Lake Gogebic is the largest natural lake in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
It sits within the one million acre Ottawa National Forest. The Lake Gogebic State Park is located along the western shore of of the lake. About a quarter of the 127 campsites are located directly on the lakefront. All of these campsites are sloped toward the lake and will need leveling.
There are relatively level sites “nestled among the trees, not more than 100 yards from the lake.” We were fortunate to acquire one of the extremely popular pull-thru sites. We were only staying one night and it was reserved for the following night.
There are two toilet/shower buildings. Very clean bathrooms with decent toilet paper that did not disintegrate into small shreds before getting it off the roll.
In addition to the $24/camping fee, an additional price for out-of-staters is $9/day use fee. If you are going to camp more than three days in Michigan, it pays to purchase a year’s pass (Passport) for $33. If you reserve online there is an additional fee of $8 or $10, depending on the reservation system used. So it can get spendy for snowbirds traveling through the state and want to secure reservations in advance. However, this time of year, most parks have open spaces.
Location: N 9995 State Hwy M-64 (Mareniseo, MI 49947) between US-2 and M-28 in the Central Time Zone. Travel only a few miles north and you enter the Eastern Time Zone.
— Photos and Text: Julianne G. Crane
