Best Cabin Camping near Sparta, MI

Sadly, we just left the KOA Muskegon campground this morning after a relaxing and peaceful three-day stay. While travelling home, plans are already being made for another camping vacay at this KOA. The staff were all friendly and helpful, creating a family-like atmosphere. The cabins were clean, updated, and the beds were quite comfortable. Our deluxe cabin bathroom and kitchenette were also stocked with amenities, making the stay comfortable and effortless. Outside our temporary home was our own gas grill, patio table with seating, fire ring, and Adirondack chairs. How nice it was for meals on the deck and campfires in the evenings! Every morning we looked forward to the 3/4 mile hiking trail around the lake... which was gorgeous. Although, we personally don't fish, we enjoyed watching other guests fishing from the shore and various docks regularly. There is also a fun area of the campground that includes playground equipment, basketball, volleyball, a jumping pad that looks like a blast, and they were setting up some interesting looking mining activity. We did spend time on their community patio overlooking a fabulous greenspace, fire pit, swim beach, and the lake. I could've spent all day on the patio with the relaxing patio lights, flowering planters, and comfortable Adirondack chairs. The camp store is again clean, updated, and well-stocked, but I was also impressed that the prices were reasonable, which is not always the case in these type of"convenience" situations. Overall, cherished camping memories were made this past weekend, and we are anxious to return in the near future for more! Thank you KOA Muskegon staff!

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.

We had a large family camp weekend at Stony Haven. We had 5 sites (21-25) pack to capacity with 32 people.  They owners allowed use to squeeze in a few extra bodies more than their policies specify.

They offer so much at the campground!! We rented bikes and tubes, but they also rent canoes & kayaks (including launch & pickup), pedal cars, yard games and wifi hotspots.  They have a nice playground with swings, a sandbox, slide and climbers.  Adjacent to the playground is a large pavilion with charcoal grills and a volleyball quart.

The tent sites were very nice. Well maintained, each with their own fire ring, a picnic table,  water spickets and electric.  They also have full hookup sites for RVs, rustic sites and mini cabins.

There is a walking path around the back of the campground. It cuts through the woods and past a pond.  My kids (ages 1.5, 3, 5,& 6) spent hours at the pond catching frogs.

The bathrooms were clean and checked several times a day. There were public bathrooms with a few stalls and a shower, but there were also 2 private bathrooms with showers, one of which was handicap/family.  There were 2 additional private shower rooms.  They also have a laundry facility ON SITE!!!!  This came in very handy when I opened up my canvas hammock and found mold.

There is access to Stony Lake across the street and that connects to Lake Michigan.  There was an awesome county beach 5 min down the road on Lake Michigan.  It was right where the big lake meets the outlet for Stony Lake, Benona County Park. When they weren't at the pond my kids were playing in the sand and swimming at the beach.  I love little outlets like this because they are usually shallower and warmer than the big lake and are great for my littles.

They offer a short worship service on Sunday mornings for all that wish to participate. 

They owners were so sweet and easy going. We called several times to adjust our reservation right up to the day before and they gracefully tolerated our shuffling and were able to accommodate us. They even allowed us to leave our packed trailer at the site while we spent the afternoon at the beach after checkout.  We came back to the site ate, used the bathroom, hooked up the trailer and took off for home.

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!

Campground Review:

There was a big mixup on Friday night that caused us not to be able to check-into our cabins and we had to scramble to find a new place to stay because the office unexpectedly closed at 9:00 pm instead of at 10:30 pm (the time posted on their website). However, we were able to get a hold of the staff the next day, we were refunded for our first night, and had a great second night at Wabasis Lake staying in the camper cabins. Each cabin had a living room, two bedrooms, kitchen work counter, dining table, microwave, and a small fridge. One of the rooms contains a queen size bed, and the other bedroom contains two sets of bunk beds. There is also a large couch in the living room, where you could sleep another person (or two if you laid the couch cushion/futon mattress on the floor.

The cabins are located just across the road and slightly up the hill from Lake Wabasis, and facing almost due east, which leads to wonderful early morning sunrises over the lake from the front porch of the cabins. There are two sets of bathrooms at Wabasis Lake, one set (toilets only) at the boat house near the lake, and a second set that has newly renovated showers and toilets as well.

Despite the mix up at the front desk, and a pretty frustrating Friday night, I would be happy to head back to Wabasis Lake for future trips.

Product Review:

In addition to camping, I also had the opportunity to review the Renogy Solar Backpack. In addition to the write-up below, check out my product videos on this post.

Renogy Solar Backpack: The backpack has an integrated solar panel on the rear outside of the pack, which can also be flipped over for added protection when not charging. The backpack has several pockets on the outside, including expandable pockets on both sides of the unit. The side pockets are large enough for about a 20 oz. water bottle, but nothing larger. I wish I could fit a full size Nalgene bottle in there. The pack charges when in direct sunlight only, so if you have a device to charge, you need to make sure you stay in the sun. I would recommend connecting a small battery to the solar panel to charge all day while you’re out hiking (or detach the solar panel and leave it to charge back at camp while you go out and adventure) and then use that stored power from the battery pack later that day.

I would like the pack to be a little more rugged, something more akin to a daypack for hiking rather than a standard issue backpack, but it made up for deficiencies in this area with plenty of extra pockets, including a hip pocket and laptop sleeve.