Cozy Rosie: Straits State Park Campground - St. Ignace, Michigan (July 2017)

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Straits State Park Campground - St. Ignace, Michigan (July 2017)

There was a wind advisory while we were pulling Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer, across the Mackinac Bridge, the gateway to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. That meant we had to crawl along at 20 miles per hour. This gave us plenty of time to see how the wind was kicking up some large waves on Lakes Michigan and Huron.

Crossing the Mackinac Bridge

The waves on Lake Huron

To add to the tension, there was some construction on the bridge. The workers weren't there, but their equipment filled one lane near the middle of the bridge and that forced a white-knuckle lane change as we were crawling along on the bridge.

Straits State Park is practically the first thing you see once you clear the bridge and turn towards St. Ignace on Highway 2. This is a park that is best described as a mixed bag. It has some really nice features and it has room for improvement.

Sign at the entrance to Straits State Park

For example, we loved the outdoor feel of the park. Our site backed up to the woods and there were trees throughout the park.

What could be improved? Most sites were soft sand. We had to use more than four inches of levelers and that was only enough to get within one bubble of level. As the levelers sank in the sand, Rosie's lean became more pronounced.

Rosie parked in Straits State Park Campground

The dirt sites created another problem. It rained while we were in the park. That turned too many sites into mud pits. We were alarmed at the number of deep tire ruts in this park, a sign that those campers had a difficult time pulling out when it was time to leave.

Unfortunately, the site next to Rosie was invaded by a horde of party-minded college students. They came with too many people, loud music and fireworks. We were happy when our iPhones warned us that it was about to start raining--again. Strangely, that horde of people and their multiple tents were gone when we woke up the next morning. We wondered if they were stealth camping (sneaking in without registering or paying) or if they were kicked out of the park during the night. We doubt that they planned to stay only one night because they set up too much stuff.

Here are some specifics about this park:

This is a large park with more than 260 sites in multiple camping loops.
Our site had 20 and 30 amp electrical service. Some sites had 50 amp service.
This is an electric only park. There are no water and sewer connections at the camping sites.
Since sites don't have water or sewer connections, you need to arrive with a full fresh water tank and empty gray and black water tanks.
We found two dump stations in this park. Both also have drinking water, allowing you to fill your fresh water tank. Expect a line getting into the dump station when leaving.
There were multiple bathhouses scattered throughout the park. The bathhouses were clean, well-maintained and up-to-date.
AT&T placed a good 4G signal over the campground for both voice and data.
There wasn't any WiFi service in this park.
We were able to watch ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and PBS using Rosie's TV antenna.

Perhaps our opinion of this park would have been better if the weather had been better during our stay. It was cold, wet and gloomy. We opted to not ride the ferry to Mackinaw Island because the lake waters were rough with large swells. Besides, the thought of being on the island in the cold and rain didn't sound appealing to us.

To end on a positive note, there are several areas in this park with amazing views of the Mackinac Bridge. You will want to search these areas out when you camp in this park.