TRAILWAY CAMPGROUND, MONTAGUE, MI

Our Opinion: Rave.  Location, location, location!  Beauty in every direction. Great walking.

Date of Stay: June 27 through 30, 2010.

Weather During Stay:  Wonderful.  Mostly sunny, highs around 70, lows around 50. 

Site Description:  This small campground (53 sites), owned by the city of Montague, is tucked into “downtown” Montague, between the main street and a paved, rails-to-trails state park bike trail that runs a total of 22 miles, across the street from White Lake.  Sites are reasonably large, with plenty of grass, trees and flowers.  Big rigs fit nicely.

Each site has FHU with 20/30/50 amps.  Cable TV and WiFi are included.  Roads are gravel, sites are gravel and grass with a picnic table on a concrete slab.

We were in site 50.  Trees on both sides meant we couldn’t use our roof-mounted satellite, but the cable hookup had around 60 channels.  All the sites appeared to be level.

Rate: The standard overnight fee for rigs 38’ and larger is $32.  We found out about this campground through Camp Club USA.  Half price applies for only three days, so we paid $16/night for our first three nights, then full price.  Weekly rates are $192.  Monthly and seasonal rates are available.  Costly, but this is known as a vacation area.

Phone/radio/TV:  Our Verizon phones and aircard work well here.  Our roof-mounted TV satellite didn’t work in site 50, but would in others.  Cable TV is included. WiFi available (included), but we didn’t use it.  NPR on 95.3 from Whitehall, the adjacent small town.

Elevation/landscape/terrain: This is a flat, grassy, shady campground 650 feet above sea level. Views are of other rigs, trees, and nearby businesses.

Lighting/noise:  Lights on the nearby state park restroom and other businesses stay on all night; we kept our bedroom curtains closed against the light.  Some of the nearby business buildings generate a noticeable hum all night long – not enough that we had to close the windows.

Favorite Sites: We liked site 50 just fine, long and level with some afternoon shade.  Not much difference between the sites that are available to travelers (many of the sites, beautifully maintained, are occupied by “seasonals”).

Hiking/Walking: Absolutely great.  Ride the bike trail, or walk it through the pleasant town of Whitehall.  Many trails in the area, and walking through both Montague and Whitehall is fun and interesting, with many parks and benches along the way.

Comments:  The park is pretty, but what really makes this stand out is the location.  The small Montague Grocery is right next door, just across the bike trail, as is an ice cream stand.  Montague has a comfortable small book store/coffee shop, a natural food store, and the combined towns of Montague and Whitehall had several good-looking cafes.  White Lake, across the street, has a couple of marinas, and access to nearby Lake Michigan (with a sandy beach).  Odel played golf on a velvety public golf course for $16 for 18 holes.  Walk to the farmer’s market on Wednesday and Saturday.  I could easily spend a month here - so much to do, so convenient, so mellow.  Maybe when we get older and slow down!  :)