Ludington State Park is nestled between on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and the inland Hamlin Lake. For those unfamiliar with Lake Michigan, it is more like an inland sea than a lake. But this sea is salt free! You won't find jellyfish, coral, sharks, crabs, kelp, or sand fleas. The water temperature becomes swimmable from June through September. The lake bottom is sand, too, and you wont step on rocks or get tangled in plants like inland lakes. You can open your eyes underwater!

The far shore is more than 90 miles away and you cannot see the other side. The water is sometimes like glass, mostly small to two foot waves, or you can get lucky and body surf in waves up to five feet. However, only strong swimmers should attempt this.

The shoreline for most of western Michigan is lined with beaches made of the finest sandbox sand, trapped between the water and towering sand dunes. The entire beach at this state park stretches for five miles and a short walk will find you quite isolated from other people. If you are a beach lover, Ludington Sate Park is going to be a huge playground for you. The sunsets can be spectacular, the stars plentiful, and if you are lucky you can catch the northern lights. We have seen them more than once.

Make you reservation far in advance: www.midnrreservations.com

Activities include hiking, swimming, lazy river tubing, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, bicycling and many other outdoor activities. The beaches are open until midnight, so a night time stroll along the big lake is a requirement.

There are camping spots for every type of camping enthusiast, from pup tents to motor homes. The showers are clean, the grounds are looked after and there are no bears nearby... at least not very often. You will see deer, though, and raccoons, opossum, and other critters.

Campgrounds in southwest Michigan do not allow alcohol, but Ludington State Park does. This is only one small reason we like it a lot. There is nothing like beaching it in the hot summer sun, and being able to have a cooler full of beer without park rangers hunting you down. One day we rafted down the lazy river with our red and white fishing bobber cooler in tow. Life is good. Thanks Ludington!

There is a wonderful and picturesque lighthouse at the north end of the park. It is more than a one mile hike, but well worth it. If you walk along the shore, it will almost seem like you have the entire beach to yourself.

If you tire of the campground, a short drive will bring you to the town of Ludington for breakfast at the House Of Flavors, dinner at the Sportsman's Restaurant and Bar, or you can wave goodbye to the SS Badger ferry as she steams out of port every night at 7 PM.

The Ludington State Park has something for everyone. In the summer there is swimming in Lake Michigan and Hamlin Lake. There are trails for hiking. In the winter there is cross country skiing. Bring you camera when you visit.

We had heard a lot of great things about the Ludignton/Baldwin area, so thought we'd finally go check it out, and we were'nt disappointed. It's only a 2.5 hr. drive for us to this beautiful area. The location of the campgrounds is great- right between Lake Michigan and Lake Hamlin. It seems like a nice family camground, although it was just my husband and I on this trip. We tented in the Beachwood campground at a great site location; woods behind us, steep hill across from us, so not surrounded by other campers on every side. That's always a plus! Even thought it was off-season (weekend after Labor Day) every site was full, but people seemed respectful and the place was fairly quiet. Probably different at the peak of summer though. The bathrooms were clean, but nowhere to dry your hands. Showers were a bit cold, but hey, it's a campground, can't have high expectations there. The weather was still comfortable too; foggy one morning,but that didn't stop us from hiking and fising around Lake Hamlin, and it quickly warmed up. We really appreciated the beach house, concessions, camp store and boat rentals were open and still available after Labor day. Where we live, it's a shame everything shuts down after the first week of Sept., even though it's technically still summer. We've already decided to come back next year and explore more of the town too; didn't get to hike to the lighthouse either, so that's for next time too!

I am not going to argue that the campsite did feel a bit crowded yet somehow we did everything very privately. We walked out on the board walk along the lake and only passed one couple. We biked to the lighthouse and only passed a few walkers. We even tubed down the Big Sauble River and felt completely alone. At night we sat around our little camp fire enjoying the company of our group. The wonderful grilled smell and flickering light from the other camp sites added to the atmosphere. There was never a line for the showers and there was always hot water. They were cleaned twice a day and smelled like it, a clean bleach smell. It is a wonderful place to go, so it being crowded is understandable. We are tent campers so it did feel like we were staying in a trailer park, but there is nothing we can do about that since so many people have campers these days. (We wanted a site with electricity so that's why we were surrounded by so many campers.)