Are you on the lookout for a quiet, secluded retreat to your tenting enjoyable? Think about tenting at Michigan’s Clear Lake State Park.
This 290-acre State Park, positioned inside the Mackinaw State Forest, consists of an expansive lake with sandy seashores, trails for climbing, mountain biking, snowboarding, snowmobiles, and a lot extra. It presents scenic routes the place you will notice plentiful wildlife, reminiscent of deer, elk, black bears, and so forth.
Hold studying to be taught every part you must know to your Clear Lake State Park tenting journey!
Historical past
Established in 1966, Clear Lake State Park is positioned within the Mackinaw State Forest, which consists of 258,000 acres of State-owned land.
House to an unlimited array of wildlife, the park is understood for its elk inhabitants, which may be seen and heard all through the world.
Elk had been native to Clear Lake State Park after they disappeared from Michigan practically 100 years in the past. Beginning in 1918, elk populations had been reintroduced to the park, and now they are often present in abundance.
What to Count on When Tenting at Clear Lake State Park
Clear Lake State Park options 290 acres of secluded land, with a 133-acre lake out there for numerous leisure actions. The park is contained in the Mackinaw State Forest, residence to biodiverse wildlife and vegetation.
The park covers about two-thirds of the Clear Lake shoreline. The water close to the shore is fairly shallow, so it’s excellent for letting your kiddos wade round within the water on the 300-foot-long seashore. Together with swimming, the seashore space presents water snowboarding, jet snowboarding, boating, and extra leisure actions.
Pets are allowed in your tenting journey to Clear Lake State Park, however they should be stored on a leash not than 6 toes lengthy, and their proprietor should accompany them always. Pets should not allowed inside buildings or on the seashore.
Charges
A recreation passport is required to enter all state parks in Michigan, and to entry recreation areas, State boat launches, campgrounds, and State path parking heaps.
This passport will value you $13 for normal automobiles and $7 for bikes and mopeds. There may be additionally a industrial car choice for $20.
Your recreation passport is legitimate for one yr after buy, with the choice to buy a two-year passport. If you happen to wait till you arrive on the park to buy your passport, you’ll pay a $5 comfort charge for entry.
Michigan State Parks even have pointers for tenting and different in a single day lodging charges, so analysis these charges earlier than you head out!
Clear Lake State Park Tenting
Registration and Entry
You’ll not be granted entry to the park or any areas inside it with out your recreation passport, so don’t overlook it! It cannot be bought on-line so you have to to buy it on the entrance to the park on the day of your outing.
These passports are legitimate for a yr and as much as two years, if requested. They’re legitimate for all Michigan State Parks.
Campgrounds
Clear Lake State Park Campgrounds has 200 campsites, starting from small to massive, and even a small cabin is offered for reservation. Six company per web site are allowed, and there’s ample parking house for six automobiles.
Campers can spend as much as 15 consecutive nights on the Clear Lake State Park Campgrounds and should make reservations as much as six months forward.
The campgrounds have websites for tent tenting, RV tenting, a mix of the 2, and group tenting, and there’s additionally a cabin on the grounds you can reserve forward of time.
Tenting at Clear Lake State Park is offered from April via November. Campground facilities embody restroom services with flushing bathrooms and showers, electrical hookups, and ingesting water.
The campgrounds additionally provide firewood for buy to your campfires. The realm incorporates a playground, picnic space, horseshoe courts, and extra.
Actions and Recreation
Fishing
Fishing is offered when tenting at Clear Lake State Park, within the 100-foot-deep spring-fed, glowing clear waters. A number of fish species have been added to the lake, however trout and smallmouth bass are your most certainly catches.
Picnicking
The campgrounds at Clear Lake State Park embody a picnicking space outfitted with hearth pits, firewood out there for buy, and grills.
Actions to Take pleasure in When Tenting at Clear Lake State Park
Boating/Waterskiing
Get away the jet skies, water skies, and boats! Clear Lake State Park has two paved launch websites for boating entry to Clear Lake. There are canoes, kayaks, and rowboats out there for summer season rental.
Swimming
Sunbathe on the 300-foot-long white, sandy seashore or take a dip within the crystal clear water. The designated swimming space has shallow spots excellent for young children to wade in and splash round.
Metallic Detecting
Tenting at Clear Lake State Park is exclusive as a result of it presents a hardly ever acknowledged leisure exercise – metallic detecting!
When finished correctly, with out inflicting injury to pure or cultural sources within the park, metallic detecting is a enjoyable exercise to take pleasure in at this park. You will need to notice that your findings are topic to overview by park workers and may be confiscated for an investigation if needed.
Trails
Climbing/Biking
There are two trailheads within the State Park: Clear Lake Scenic, which is a 48-mile scenic route the place you’ll be able to observe the native and migrating wildlife; and Clear Lake-Canada Creek Nature Path, which is 4.5 miles lengthy and is offered for climbing and mountain biking.
There may be entry to over 70 miles of climbing trails from the trailheads. The Canada Creek Path Loop presents 4 miles of trails ideally suited for mountain biking, however hikers additionally use them, so warning is necessary.
Cross-Nation Snowboarding
Through the winter months, the paths can be found for cross-country snowboarding, however it’s important to recollect that you’re sharing the identical trails with hikers, cross-country bikers, snowmobiles, and different campers.
Snowmobiling
The paths are nice for snowmobiles when lined in a blanket of snow. Hold a watch out for skiers, hikers, and cyclists.
Loosen up and Unwind Tenting at Clear Lake State Park
From miles and miles of winding trails with beautiful surroundings to the 300-mile-long white, sandy seashores, Clear Lake State Park has somewhat one thing for the entire household to take pleasure in.
All in favour of studying about different state parks to go to? Try the State Park Tenting part of our web site!
