Are you on the lookout for a quiet, secluded retreat in your tenting enjoyable? Take into account tenting at Michigan’s Clear Lake State Park.
This 290-acre State Park, positioned inside the Mackinaw State Forest, contains an expansive lake with sandy seashores, trails for mountain climbing, mountain biking, snowboarding, snowmobiles, and a lot extra. It affords scenic routes the place you will notice ample wildlife, similar to deer, elk, black bears, and so on.
Preserve studying to study every part it’s good to know in 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.
Residence to an enormous array of wildlife, the park is understood for its elk inhabitants, which will be seen and heard all through the world.
Elk have been native to Clear Lake State Park once they disappeared from Michigan practically 100 years in the past. Beginning in 1918, elk populations have been reintroduced to the park, and now they are often present in abundance.
What to Anticipate 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 flora.
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 affords water snowboarding, jet snowboarding, boating, and extra leisure actions.
Pets are allowed in your tenting journey to Clear Lake State Park, however they have to be stored on a leash now 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 price you $13 for normal autos and $7 for bikes and mopeds. There’s additionally a industrial car possibility for $20.
Your recreation passport is legitimate for one yr after buy, with the choice to buy a two-year passport. In the event you wait till you arrive on the park to buy your passport, you’ll pay a $5 comfort payment for entry.
Michigan State Parks even have tips 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 neglect it! It can’t be bought on-line so you will have 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 giant, and even a small cabin is on the market for reservation. Six friends per website are allowed, and there may be ample parking house for six autos.
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 mixture of the 2, and group tenting, and there may be additionally a cabin on the grounds that you would be able to reserve forward of time.
Tenting at Clear Lake State Park is on the market from April via November. Campground facilities embody restroom amenities with flushing bathrooms and showers, electrical hookups, and ingesting water.
The campgrounds additionally provide firewood for buy in your campfires. The world incorporates a playground, picnic space, horseshoe courts, and extra.
Actions and Recreation
Fishing
Fishing is on the market 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 more than likely catches.
Picnicking
The campgrounds at Clear Lake State Park embody a picnicking space outfitted with fireplace pits, firewood out there for buy, and grills.
Actions to Get pleasure from 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 babies to wade in and splash round.
Steel Detecting
Tenting at Clear Lake State Park is exclusive as a result of it affords a hardly ever acknowledged leisure exercise – steel detecting!
When achieved correctly, with out inflicting harm to pure or cultural assets within the park, steel detecting is a enjoyable exercise to take pleasure in at this park. It is very important notice that your findings are topic to assessment by park workers and will be confiscated for an investigation if needed.
Trails
Mountain climbing/Biking
There are two trailheads within the State Park: Clear Lake Scenic, which is a 48-mile scenic route the place you possibly can observe the native and migrating wildlife; and Clear Lake-Canada Creek Nature Path, which is 4.5 miles lengthy and is on the market for mountain climbing and mountain biking.
There’s entry to over 70 miles of mountain climbing trails from the trailheads. The Canada Creek Path Loop affords 4 miles of trails perfect for mountain biking, however hikers additionally use them, so warning is vital.
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 coated in a blanket of snow. Preserve an eye fixed 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 slightly one thing for the entire household to take pleasure in.
Eager about studying about different state parks to go to? Try the State Park Tenting part of our web site!