Bear Lake, Manistee, & Onekama, MI.

                    Tuesday 9/24/2013

On our last day at Kampvilla, RV Park, we drove south from our park on Hwy. 31 to the town of Bear Lake which has a population of 286 people.

I couldn't find how many acres Bear Lake is, but I did find out that the lake is spring fed.

Just south of the town of Bear Lake on Hwy 31, is the Little River Casino Resort. I am sure you could park your RV in their parking lot for a night or two, if you are passing through the area.

Further south on Hwy. 31, we came to Manistee, MI, The Victorian Port City. This town has a population of 6,226.

We drove through the historic downtown of Manistee,

and found a park that sat on the Manistee River that flowed out to Lake Michigan.

From the park we followed the river road to Douglas Park.

Douglas Park is located on the south side of the channel to Lake Michigan. We had lunch at the point, before we walked out along the waterfront.

Manistee Pierhead Light.

As we took the one way road to leave the point, the road took us past a nice beach in Douglas Park.

As we drove back through town I snapped a picture of this interesting downtown building. Research told me that this is a boutique hotel that has been extensively renovated in 2003. This Victorian architecture building was built in 1891, with stain glass windows, and elaborately carved woodwork inside the Ramsdell Inn.

The Inn is a four story building, with the first floor built from granite, and the three upper stories built of brick.

We drove around the town to the north side of the river and channel. To get to the north point of the channel, we had to go through Harbor Village housing community.

The community had cottage style homes with channels that lined the backyards of the homes, so the occupant could have their boat's dock behind them.

The Fifth Avenue Beach is located behind this community. You can get to the Manistee Pierhead Light on the catwalk from this beach, if you want to walk out to the light. This catwalk is one of four catwalks of it's kind left in Michigan.

We left Manistee, and found the road to the Orchard State Park.

The Orchard State Park has a campground that is located on Lake Michigan. There was just 1 site that had lakefront views. The rest of the sites were in a moderately tree covered section, which might make getting a satellite connection hard to get. The sites had electricity only for hook ups.

We continued our drive north along Lake Michigan and found this public beach that seemed to have a problem with drifting sand. Some sand was along the road.

The beach was narrow with most of it's sand piled next to the fences.

From the Orchard State Park, we followed Lakeshore Road to the town of Onekama, MI. This is a view of Portage Lake, which the town of Onekama sits on the shore of the lake. Onekama has a population of 411 people.

We drove through the town and around Portage Point, an unincorporated summer resort area.  If you want to get to the point, you have to follow the road that goes behind the historic Portage Point Inn and Yacht Club, established in 1903.

At the point there is a parking lot with a very short trail to Lake Michigan.

We walked to the channel to view the lake and the Portage Point Pierhead lights. Portage Lake is 3 miles long and 1.5 mile wide. It has 2,110 acres and is 60 feet deep. The one advantage of this lake would be the easy access to Lake Michigan

The beach at this point didn't seem to have soft sand. It appeared to have been blown onto the sand dunes behind the beach.

Trail back to the parking lot.

As we headed back around the lake shore, I had Joe stop so I could get a picture of the home across the lake on the hill.

Joe and I go back and forth from wanting a lake shore home to a home on a hill with great views.

We left the Portage Point area on  Herkelrath Rd., which is easily missed if you are not looking for it. This road was the closest road going along Lake Michigan. We followed this road which hooked into another road, and still another road. After a while, we finally came to Lakeview Rd which had a few home on Lake Michigan. If you are in a hurry, I would skip these roads and just connect back into M-22 in Onekama. If you are not in a hurry, it is a nice country drive.

Once back home, Mallery decided she needed a nap. This was the first time she had napped the whole day.

She normal naps most of the whole day when we stay home.