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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

CLEMENTZ’S NORTHCOUNTRY CAMPGROUND & CABINS, NEWBERRY, MI (U.P.)

Lots of trees and green grass. Our Opinion: Neutral.  The park itself is nice, but their list of “rules” is long, detailed, and tiresome.

Date of Stay: July 26 and 27, 2010.

Weather During Stay:  Summer weather.  Highs in the low 80’s, lows in the upper 60’s.

Site Description:  The 50 RV sites in this level, grassy campground are a mix of FHU, W/E,  E only, and primitive.  50 amps available at some sites for an extra charge.  Trees provide shade for some of the sites.

We were in site 10, a wide, level, grassy pull-through with FHU (30 amps).  Utility boxes are between sites, shared by rigs facing in the opposite direction.  Sites are very spacious, with no sense of crowding.  All sites have a picnic table and a fire ring. 

Streets are gravel, arranged in three concentric circles.  The bathhouse/laundry is located in the “bulls-eye”, along with a playground.  There is a dump station on site.  Trading library in the office.

Spacious sites 11, 10 and 9 Rate: Rates are tricky to figure.  This park participates in PA, but not the FHU sites, which we needed on this stop.  We paid $24 for a 30 amp FHU site.  Want to use your AC?  Add $2/day.  Want cable TV?  Another $2/day.  Upgrade to 50 amps? Another $2/day (and AC is not included in that price).  It’s the kind of nickel-and-diming pricing that drives us crazy.

Phone/radio/TV:  No Verizon signal here for phones or aircard.  The park has WiFi (7 am to 9 pm) at the office; the signal doesn’t reach to most of the sites.  Don’t count on anything other than email and a bit of internet research, as the WiFi service has a data limit on it, so high-data-usage applications are prohibited (understandably).  Our roof-mounted satellite TV worked with no problem since we were in a very open site (so paid $2/day extra for A/C).  No reliable NPR stations.

Elevation/landscape/terrain: This is a flat, grassy, partly shaded campground at 800 ft. elevation.  Views are of other rigs, grass, and trees - pleasantly green. 

Lighting/noise:  Very dark and quiet at night.

Dump Station is right along the campground road. Favorite Sites:  No favorites here.  The utilities you want will dictate your choice of sites.

Hiking/Walking: There is a short “nature trail” on the property, but the best hiking is around 20 miles away in Tahquamenon State Park, site of a well-known U.P. attraction, Tahquamenon Falls.

Comments:  The park itself - and the facilities - are quite nice and appealing, but the long list of rules and the reminder signs posted throughout the campground make you feel as though you are doing something wrong most of the time.  You can’t even put a small mat for wiping you feet on the grass by your steps (hurts the grass).  Add the extra $2/day for anything “extra”, and we ended up feeling as though our money was welcome, but we campers were a real pain! 

5 comments:

cruzin2some said...

Wow! you can't use a mat on the ground but you can use a tent?? They do have some strange rules.

Stay Safe

Anonymous said...

While some of your comments are an "eye opener" for us (as owners of Clementz's Northcountry Campground and Cabins), we have found in our travels that many parks just go ahead and include the rates for the a/c or catv and you pay a higher rate whether you use those things or not. We try to be fair to everyone by NOT automatically including those charges in our rates and let our guests be on their honor. As far as the rugs/mats; if we allowed them, our property would eventually look like a dessert with NO grassy sites. Tenters can place a tarp under their tent (they collect moisture under the tarp) and tenters usually don't place their tent in the same place as the next tenter coming in so the grass on the tent sites is always lush and green. I do hope you will allow my comment to remain on your blog. Cathy, owner of Clementz's Northcountry Campground and Cabins

Doug and Willie said...

We did not like this campground at all -- because of the rules mainly.
We felt they should not advertise in large road signs that they had "Free WiFi" if it wasn't available in a comfortable manner.
The only way we could get WiFi was to sit on picnic tables and be bombarded by biting insects. We could barely stand to get our emails.
They would not allow you inside anywhere or to actually camp in the TWO spots that could receive the WiFi.
The shower water was tepid.
We would NOT go back.
Cathy Clementz certainly monitors the web for comments on the campground. At least she can get WiFi in comfort!
Willie Haynes & Doug Madison

Anonymous said...

Bugs, bugs, blood-sucking bugs. This place was the worst in that regard. Cathy is definitely in this for the money all the way. She has it in writing she is not responsible for any of nature's elements, but she does not fully disclose how horrible the bugs are here, or that she doesn't spray, or even if you douse your body, it may last up to 30 minutes at most. The Wi-Fi access was almost non-existent. I will never camp here again!

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