A Month Great Lakes Region - Please Help

[Persistent]

I forgot to mention Porcupine Mountain in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It is on Lake Superior and is a must see.
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park
https://www2.dnr.state.mi.us/Parksan...=426&type=SPRK

This one fits your requirements!

[Gigattime]

Two great state parks on Lake Erie that also have swimming beaches:

1. East Habor State Park (can easily visit Bass Islands/Put-in-Bay which are really nice areas).

2. Maumee Bay State Park.

Cedar Point is an awesome amusement park, but also has an outstanding campground on the peninsula right on Lake Erie called Lighthouse Point.

Have fun, it will be a great trip.

[Bill Gail]

Originally Posted by flintsters

Thank you so much for all the feedback. I'm also hopeful that the Canadian boarder will be open, but I'm not counting on it at this point. In a lot of ways, the lack of certainty around the boarder is what inspired this trip. I'm going to start working on some loose plans and I'll be sure to post them here for some feedback.

If Canada is back open definitely do Georgian Bay on the North side of Lake Huron .

Manitoulin Island in the Bay is the largest fresh water Island in the America's .

On the island is Batman's Campground . Don't let the name discourage you , it's named after the original land owner that was well known among the locals. It's a quaint and charming park where time has stopped. It's located on a peninsula with waterfront sites that let you watch sunrises and sunsets from your camper. The park rents row boats and bicycles , has a beautiful beach and hiking trails along the waters edge.

The owner introduced us to a summer regular who is a fishing guide . We talked him into giving us an all day tour in his boat. He was born and raised on the island and was a wealth of knowledge . Everything from the incredible waterfront estates that the American Auto Industrial Magnates built in the 1920's as their summer homes , to giving us a tour of the only freshwater Fjord in the world.

The island has beautiful waterfalls , quaint villages and miles of country roads to explore .

All these memories make me want to go back and visit !

[Winemaker2]

If you do Georgian Bay and go around the East side Parry Sound has some attractions.
I will say the only way to really appreciate GB is by boat or plane. You can do either or both out of Parry Sound.
The Trent Severn Waterway that connects Lk Ontario to GB is worth seeing. A marine RR that carries boats overland is at Big Chute very close to Port Severn at the SE end of GB. The hydraulic Lift Lock at Peterborough is also an interesting one and the largest in N America.
These should all get you easily back to the Thousand Is bridge back to NY 1,000 IS and back to VT.

[Nevermind Me]

The Michigan UP gets a lot of accolades on this forum. Search and you will have more information than you want. You can do both Lake Michigan and Lake Superior from the UP as we did for a two week fall trip there a year ago. I will look for my itinerary but here is a long string to get you started.

https://www.irv2.com/forums/f38/uppe...ip-431850.html

[Nevermind Me]

Here is a post I did for another person in search of recommendations:

We did MI and UP
We did the lower and upper MI peninsula from Minneapolis last year in two weeks. Search this siight for Michigan UP and you'll get a few strings like this with good recommendations on things to see and places to stay. I also find RV Parky to be a good site to plan both attractions and campgrounds but let me start like this for where we stayed:

Lower Peninsula:
Ludington: Vacation Station RV Park - Very Nice.
Big Bear Dunes: Indigo Bluff's RV Park - an excellent prime resort and not $$$
Machinaw Island: Machinaw Mill Creek, very large with nice sites and lots of choice from lakeside to inland. Lakeside are super tight but you have a lake view.

UP:
Munising: Pictured Rocks RV Park - newer park without trees but good access and most sights are large. Most recommendations will be for the city campground, which is right on the water, but it was booked in Sept. LY.
We did the UP from this location but given your trip time I suggest staying your way across the UP.

Ashland, Wi has a campground downtown and right on Lake Superior, one of the very few on the lake in either MN or WI. You can do the Apostle Islands from there or we are staying at the Apostle Island Campground (others also available but not reservable and I need to know my 45' will fit) to see the islands in August. Cruses of the islands leave from Bayfield.

Duluth and up the north shore (we saw a wolf) of MN to Grand Maris (campground downtown) is an awesome drive along Lake Superior with waterfalls and lighthouses. The Boundry Water's Canoe Area is west of here and there are many inland lakes (10,000) for fishing and a lot of wilderness.

[flintsters]

Here is what I came up with for a first draft. Let me know what I'm missing, if my timing is off, if there are things that are must sees that aren't on the list, etc. I am also open to suggestions for other campgrounds that I should consider. In short...have at it!!!

We'd be leaving on about July 9th and returning mid-August. The first 2 stops are just places to stop and swim in Ontario and Erie, but I'm not really invested in spending much time on those 2 lakes. Webster Park seems like it's not too far off of the highway...if you have a better suggestion that is somewhat close to I-90 to get onto Lake Ontario then I'm certainly open to suggestions.


1 Drive to Webster Park Campground
2 Drive to Maumee Bay State Park
3
4 Drive to Tawas Point State Park
5
6 Drive to Mackinac Island area (Mills Creek Campground)
7
8
9
10 Drive to Tahquamenon Falls State Park
11
12
13 Drive to Pictured Rocks (Twelvemile Campground)
14
15
16 Drive to Porcupine Mountains (Union Bay Campground)
17
18
19
20 Drive to Peninsula State Park
21
22
23 Drive to Indian Lake State Park
24
25 Drive to Sleeping Bear Dunes (Platte River Campground)
26
27
28
29 Drive to Ludington State Park
30
31
32 Drive to Van Buren State Park
33
34 Drive to Cleveland (see Rock and Roll Hall of Fame- need a campground
35
36 Drive Home

[twogypsies]

You might want to change Twelvemile Campground to one in Munising if you're planning to take the Pictured Rock boat tour. We like Bay Furnace national forest campground right on the water. There are other RV parks/campgrounds in Munising.

We also love Ft. Wilkins State Park at Copper Harbor but don't know if you can tour Porcupine Mtn. from there... I didn't check the mileage just now.

When at the western area of the Upper Peninsula stop at a Visitor Center and get a waterfall map.... some nice short hikes to see some of them.

You also might want to consider extending Sleeping Bear Dunes (lots to do in the area, including a day ferry to South Manitou Island, and a canoe ride down the Platte River ending at Lake Michigan) and skipping Ludington State Park (the campground is a zoo... close haphazard sites). Van Buren State Park has a much nicer campground and still a lovely beach.

[rtcadman]

NY- Boldt Castle @Alexandria Bay, Ft. Ticonderoga
Canada- Old Ft. Erie, Crystal Beach on L. Erie. We went around Georgian Bay and stopped @ Parry Sound - Ten Thousand Island boat tour.
Upper Pen. Mich. - Sault Ste. Marie, Picture Rocks, Ship wreck Museum @ Whitefish Pt.
Lower Pen. Sleeping Bear Dunes

[rtcadman]

You must see Ship Wreck Museum.