national park. If you're looking for a good base from which to explore Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Lake Superior, and the surrounding area, and don't need a lot of amenities - we can highly recommend Pictured Rocks RV Park.
* All photos and videos are the property of the owners unless otherwise noted. *
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