Best road trip from St.Joe MI to Traverse City MI?

zinger60 · 08-31-2015, 09:37 AM

We are wanting to take a trip from the St.Joe Michigan area up long the coast of Lake Michigan to Traverse City. Any ideas on the best roads to take and places to camp? We would like to travel along the coast instead of taking the more inland roads.

DocsDad · 08-31-2015, 09:54 AM

That's only about a 4 hour drive. Stopping along the way? Ludington State Park is incredible. Also Mears State Park gives you access to Pentwater which is a nice little town to visit. Blue star Hwy to 31 (not 131) to M-22 (has a scenic overlook of the lake near Arcadia).

Not one for Traverse City (too busy) so I don't know campgrounds there. Plenty of them though.

Enjoy

Phil57 · 08-31-2015, 10:24 AM

Take US 31 all the way. Good campgrounds are first state parks.
Grandhaven SP
Holland Sp Muskegon Channel SP(our favorite)
Ludington SP
Traverse City SP
Private Parks we like
South Haven Sunny Brook
Muskegon Duck Creek
Meets Silver Creek (our favorite) live the dunes.
Ludington Ponchos Pond ( very nice park)
Traverse City Traverse Bay RV
Traverse City is a great town. So much to do and the food is great. A beautiful city.
Petosky the KOA is excellent as is Petosky RV park. Not sure what you are camping in but Hearthside Grove is outstanding beautiful park but class A only.
At the Mac Bridge Mackinaw Mills is nice with a great view. It is a huge park and a little tight.
Hope this helps.

Just random thoughts of things to see.
The beach in South Haven
The beach in Grand Haven as well as downtown and the fountain.
Muskegon has a WWll sub and a LST that you can tour. Also there is an amusement park across the street from Duck Creek.
Ludington has a great SP with great hiking and beaches.
Traverse city check out downtown. The bay's. Wine country(not bad wine) lots to do.

zinger60 · 08-31-2015, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DocsDad

That's only about a 4 hour drive. Stopping along the way? Ludington State Park is incredible. Also Mears State Park gives you access to Pentwater which is a nice little town to visit. Blue star Hwy to 31 (not 131) to M-22 (has a scenic overlook of the lake near Arcadia).

Not one for Traverse City (too busy) so I don't know campgrounds there. Plenty of them though
Enjoy

We were thinking of staying the first night in Ludington but since this is kind of a last minute trip, ( the last week in September) probably all state parks are booked up. We are mainly wanting to find a nice place to stay several days and take short day trips around the area.

DocsDad · 08-31-2015, 10:41 AM

Our neighbors love Hill and Hollow campground (near Pentwater). We usually stay south of there at the state park but you are right... they book up fast. Hill & Hollow Campground & RV Park

Frankfort is also a quaint little town on the lake that we like. It's farther north but there are nice paved trails for biking. Try Betsie River CG Betsie River Campsite

RoyalFrog2 · 08-31-2015, 12:55 PM

We love Silver Lake State Park. Like others along the shore it is very popular but school starts after Labor Day so things should quiet down. Find the small channel from south end of Silver Lake out to Lake Michigan. If you're the adventuresome type, be sure to take your Toyota on the dunes! We did it with our brand new 2000 Suburban and the kids couldn't believe it. How about Sleeping Bear Dunes National park? Gen.Mitchell State Park in Cadillac is good if you're a fisherman.
We live in St. Joe. Are you neighbors or just passing through?

Mikehend · 08-31-2015, 01:40 PM

Several good suggestions here, but once you get to TC, check in at Holiday Park Campground. Best one in the area...quiet, has their own private beach area on the south end of Silver Lake (one of about 4-5 Silver Lakes in MI), roomy level sites. It was originally created as an Airstream only campground years back, but has since opened up to other rigs. We found out about it about 15 years ago when we had our Airstream, but continue to go there with our Sabre 5er. We'll be there this Labor Day weekend...our 3rd time there this year!

zinger60 · 08-31-2015, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoyalFrog2

We love Silver Lake State Park. Like others along the shore it is very popular but school starts after Labor Day so things should quiet down. Find the small channel from south end of Silver Lake out to Lake Michigan. If you're the adventuresome type, be sure to take your Toyota on the dunes! We did it with our brand new 2000 Suburban and the kids couldn't believe it. How about Sleeping Bear Dunes National park? Gen.Mitchell State Park in Cadillac is good if you're a fisherman.
We live in St. Joe. Are you neighbors or just passing through?

We actually live in South Bend, IN but spend a lot of time at the beach in St. Joe in the summer. We stayed at the Koa in Coloma a couple years ago and took a day trip north along the lake. Wasn't too impressed with the KOA there, for sure. We took a trip up along the lake to Sleeping Bear but that was about 30 years ago and we had no TT back then so we stayed in hotels. I still remember how beautiful the area up there was so I figure it's about time for another road trip. All your information was great. Now I hope I can pull it all together with very little time to do it

moligney · 08-31-2015, 09:36 PM

Try this brand new park just outside of Frankfort.
Frankfort Crystal Lake RV Resort and Campground

Haven't tried it yest but great location

Bobb36 · 08-31-2015, 09:51 PM

Ludington state park still has open campsites for the last weekend of September, just checked the website

Wolverine 1945 · 09-01-2015, 08:05 AM

We spent a couple of days @ Van Buren State Park last week,,, pretty nice beach !!!
Heading north to Platte River Campgrounds @ Sleeping Bear Dunes in a couple of weeks for a couple of days,,, never been there,,, but looks nice ???

Also stayed @ Interlocking one night this summer,,, nice park !!!

moligney · 09-01-2015, 08:09 AM

Been camping there since it was a county park in the 60's. Be sure to go out to the mouth of the Platte swimming. There can be a 30 degree difference between the river and Lake Mich put only a few yards away.

zinger60 · 09-04-2015, 02:51 PM

Thanks to everyones ideas, we have decided to head up to Ludington and spend about 4 nights at the state park. We reserved a site in the Pines campground. We are planning on taking in the sights around that area and also taking a day trip up along the coast to Sleeping Bear. If anyone has any other suggestions on what to see in the area of Ludington and anywhere up to Sleeping Bear, let me know. Also, what are the best roads to take. You guys are the greatest! This is our first longer trip with our first TT and we are excited but kind of nervous about it too. We have only taken the camper out 3 times since we bought it and they were all to the local state park, which is only about a 30 minute drive.

Wandering · 09-10-2015, 11:46 AM

As noted by others here there are many great campgrounds. We try to hug the shore using the GPS to find the lakeside roads as much as possible.

I'll add my favorite - Grand Haven State Park. Campground is more like a parking lot but location is wonderful. We just got back from long Labor Day camp and enjoyed it. Beautiful beach, great pier to walk out on and easy walk/bike ride along river into quaint little town.

Leelanau SP is also nice just north of Traverse City. Drive M22. And don't skip Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Now I want to go again!

Happy Camping!

Wolverine 1945 · 09-11-2015, 07:56 AM

We are planning to check out FishTown on Wednesday !!!
Looks like a neat old place,,, with Great Smoked White Fish !!!
Saw a short story about it on the Chew a couple of weeks ago !!!

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