One of our hands-down favorite places to hike. There's tons of hike-in camping spots along the…read more11-mile hiking trail, which largely follows the shoreline of the Manistee River with a few inland jaunts on a few of the oxbows. Despite being fairly well known, it's pretty pristine and doesn't feel overly busy but it's also never completely vacant. The river views are lovely, there's plenty of wildlife (great fishing & birdwatching), and there's a cliff swing over the water (huge adrenaline rush for this 43-year-old) on an off-shoot path just past the suspension bridge and a waterfall at mile 3.5 if you're coming from the north. You can return on the main path or on the other side of the river on a section of the North Country Trail.

What a great hiking trail! Parking wasn't bad at Red River Bridge Access…read moreOnce on the trail it is well marked. Campsites were clean and it looks like the hikers who enjoy the trail take good care of it. I didn't see one bit of trash the whole day. It was pretty busy, with folks heading both directions, everyone was very friendly and they all seemed to be enjoying the day! The views are beautiful. Absolutely the best hiking we have done in the lower peninsula. We will absolutely be back!

We have been camping for years and I have to to say this was our best trip since we started. The…read morestaff is absolutely amazing and you can tell they all love their jobs and take great pride in their park. There is a great ranger presence which has been lacking in many parks over the last several years. Very friendly and knowledgeable. Every site was mowed and weed wacked when campers left before new people arrived. The bathrooms were cleaned and monitored multiple times a day. Never saw an empty toilet paper roll in the 5 days we were there. They even got down on the floors of the shower with a brush to clean the grout. Lots of scheduled activities for all ages. Park interpreter Ed was very knowledgeable and personable. I can say the only downside was road noise but that can't be controlled. Well done Mitchell State Park. Awesome job.

The place is great and kept very well with the property. The bathrooms are very clean also. The…read moreemployees are very friendly. The only thing I don't like is the price.

We rolled into this campground fairly late in the day after an extremely long drive from New York…read more The check in process was super quick and we were able to purchase our Michigan recreation pass. All of the sites are super close together, but well kept and clean. We were in site 380 and were close to the restrooms, but not too close that it was a nuisance. The sunrise on the lake was beautiful. Overall, we had a great single night stay here !

Super bummed. According to the entrance attendant - who is very friendly, by the way - the park is…read morecompletely closed except for those with the boat.

Small quaint campground. Set up a tent on the waterside of the park. Beautiful view, clean…read morefacilities, host was very accommodating & friendly... they even helped blow up our kayaks because we forgot our pump.

When ever I'm in Gaylord, I like to stop into the Elk Park. Throughout the year, you can see the…read moreanimals at different stages. It's especially nice to see newborn animals and watch them grow throughout the year.

Spend hours driving the backroads looking for elk? Following the herd with the DNR? Yet you still…read morecan't find them! Well just roll up to the elk park and stop wasting gas! Nestled between the municipal building, commercial shopping and condo apartment areas is the Gaylord Elk Park! Large herd, food area right near parking and some benches if you want to hang out! My son loved seeing the elk! Snapped a few shots- hard to get good ones through the fence and it was freezing outside.

I came here to camp (car camping/tents) for the first camp of the summer and what a great kickoff…read moreto camping season it was for me and my group! Everything here was top notch and well maintained, probably above average from the many state park campgrounds that I have camped at through the years! What that tells me is that this is probably one of the more highly trafficked campgrounds, so there is a lot of maintenance done on it! This campground had the most "modern" bathrooms. Everything was automatic, the toilets, the sinks, the hand dryers. This is by main indicator that the bathrooms are the latest and greatest update! We also loved our campsite. We had a few of Higgins Lake peeking out from around other campsites from ours and were able to enjoy the lake breeze and sunset view from our campsite alone. It was also an easy walk to the lake, where there was a little playground/swing set AND a dog-friendly beach just right off of that playground area as well! Super dog-friendly, which was great because I brought my dog along! Lots of trailers/RVs at all the neighboring campsites, which is to be expected, especially of a more popular campground! This campground also had the most campsites that I've seen as of late (minus Ludington, I'd say)! South Higgins Lake State Park also had some great hiking trails that we took advantage of! Marl Lake Trail is a trail that is very customizable for any of your time/energy level needs - 1, 3, or 5 mile loops can be done on this trail! Other than the hiking and the camping (spent 3 days and 2 nights here), we didn't do much else at the state park, opting instead to rent a boat (from the South Higgins Lake State Park Store - see my review there for details on boat rentals and our experience!) to spend a whole day on the actual lake, so I can't attest to the other amenities this state park has to offer. But for our purposes on this wonderful weekend, it was darn near perfect and we really enjoyed our time!! Hope to be back soon! :)

Park store charges $5 for a skimpy scoop of ice cream. Old owners gave you much more for your…read moremoney. Got a bad case of swimmers itch yesterday. Would be helpful if the park had nice feet washers and showers to wash the parasites off but instead that have a dribbling high in the air "washer" where the ground is covers with piles of sand and essentially of no use. The grass is long which makes it a haven for bugs. The beach area is so small and crowded. Need to clear more edging for beach use. Overrun with boats and have to wade through them all to get to a deep enough area to swim in. Lucky if you get in the park at all on the weekends.

Very quiet location. The hosts are incredibly sweet and welcoming. The farm setting is lovely and…read morethe little historic park in back was interesting. Definitely worth the walk back there to take a look. Enjoyed visiting with the host couple, Howard and Gloria. Would like to return in the fall to see their corn maze! Stayed overnight via Harvest Host August 14-15, 2020.

This was my first visit here. We came for the "pumpkin chucking" event. The farm is meant to…read morecapture what life was like in the 1930s on a Michigan farm. Plenty of historic pieces and buildings on the property, and there seems to be plenty of events going on quite often. Great for kids. I am not into historic things however I did enjoy the pumpkin chucking and the animals on site. This makes for a fun fall event for the whole family

Beautiful campground you would never know was downtown Gladwin. Had a great time at the art show!read more

I made the unfortunate decision to reserve site #16 at this park. It was listed as E/W/S. There…read moreis no sewer hookup on site #16. What they did was put a "Y" pvc fitting on the sewer hookup on site #18 and wallah, a new sewer port. The problem being it's 50 - 60 feet from your rig when backed in properly on site #16, let alone you would need to jack your trailer up a good foot to get enough downhill slope of your sewer hose. Besides that, who carries 50 - 60 feet of sewer hose unless you are a long-term seasonal. This is not an over site by the park as it has been this way for a number of years according to a seasonal resident. It is wrong to list and charge for a sewer hookup for site #16.

It seems as though, with Cadillac locals, the name of this park is interchangeable. I've heard it…read morereferred to as Kenwood Heritage Park, Kenwood Beach, Kenwood Beach Park, Kenwood Park & Beach, Kenwood Beach & Park, and last but not least, Kenwood Park. Whatever you want to call it, this little park is located near a lake, and has a sandy beach area, a shallow area for swimming, barbecue and picnic areas, a playground and a disc golf course. You can swim here, but there's no lifeguard on duty. At least, there wasn't one when I visited. This park seems like a good place to swim if you have young children, because the water is calm and the shoreline is shallow. This is a good beach to wade and splash in. We mostly spent our time at the playground, which is fun for kids and looks kind of like multiple tree houses. It also has slides, lots of things to climb on, and a playground equipment piece that looks like a boat. There's also a Little Free Library next to the playground. This is a fun little park with lots of different things to occupy a kid's time.

Bathrooms were clean and bright. Showerhouse appears to have been out of service for some time, as…read morewell as any attending life guard. Beautiful park.