Michigan Campsites! Charles Mears or Ludington State Park?? Ideas??
 

Hi there....we are going on a camping trip with our kids at the end of May and wanted to know if any campers out there could advise on which campground in MI to pick for nice, clean, rustic campground. Which one is the closest to the water for their campsites?? I picture us waking up to Lake Michigan lapping at the shore, our tent set up very close by, roasting marshmellows and watching the small waves come in. We have three kids and want to just have a great time. We like heavily wooded campgrounds with nice beaches. End of May will likely still be cold we realize, my kids never care though! Thanks!!!!!

I've never been to Charles Mears so I can't comment. Ludington State Park is beautiful but fills up fast. A park we like to go to, but is farther north is Orchard Beach State Park. It is on Lake Michigan but you have to walk down steps to get to the beach. If you get a beach side campsite it is a beautiful view looking down over the lake.

There is a state forest campground that is very rustic, the state parks are pretty modern, that is close to Ludington. It is wooded and beautiful. We go there just to go to the beach. Here is a link to campgrounds in MI

http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/default.aspx

The nice thing about Ludington SP is that you have a choice of lakes - Michigan or Hamlin. The two are connected by a short river, which is great fun on a hot day.

Are you planning this trip for before Memorial Day? Once that week-end comes, most popular state parks are hard to get into. Good luck!

Thank you everyone for the great responses! I truly love you fodorites with your great ideas and locales! We want to go beginning of May and realize it may be freezing still! We might take our chances though...Orchard Beach S.P. and the State Forest Campground sound just like what our family of 5 would like. Ludington town itself is so nice and fun also, thank you again, we may head to one of those. I just figured that they would be booked up in June or July.

Take a look at Warren Dunes State Park. It's way south of Ludington, but it's beautiful, rustic and has great sand dunes that the kids may enjoy.

http://www.michigandnr.com/ParksandT...=504&type=SPRK

I will for sure look at Warren Dunes SP, my kids LOVE sand dunes when we visit Sleeping Bear up in Empire, thanks for that idea AAFrequent Flyer.