All these beach camping threads have me wondering...

Is there any where you can beach and camp on Lake Michigan or Erie? I will be mostly sailing out of Wilmette and can't imagine anywhere in Illinois where you could sail onto a beach and pitch a tent.

What about inland lakes?

Weco beach has camping but you have to walk over the first dune to camp , its in a car camping area.this is a county park right on the north end of Warren dunes state park in Mi. farther north is Nordhouse dunes,
http://www.getoffthecouch.info/mason/nordunes.htm there you just have to be 400 feet off the lake to wilderness camp. There is also good camping on Manitou island up at sleeping bear dunes, again semi wilderness camping, they have designated spots to camp. all in Mi, dont know of any over your way...Jay

Southern lake Michigan and lake Erie appear (and as I recall) are very crowded and unpleasant areas camp. I'm sure there are some areas that are OK. Following the shoreline north into MI things change dramatically half way up the state. The landscape is very green and much more undeveloped. Keep in mind the western side of the state receives good prevailing winds that blow across lake MI.

I know that you can camp primitive near Power island. This is a 8 mi sail from downtown Traverse City, but only a about a half mile sail by traveling up Old Mission peninsula and launch from Bowers harbor.
http://www.co.grand-traverse.mi.us/departments/parks_rec/parks/power_island.htm

There's also primitive camping right in traverse City at the state park.

You won't be disappointed.

Jim

thought of two more, camping right next to the lake at Fishermans island state park, dont remember what kind of ramp they had though I was there with my kayak. Wilderness state park about 10 miles west of the mac bridge, nice ramp and camping on the lake, sandy beach. the only thing I didnt like about traverse city state park is you camp on the back side of the high way and have to walk up over a bridge to get to the lake......Jay

Muskegon State Park. Ramps are on Muskegon Lake side of park. There's a nice beach near the channel to park it. Looking across the water to the south, you will see the city-owned beachcat parking area. Sailing in and out of the channel is not a problem (until the Lake Express Ferry comes or goes). Must use the jib to steer the boat with the main sheeted fairly tight, to get through the swirls in the east end of the channel. Once in a while I resort to a paddle. On Lake Michigan, you still have access to the state park. CRAM use to hold races there until they switched to Pere Marquette Park on the south side of the channel. You cannot park in the swimming area, but you can beach it north of there. Check out the great weather station and cams from NOAA/GLERL website: http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/metdata/mkg/

Muskegon sounds like a good spot , may have to give it a try. Do you sail there a lot? might bring a paddle for my first try, how far is it to the beach to raise the sails?....Jay

Hey guys, try Map quest aerial. The resolution is amazing, that is if there are no clouds when the picture was taken. You can click and drag along the coast and see parking, boat ramps, lay of the land ect. Very useful.

Jim

Did that last night after my post. I use that all the time but there is nothing like first hand knowledge, so thanks for your info.....Jay

I keep my Hobie at Muskegon. e-mail me offline for details in the area as well as Holland. djanddale"at"charter"dot"net