Besides the beautiful and diverse scenery, having many kinds of lush trees for shady camping and dunes to climb on by the sunshiny beach, I think one of the main reasons I enjoyed my time at this park was due to its Superintendent, Blake Gingrich. From the moment I met him it was obvious how much he loved this park - he wanted to show it off like a proud papa - his pride in its history, his plans for its future, and his enthusiasm was contagious!

Hoeft State Park was established in 1922 and is one of the original 14 Michigan state parks. The original property was donated by lumber baron P.H. Hoeft, who was also one of the founders of Rogers City. One of Blake's friends is a direct descendent, Harry Whiteley, who was the Natural Resources Commissioner for 25 years and and is still very active and interested in the park.

Due to its architecture, landscape architecture and social history, the park has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

He says he gets a lot of good comments from campers, but that some of the park's infrastructure does need upgrading, primarily the roads throughout the park. Another thing on Blake's wish list is to get more info on the the reservations site - he'd like to have an interactive map online so you can click on and see what every site looks like. From all the wish lists I've seen from RVers about the parks they're planning to visit, this would be a big hit for sure!

Everybody says this park is one of Michigan's "hidden gems" says Blake. "Well, I say, "Let's polish this stone - make it shine and build it as a destination park. This will also help bring visitors to Ocqueoc Falls, the only natural waterfall in the lower peninsula, and will also help the local community. This is a smaller community with not as much funding, so I'm trying to put the park on the map. That's why I'm here - to fight for that so that when people come, they say, "This park is just perfect!"

For now, Blake thinks the park is passed by because most people use I-75 to get to where they're going as fast as they can instead of hugging the coast on the way up to the UP. While US-23 is a highway, it's lower speed limit, driveways, limited passing lanes, etc. makes for slower going.

But let's move back to the campground now:

Early Hoeft Camp Host?

Log Train: Loud-Hoeft Lumber Co. (to the right of P.H. Hoeft portrait)

Tall Bear Story: The lady standing proudly next to the bear hanging in the tree was the daughter of the second park manager - year approximately 1934. Her dad was the one who actually shot the bear after the bear had gotten too friendly and fearless around the house and kept getting in their cooler. This is the rear of the Sears & Roebuck Lodge and the red oak tree is still there, but much bigger.

Also called "Sears Catalog Houses," this was when you could order pre-fab "kits" from the catalog and they'd ship you all the materials and you erected it yourself. This one was ordered in 1927 and completed in 1929 to house park managers, and many raised their families here, the last manager having lived here for over 15 years.

Since 2006, park managers no longer live in the state park, so this 3 BR, 1.5 bath bungalow is fully furnished with everything you need to sleep 8 and is available to rent year round.

Another interesting thing about the house is that much of the furniture was handmade by prisoners in the Dept. of Corrections. Everything is heavy duty and built to spec - the park paid for the materials and the DOC did the rest. Says Blake, "It's beautiful stuff. They have skilled carpenters that teach the prisoners...they do a good job."

All I can say is that after I had the chance to camp in the woods here and then was treated to the grand tour of this beautiful park and all that it offers, there's no way I'd be in any hurry to pass it by in the future, that's for sure!

For you readers who do decide to camp here, please pass on my best wishes to Blake and his staff!