Straits State Park — Attraction in Saint Ignace

UPDATE July 2024: Even though the campground was full, it was pretty quiet. There have been some minor improvements in the signage. The directions they gave us were fine for our site and there was a "one way" sign added near the bathroom that made the roads a little clearer. Because of the dump situation last year, we decided to use the campground showers and not dump (we just stayed one night) and the showers have a 30 second time out. We usually just shower in our camper, so maybe that's normal... I understand that it's to conserve water, but would a 1 minute shower be too much to ask? (To clarify, you can turn it back on by pushing the button, it's just annoying). Also, we walked down to the lower/lakeside area dump station, and it looks WAY better than the upper area (which is still the same as last year). It had rained at about 4am this morning and the lakeside campground was kind of muddy, so we would probably keep staying in the Upper area.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: This is a really nice park, it just has a couple of quirks that made me remove 1 star. We stayed in the Upper campground, and didn't make it down to the lower/lakeside campground, so the quirks might possibly only apply for the upper campground. The quirks first: The roads' one-way directions and site number signs are very confusing/basically incorrect. Specifically we were in site #225, which is a pull-through. If you follow the signs with the site numbers, you will be going the wrong way down the road, and it's narrow, so if somebody comes up the right way, you better hope there's room for one of you to pull over! The DNR officer when we checked in gave us directions such that you would have to back in to the pull-through site or else your power and patio would be on reversed sides (and it was confusing because his directions didn't match the signs either...) Probably the "best" way to do it is to go down the last road, which has a sign for sites #254-#270, and it will be a very sharp turn, but you will be going the right way on the one-way road and you will have your power and patio on the right sides. The other option is to go in where the sign has #225-#253 (it will be the wrong way, but it's not clear at first because it doesn't say wrong way or anything at that end (it says one-way at the other end, and the numbers painted on the ground are facing the other way) and then back in. #225 is the first site, so you wouldn't be going the wrong way for long. I'm not sure if #225 is the only site with this problem, but it might be beneficial to scout out your site on foot first. The dump station at the upper campground is kind of horrible. There is only one dump, and there are a lot campsites up there! More importantly, the road is sloped away from the dump, so you'll never get your tanks empty. The guy in front of us ended up using blocks on the right side to compensate, which makes dumping take even longer... Anyway, on to the good: There are great views of the Mackinac Bridge. There's a handicap accessible overlook extremely close to site #225 and a hiking trail that goes down to another overlook with a different angle that's just off the group camping area. The hiking trail is not handicap accessible, with a sign clearly stating so, but you can also get to the other overlook by road. The trail is overall an easy hike, but there is one section where it's got a decent slope with roots and rocks, and I think it could be a little treacherous if it was wet. There is a small playground at the upper campground with swings, a small slide and a springy bouncy thing. There are horseshoes and volleyball by the check-in station. The location is very convenient off of I-75 (you can hear the road noise but it's not horrible, and we were in probably the closest part to the freeway) There is excellent cell service, it would be easy to work remotely, and a lot of TV stations can be picked...

We camped here 6/14/2018 to 6/17/2018. Reservation fee $8.00 and a Michigan Recreation Passport is required. As a non-resident, it costs $9/day or $32/Year for the passport. For the pull through site that we used, the daily fee was $30. We had a 30 amp electrical hookup. No water and no sewer. Water fill and dump stations were available in the campground. This state park is near the Mackinac Bridge. It has upper and lower camping areas. A viewing area of the bridge is also within the park. There is a beach near the lower campsites and can be used by all. It was too cold for any swimming while we were there. We were in the upper area camp, and that area has larger sites that can accommodate large RVs that I would not want to attempt getting in most of the lower sites. The upper camp has larger sites with more space between them. All of the sites that I saw included a grassy area adjacent to the pad, a picnic table in good condition, and a fire ring. The lakes and bridge are not visible from the upper circle campsites. Site 149 where we stayed was adjacent to the bathhouse and also had a shared water faucet that seemed to be within our site. The bathhouse did not create a noise or traffic problem. It was very clean and supplied. It had two toilet stalls in the men’s bathroom. There were 4 or 5 individual shower rooms and each had a changing area. One shower door did have a lock that I could not get to lock. There were a few bicycle campers that used the water faucet some, but they were quiet and tried to minimize their intrusion to our site. Sites were spaced far apart. We had a grassy area adequate to play some yard games. We had a nice picnic table and a fire ring that we did use. The upper circle campground is less than a half mile from a grocery store and dollar store. The upper and lower circles are both close to the marina and tourist area of downtown Saint Ignace. The Ferries to Mackinac Island are easy to access. The lower camp is nearer to the water, but few spaces in the loop that I walked actually have a water or bridge view. Also, the lower circle sites appeared small and a little closer together than those in the upper circle. The lower spaces were within a five minute walk of a sand and rock covered beach. One day we drove to the lower camp and there was space to park and walk to the beach access. Another day, we walked to the beach. We also drove to a scenic overlook that is within walking distance of both the upper and lower circles. Our trip was luckily timed well for taking a hike and seeing many wild flowers in bloom. In addition to the campsite on the east side of I-75, there are several good places on the west side of I-75 to get additional good views of the bridge and water. I do recommend this campground for anyone that can live without a...

If you camp in Michigan's state parks, you probably know about the beautiful locations, access to lakes or rivers, and a genuine feeling of being at peace in nature. But nothing I've seen in any one of our state parks compares to this one. Straights is RIGHT over the Mackinac bridge. ($4 toll for cars, $10 for RVs. I don't know any of the others). The campground is so close to the bridge that you can sit on your site and enjoy looking at it, watching the boats go by. If your view isn't directly from your site, all you need to do is take a short stroll to almost any other area or up to the observation platform. Day or night the view is wonderful. We were there for four days mid- August and had PERFECT weather (nearly impossible on MI) the whole time. Warm days and cool nights. At night the stars were out in enormous numbers and the moonlight glittered off the water. With the bridge in the same shot, campfires burning on visitors' sites, and only happy, quiet sounds in the background, this could've been an advertisement for camping in Michigan. Most of the sites have electricity- waterfront do not. There isn't any site water, but there are lots of spigots all around the grounds. The bathhouse is clean and modern and centrally located. There's a dump station with three openings. A small playground and large open grass on sites (perfect for bocci or cornhole) provide activities for the family. The beach is very rocky and doesn't afford great access to swimming or sunbathing, but it is a perfect place to view that remarkable scenery. Sites are very shaded, but be alert for poison ivy if you venture into high grass. The roads are paved and hilly so bike riding is fun and we saw many people with pets out for walks or playing in the shallows. Try to work a stay at Straights into your camping calendar. You won't be...