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8100
Grange Hall Road
(see notes below about address/directions issues)
Holly, MI 48442
248-634-8811
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was glad I had the chance to meet with Shawn Speaker, the Park Supervisor.
He gave me the inside scoop about the campground and I'll share some
of that info below. Shawn has been the supervisor here for 6 years,
having worked in several other states before moving to Michigan. He
says he really enjoys this park because it is a rarity in his experience:
it's old enough (designed "back in the day") to have a large
amount of land to work with so there's no "sardine effect"
throughout the park and the camp sites. I agree! |
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Here
I am in Site 38 in the Maple Loop. I really liked it because
in my opinion, it gave me the best of all worlds - nice greenery
all around, yet with an unobstructed southern sky so I was able
to get DirecTV from my rooftop satellite dish. |
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Meet my neighbors down the road in Site 15 - Rick and his wife
Lynn from Dearborn Heights, their daughter, Annie, with her
6 month old daughter, Rebecca, from nearby Rochester Hills.
Rick and Lynn started tent camping with Annie when she was a
child. I laughed when Rick said one particularly rainy camping
trip made them start "moving on up" to pop-ups, and
now they're in this motorhome. This was Rebecca's first camping
expedition! |
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Their
motorhome is parked in Site 15, but they also have friends
who joined then in the adjoining Site 13, as well as other
relatives across the street. They have these kind of get-togethers
as often as possible and said they're enjoying Holly Recreation
Area's kid-friendly facilities, the close proximity to the
beach at Heron Lake but likes that the campground still has
a little rustic feel to it. With a relatively short season
for camping opportunities, Rick said he appreciated having
these kind of facilities close to home since they had made
the decision to stay closer in because of the high price of
gas. I really enjoyed meeting this family and will look for
the pink flamingoes they use to mark their sites as I go around
the state because they said they'd be out and about in more
MI state parks this summer, also!
Rick
shared his belief that kids that don't have these kind of
outdoor experiences are missing out in important ways. He
told me about the book "Last
Child in the Woods" and I was intriqued enough to
look it up. I've often been jealous of families I've seen
sharing camping adventures and 'smores over campfires and
have wished that would have been part of my growing up. This
book's subtitle is "Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit
Disorder" and discusses the lack of nature in the lives
of today's 'wired generation' as being a factor in the rise
of childhood obesity and attention disorders. Fascinating
subject and makes me appreciate such outdoorsy families all
the more!
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Here
you are entering the Oak Loop showing sites 43, 45 & 47
on the right and 42, 44 & 46 on the left side of the road.
This
loop is one of the most popular because it has a campground
host next to a picnic shelter and playground where hosted
activities are held periodically.
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Trillium
Loop - sites 101 and 103. This loop is much more shaded with
heavy tree cover, but Shawn says it's popular because it's like
being in a forest campground with lots of elbow room. |
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Hickory Loop - Looking across site 131 to the Class C in Site
129.
Shawn
said that while all the loops will accommodate large rigs
in at least some of the sites, this is the least popular for
them due to navigating around the extensive trees.
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General
Campground and Reservations Information:
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There
is an additional $8.00 charge to make a reservation, and I found
the DNR
Reservations page to be pretty user friendly. It does take a
little bit for the page to come up once you choose "Campsite"
from the menu, though, so be patient and don't just assume it's
not working.
However,
while the system gives lots of good inforrmation on the 4 loops
and the individual sites (maximum RV size, sunny or shady, size
of asphalt pad, dimensions of each site), I found the information
a bit confusing regarding the loops as listed on the main Holly
Recreation Area website page. The links from there provide the
following information:
Holly-McGinnis
Lake - Modern Campground lists 144 sites at a
rate of $21. Click on the Campground
Map for this area and it shows the Trillium Loop (sites 80-119)
and the Hickory Loop (sites 120-144).
Holly-McGinnis
Lake - Semi-Modern Campground lists 15 sites at
a rate of $16. Click on the Campground
Map for this area and it shows the Maple Loop (sites 1-40),
the Oak Loop (sites 41- 79), and the Aspen Loop (sites 147-161).
Reviews
from other RVers:
RVParkReviews.com
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I assumed
the difference between 'Modern' and 'Semi-Modern' was electric service.
However, once I got here, I discovered this was not a correct assumption.
With the only exception of Aspen Loop, all other sites in each of
the other 3 loops have 30 amp electric, and while there are no water
hookups at each site, there are a few water faucets scattered through
the loops.
In clarifying
this with Shawn, he agreed the maps linked that way are a bit misleading
and will work on getting that changed that in the system. Actually,
the Aspen Loop is the only one considered "Semi-Modern"
because it has no electric and no water or toilet/shower facilities
anywhere in that loop.
The
site maps indicate individual sunny/shady sites, but basically,
the differences between the loops are:
Maple
Loop is mostly sunny with clear skies.
Oak Loop's sites are partly shaded and party sunny.
Hickory and Trillium Loops are heavily wooded.
Aspen Loop - no electric, water, toilet/shower facilities in that
loop.
No
pull-through sites in any of the loops.
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50 amp service: At first I missed the information on the DNR
website that some sites offered 50 amp service (for a couple of
dollars more), and I assumed all sites were 30 amp. So if this is
important to you, here are sites that offer 50 amp service as of
6/10/11: (This information is available through the reservations
system.)
Maple
Loop: Sites 1 and 40
Oak
Loop: Sites 43 and 44
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While
MI state parks are very popular and sometimes hard to get reservations
during peak season, one thing I appreciate is that some parks
do keep a limited amount of sites withheld from the reservations
system for use by first-come-first served "walk-in"
guests and for emergency purposes, so if you're passing a state
park that looks like a stop you'd like to make, take a chance
and stop by to see if they have an opening for you that night! |
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GPS
coordinates of registration station for campground checkin:
N 42.8162°
W
83.5358°
Elevation:
1,002 feet |
After
you pass the main entrance, you're about .7 mile to a crossroads
with signs where you turn left for McGinnis Lake Camground and right
to Holly Recreation Area. Right turn takes you to the beach area
that I wrote about on my blog linked above, and there is a large
parking area, but you want to turn left to get to the campground.
After
that, you're almost to the registration station and all the campground
loops.
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Directions
problems: 8100 Grange
Hall Road is the address listed on the DNR website. That address
is also given by Garmin Nuvi and Microsoft Streets & Trips.
But using that address with Garmin, I was taken to the entrance
of the Administration Offices, not the park or campground itself.
I saw the sign that said Holly State Recreation Area and Administration
Office, but there was nothing that said to continue on for the
entrance to the campground, so of course, I found out the hard
way I turned too soon. Luckily, the parking lot in the back
was just big enough to turn around without me having to unhook
the car, but just barely. |
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The
entrance to the recreation area that leads to the campground
is only .1 mile after that - a right turn onto McGinnis
Road. Shortly therafter is the ranger station for campground
registration. The GPS coordinates for that spot are listed
above.
When
I mentioned this issue to Shawn, he told me about using the
address the utilities company use - 5300 McGinnis Road.
Plugging that in to both Garmin and Streets & Trips took
me right inside the entrance to the park and just about to
the registration station, so use that one! I appreciated that
Shawn saw to it that they did add this note to the website
under "More Information" on the campground page,
but since the main heading still shows the Grange Hall Road
address, I wanted to make sure you saw it here, too.
Later,
I checked the Garmin's Points of Interest and besides the
8100 Grange Road address, they also list another location
for Holly State Recreation Center of 370 Grange Hall Road.
Just to see where it would take me, I followed that and it's
not even close. After going past the park, it takes you 5
more miles down Grange Hall Road to nothing that is related
to the park.
Anyway,
this is all just to let you know to be sure you have correct
directions and don't make the same mistakes I made in getting
here, because once I was here, I was sure glad I was!
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