Harrisville State Park

The summer of 2007 was one of our busiest as far as using our travel trailer was concerned. Although our camping travels were limited to Illinois and Michigan, we spent a lot of nights in quite a few different spots. In July, we spent a long weekend at the Harrisville State Park in Harrisville, Michigan.

Our friends were lucky enough to book a site right on the Lake Huron shoreline, so while we were there, it was easy to stroll over to the beach and take advantage of the lake. Interestingly, our first couple of days there we had an incredibly strong wind blowing from the east, providing the campground with both natural air-conditioning and a not-so-lovely fishy smell. After that settled down, it was a very enjoyable weekend.

The sites only had electricity, so you had to fill up with water first and then dump at the end of the weekend, and with only two lanes for dumping, that spot got pretty busy on Sunday morning. Someone clogging the catch drain with a sweatshirt didn't help matters. There was no wireless Internet at this campground. The lakeside sites are pretty narrow and on a grade, but still usable. Inland sites were decent sized and pretty well shaded. The shower houses were clean, albeit a bit undersized when the campground is full on weekends. Harrisville is pretty much a run-of-the-mill Michigan State Park.

The campers present were well-behaved - it seems that the system of having campground hosts present 24/7 has helped calm things down in Michigan State Parks from the days when the DNR officers were solely responsible for keeping the peace. When they were out of any campground, the places got crazy. Of course having a trailer and not a tent helps filter noise. There were organized weekend activities to get involved with and the kids enjoyed a seashell exploration one day. The playground was pretty basic, but with Lake Huron, it wasn't in high demand.

The town of Harrisville is just that, a town. You can get the basics, but to do any serious shopping you have to go either north to Alpena or south to Tawas.

Bottom line for us, Harrisville was worth the trip and we'd go back. And you can't beat the moonrise on Lake Huron!