Best Cabin Camping near Fennville, MI

A group of us bike from Kalamazoo to South Haven every year using the Kal-Haven trail. We usually tent camp but tried a cabin here this year. It was the perfect option as the campground is right off the trail. They provide linens and have basic supplies (including firewood that they will deliver to your cabin) right at the general store. We also met a group that had hiked in to the primative sites and were using the trail to train for the Appalachian Trail. Everything is well-made and maintained, and the staff is friendly and helpful (they even let us check-in early when we biked in ahead of schedule). Highly recommend for those looking for a place close to the trail and to South Haven. The cabins have three queen beds and a sofa sleeper so they can comfortably hold up to eight people (we had five in our group and I never felt crowded). There's a large table inside and two chairs on the porch. There's also a large picnic table outside, a fire pit, and a grill. They are hoping to expand and add cabins sized for couples in the near future.

Campground Review

Lake Michigan Campground in Muskegon State Park was a great place to pull in for the night. We had ice cream for supper at the adjacent ice cream shop (where they advertised a free cone with your firewood purchase). We pulled in and settled into our cabin with enough time to enjoy sunset over Lake Michigan from the stairs and overlooks along the beach. The campground is well kept and has a nice shady canopy. The sites are fairly large, but there are no shrubs or structures to provide privacy from neighbors. We reserved a camping cabin and found it clean and functional with power, 4 beds (bunks), mini fridge and microwave. The showers were good sized with plenty of hot water, but being beach style, there was a lot of bug access. Expect to shower with some insects. I was a frustrated birder - I could hear the birds but couldn’t pick them out visually since they were all up so high with no low cover. All in all I would say this is a great campground for beach access, better in the cabins or an RV than in a tent since there isn’t much privacy.

Ranger Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to review occasionally. On this trip I had a chance to try out Snapbuds, an earbud detangling system. We received the snapbuds before we left Colorado and used the enclosed guide to get them set up on my earbuds - it was a snap! The instructions say they can’t be repositioned once in place, so we were cautious about setting them up right the first time. I don’t use my earbuds often on road trips since I’m the only driver and I like to listen for birds on a walk - but after a few long days in the car with my kids choosing the playlists, this mamma was super excited to whip my earbuds out! I had them shoved in the back of my purse where we’d been rummaging around for various things over the course of the trip, so they had every opportunity to be a tangled mess - but they came out in a neat little wad and unraveled easily to take me away from the teens fighting over beds. I was pleased with how neat they stayed. My one word of caution is that the magnets really like to stick together, and if you create slack while wearing your earbuds (by bending to pick up a perfect rock or acorn, for instance) they have a tendency to find one another and shorten your cord, potentially dislodging your earbud when you straighten back up.

Although this campground has great amenities, a pool, clean showers, and good sites/cabins, it is hard to book. If you know you are going to come to this area and camp, you need to book it a while in advance. I have used a pop-up and there was good space between campers. When I tent camped, we had a great spot near the cafe, the showers are amazing over there, they are more secluded. Our tent spot had electric, water, picnic table and fire ring. We camped on the grass and there is gravel to park your car. This campground is a perfect place to stay when visiting surrounding towns and going to the beach.

Don’t forget to go to Sherman’s!!

There was a forecast or rain, don’t mind the tarp

This was our second time Camping at Muskegon State Park. The first time we camped at the Channel Campground (not so great), and this time we camped at the Lake Michigan Campground. This campground was easily the better of the two. Tons of tall trees, HUGE campsites with electrical hookups, picnic tables, and fire-rings. I believe you're allowed to have up to 6 people per-site, and you would have no problem fitting everyone. There were clean restrooms and private showers. There are steps that lead straight from the campground to a small beach right on Lake Michigan. Firewood & ice are sold at the campground office, and there's also a small privately owned ice-cream shop at the north end of the campground that sells wood & ice.

There's a boat ramp right down the road at Snug Harbor, and the fishing is great. It's also just a short drive to a canoe/kayak launch on the Muskegon river. The downtown area is about a 20-25 minute drive around the lake, but it has some cool military museums including a WW2 submarine and a transport ship that was used in D-Day. Also, two pretty solid breweries.

Although we were there in the summer, this campground is right across the street from Muskegon's Winter Sports Park. The park has cross-country skiing trails, a permanent luge track, a roller-luge track, and i think an ice skating track through the woods. We're looking forward to taking a winter trip up here to give everything a try!

Eden Springs Campground & RV Park in Benton Harbor, Michigan, run by camp manager Cindy, may well be one of our favorite small town parks! We are spending the month of August 2018 here and have found the venue quiet, well maintained, friendly and inexpensive ($375 for a month). I do not expect the prices to stay this low now that it has been “discovered”. They are working on adding an updated restroom, dog park and other facilities. The sites are large, level and spaced far apart from each other. We pulled in with a 42’ rig, pulling a 28’ hybrid trailer (total 70’) and easily pulled into our site without having to unhook. We had enough space to park a jeep in front of and and in back of the attached rig. The sites are designed so that no camper or RV faces a sewer connection. All of the hook ups are centrally located between two sites, with each rig having their driver side towards the hookups and their awning/entry sides facing the opposing side. Each site has a gravel space between them that could be traveled through, though campers all set up picnic tables, chairs and campfires there so practically there is no egress, thus privacy. This camp has the best WiFi of any camp we have ever stayed at. Some spots offer OTA TV and satellite reception. Ours did not as we chose to have a full tree canopy. Most of the sites offer Full Hookups with 30/50 amp service. The camp manager, Cindy, provides fire rings and picnic tables as requested, so, if you need either, just let her know when you call. The tables were clean and in good shape. The fire rings can be placed anywhere you want. As an aside, when a camper leaves, Cindy and her crew comes and removes the rings, cleaning up the residue so there is no mess left! The campground grass is cut routinely and “weed-whacked” as needed. Cindy has been one of the nicest hosts we have met on our travels. She is always pleasant, available as needed for emergencies and even delivered our mail one afternoon. She is a font of knowledge about the area and willing to share. Probably in keeping with her personality, the majority of the visitors here have been friendly, chatty and willing to help each other. The RV resort is about 10 minutes from St. Joseph, MI and multiple rural wineries in the area (a favorite pastime for my wife Audrey). St. Joseph’s is a small town located on Lake Michigan with excellent food, event venues and a lovely white sand beach. Be sure to stop at the Chocolate store in town & Silver Lake Pizza for a desert/dinner well worth the time. The town of Benton Harbor itself once was booming city/community, which has come into hard times, but we did not have any problems traveling around that area. This area also has a non-defunct amusement park attached to the campground which is being slowly renovated by a group of volunteers. They have restored several of the buildings, a fountain and a miniature train which takes visitors on a 1/4 mile ride on Saturday/Sunday. Additionally, the camp is home to it’s own 1800’s era baseball team which plays home and away games in the old bare handed style! Behind the camp is a now mostly abandoned religious enclave called the House of David which was started in the late 1800’s/ early 1900’s (Google it!). Some interesting architecture and several restored mansions for the 5 remaining members of the group. I recommend this park for someone wanting a quiet, clean stay.