Orchard Beach State Park is a public recreation area covering 201 acres on the shore of Lake Michigan in Manistee Township, Manistee County, Michigan. Situated on a bluff three miles north of the city of Manistee, the state park offers camping, hiking trails, and scenic views over Lake Michigan.
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This is a difficult review to write...
Maybe a year or two ago the review would be very different.
First the pros: Scenery is beautiful by the lake Open pavilion with fireplaces for camper use Bathrooms with showers throughout the park, and are well kept, though they are tiny. Firewood and ice for sale onsite
And the cons: Most sites are not very level, despite what the reservation site says Playground is a joke, one slide and one swing... ONE! Very difficult to ID a GOOD spot from the reservation system. See below for more. Beach is inaccessible from the park
To be fair, I saw reviews from last year saying the beach was closed due to erosion. What should actually be said is that the STAIRWAY to the beach is closed, because erosion has compromised the strength of the structure. This isn't a temporary thing, and won't be fixed anytime soon, if ever. No one's fault, but does seriously harm the experience. The public beach is only a 5 minute ride away, but still.
My major complaint I had was that the site we chose was over 50% dirt. The most level piece of lot, was the only grassy spot, and was where our tent went. Naturally, EVERYTHING got covered in dirt... But, hey, that's camping...
I wish the site we had also had some shade in the afternoon, cause it was HOT! But, hey, that's camping...
What made that worse was that the groundskeeper came by when we were packing up and blew dust and dirt everywhere and into everything. But, hey, that's camping...
I would love to recommend the Park as a good camping spot, which it still is, but without any accessible water feature, it's not something I can do. State needs to change the website to remove the "beach" feature from the listing until...
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This is a nice park. The spacing is tight from what we usually see in a state park. I think the spaces feel so small because the sites are completely grass. There are no pads for vehicles, so people setup all over their spaces in all sorts of different configurations. There are also a ton of trailers with boats, which are parked right at the campsites. Many campers had a boat & trailer, a truck, a car and a RV, along with 1-2 tents on their site. We had a terrible time backing into our spot with a 34 ft Class A, because there were trucks, boats and trailers parked all along the road. We ended up parking sort of sideways so we weren’t hanging out in the road. That being said, the park itself is lovely. The view of the lake is awesome and the staff we met were wonderful. The bathrooms and showers were clean. The showers are all individual and unisex, which in my opinion is the best. We hiked all the trails and even went to see the Giant Sequoia down the road. The entire trip was an easy 6 miles. There are really no additional amenities here, as they are all about boating the lake. There is no access to the beach or swimming here. The boat launch is in Manistee about 2 miles from the park There is a wonderful Trolley Tour bus that comes to the park in summer and does an hour long tour of Manistee. It’s a true bargain at $6/adults & $3/kids. If you ask, they will allow you to hop off the bus at the downtown station, so you can explore the town, then hop back on and complete the tour. All in all we liked being here, but probably would not return due to the...
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This is an excellent state park right on the lake with a beautiful view of the sunsets. Most of the campgrounds are being renovated due to recent storm damage, but they are doing a wonderful job keeping things looking good. Also a good place for young families, as most of the sites are close together, ideal for group camping. The beach is closed off right now due to reconstruction, so you will have to go to the beaches in nearby Manistee.
Orchard Beach State Park also has a nice 2-mile hiking trail through the woods and through some meadows.
A short drive north, visit Lake Bluff Bird Sanctuary for a beautiful walk and a visit with 3 of the CA Great Sequoia's that were planted here in 1938.
A 20 mile drive north, you can find the Arcadia Marsh Preserve; also a very nice boardwalk trail to see birds and wildlife.
The sites at Orchard S.P. are relatively tight but have 50a electric only, so make sure you fill your water before finding your site.
The only thing I would recommend here are speed bumps. There are WAY too many people that drive too fast through this campground, and there are a lot of kids riding their bikes in & out of campsites. I saw a kid almost get hit by a car, and I sure wish the campground would do something to make the...
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