CAMPGROUND REVIEW - WE Energies Rec Site #1 between Wisconsin and the U.P. of Michigan

Peaceful

Tranquil

Remote

Rustic

Relaxing

We just spent a wonderful time of 3 days and 2 nights at the We Energies Recreational Site number one, which is part of their Wilderness Shores campsite system located along their waterways and dams on the Menominee river.

Their sites stretch from the Chalk Hills Dam area, with site one located between Wausaukee, Wisconsin and Stephenson, Michigan. The rec sites continue all the way north along the river, deep into the UP of Michigan. Here is their website for more information of their other recreational areas.

https://www.we-energies.com/environmental/wilderness_shores.htm

We stayed at rec area number one:

The nearest cross road to this rec site also has a boat landing with access to get on to what is known as Rosebush Lake. It's actually just a wide spot in the river...

This rec area is set up for camping with 4 sites. It is located just below the big Chalk Hills Dam on County Trunk K and turn south on 356.  There are signs.

These sites are remote and quiet and rustic and tranquil. There are no electrical hook ups, or water available. Be sure your batteries are charged up and your fresh water supply is full. There are only pit toilets so it's nice to have the all of the comforts of home in your RV when you stay here.

There are 2 trash cans available in the spaces of 4 campsites in this rec area. The We Energies workers do stop by from time to time to collect the fees from the pay post and take care of the garbage and cut the grass. Everything is neat and clean.

The sites numbers are 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D. All four sites can accomodate a Big Rig. But the turnaround at the end by site 1A is a bit tight.  If you are pulling a large 5th wheel or drive a long motorhome like ours, sites 1B, 1C and 1D are more ideal. 

We enjoy site 1D the most. It has the most beautiful setting and is flat and level. We can park the big RV near the water on a very firm grass lot.

p.s. that is our sign on the post. We put it there after paying for the site and setting out a few chairs, a tiny tarp tent and some firewood. It held the site until we could come back with the motorhome that we left out on the highway in a parkinglot.  It saved us the extra miles of driving in the rig, only to find out if the site was vacant.  Then we would have had to drive back out to the highway and head on to another campground. 

Next below is a photo of site 1C which is just as nice and has a little opening right into the river from the campsite. 

This is the view from your fire pit at campsite 1C:

Walking down the road a little ways past the pit toilets, you can enter into site 1B. It's a little more wooded, less open, but very peaceful and quiet with shrubbery dividing it from 1A. But if you'd like to camp together with another couple, sites 1B and 1C would be perfect to have to 2 campers close by each other.

The last site 1A is a bit further down this little gravel lane:

Site 1A is at the end of the road with a little turn around loop. It is a quieter site off by itself.  There is a little path leading from the fire pit out to the edge of the water. 1A is not on the water's edge like the rest of them, but when you walk down the little path from the site towards the river, this is only how far you have to go:

When you walk down the path from 1A fire pit and camping area down to the river it is very beautiful in this is what you see. You could even tie up your boat here and keep it overnight, safe and secure, to go back fishing again early in the morning:

There are two pit toilets available for the 4 sites. Everything is neat and clean and well maintained. We prefer to use our own toilet in the RV and utilize our onboard holding tanks instead of the pit toilets, if we can help it.

There are no reservations. It is "1st come 1st serve" and "pay as you stay honor system" at the post. The fee is $15 a night. They will accept checks and if you don't have the proper cash on hand, the sign says that the Rangers that come to visit the park will make change for you if they are around. We've only seen 1 ranger one time while we were here. Otherwise it's pretty quiet. So bring enough cash or write a check. Of course, no credit cards accepted.

These are some of the signs at the main entrance. They are chock full of information that can help you out, and understand the rules for camping here. Click on any photo to enlarge.  Oh... and no ORV's allowed. (off road vehicles like ATV's, side by sides, dirt bikes etc.)  That's nice because then they're not tearing up the lawn or the campsites and it makes it peaceful and quiet for the rest of us.

Here is the little boat landing just across the channel. There is sufficient parking there for probably 10 to 15 trucks and trailers in the lot. The boat landing launching depth appears to be about 4' deep at the edge of end of the pier or dock. We observed people loading and unloading big pontoon boats as well as fishing boats from this landing.

OK, that's our review of the campground for the specifics if anybody's looking to go camping there. 

~~~~~~~

Now I will talk about the things that we enjoyed while we were there for 3 days and 2 nights:

Here's a couple a typical touristy pictures
 of Steve and I
enjoying ourselves

Of course the campground is dog friendly. On leash at all times.  Binney has given this place her stamp of approval. She looks pretty happy doesn't she?

After we set up camp, it was time for Steveio to relax with a beer or two. The temperature was a perfect 75, slight breeze and no rain in sight.  It's good to see him settle down in a chair and sit still for a bit.  He needs to do more of that. 

We whipped up an easy camping dinner of bratwurst, corn on the cob, cucumber/tomato/onion sweet sour salad. I confess that I did fire up the generator for about 10 minutes to steam some corn on the cob while in the husk in the mircrowave.  But with nobody else around, a little bit of generator time isn't too bad. Ours is pretty quiet and it's a built in propane Onan generator and not obnoxious.

After dinner, we decided to relax around a campfire. Instead of building a big fire in the rock camp fire pit, Steve took out his other toy. This is called the Flame Genie and it is a portable camp fire pit that runs on hardwood pellets!

The pellets are all natural compressed hardwood, so there are no chemicals or harmful toxins. So you can sit around the fire and breathe easily, as well as cook over it if you choose.

We pour on a few cups of pellets every half hour or so.  If Steve puts on too many, it smothers it up and smokes for a while until it ignites again. When we are ready to go to bed, it cools off quickly if we stop adding pellets to it. It usually burns out within half an hour. Then it can be stowed away in our basement compartment so we can go to bed.  

If we only want a campfire for a little while in the evening, I like this better than starting one in the firepit.  It is easier than having one burning all night or leaving burning embers.  

Here is a little video clip I made of it burning. It so enjoyable to watch the flickering flames, that's so fascinating to see how it works:

His is an older model I bought him about 8 or 9 years ago.
Now they are designed a little different:

Flame Genie on Amazon

Around $100 for the smaller one
and $170 for the larger one

We had a very relaxing peaceful evening. Didn't hear a thing, it was quiet and tranquil. We woke up in the morning to a couple sand hill cranes flying overhead and the sounds of some loons. 

Oh the joy of fresh perked coffee and what a view out the windows!!!

Steve whipped us up a wholesome hearty breakfast. That is his specialty to make a nice breakfast when we are camping. Then it's my job to do the dishes...

After breakfast was cleared away I decided to take out my sewing machine and work on some quilting. This is my solar powered sewing machine!  Really, I'm kidding. Actually the sun charges up our five 100 Watt panels up on the roof. They in turn store the energy down into our four 6volt deep cycle marine batteries situated in a basement compartment. From there, we have an inverter that I turn on which changes the 12 V DC current over to 120 VAC current to operate any electrical household appliance.

So I can Sew

What a view! 

The dogs think it's very hard work to be camping. Rest and relaxation are a must. It's really "A Dog's Life" after all.

My quilting friend Judy Delaet from Wausaukee was able to pop over and spend the afternoon with me. She brought some show and tell quilts that she had worked on.  I brought out one that I had worked on, that is from the bed inside of our motor home.

We had such a nice time gabbing away together, the afternoon just flew by. We were treated with the most delightful sunset as the water calmed down on the surface of the river and there wasn't even a lick of breeze.

The colors got sharper and pinker and more purple with a perfect reflection across the water as the sun set behind the trees.  I didn't do any enhancing on this photo, it's just aim and shoot from my cell phone!

This time Steve decided to light a real fire with regular firewood in the provided fire ring of rocks. We like those rock rings so much better than those rusty iron or steel rings that some of the national forest campgrounds use.

We relaxed for the rest of the evening until a few stray raindrops started. Then it was time to tuck away our things and put away our lawn chairs, and listen to the rain on the roof.

It only rained for a short time but it was well after our bedtime, so it was good to go to sleep. Peace and quiet all around with no noises or anything. It was total heaven. 

~~~~~~

We woke up this morning and started perking the coffee. The dogs got out and about and we took a little walk. But the weather report isn't looking too good. It's going to be very hot and very humid. Our solar is not adequate to run the two air conditioning units on the roof of the motor home. To run those, we would have to start up the generator. Who wants to camp with the generator running for hours on end? Just to have air conditioning?

For that matter, who wants to camp next to somebody with a generator running for hours on end? So not only would we NOT want to do it ourselves, but we wouldn't want to impose it on anyone else either.  Not that there was anyone else around, but if someone came, they might be turned off by our generator and go somewhere else.  I would not want to be the cause of someone missing out on such a great camping location. 

I did do a little more sewing this morning and finished up the blocks for 4 new hot pads for my kitchen at home. It was quite peaceful to have some quiet creative time to do my quilting, while Steve puttered and put'zd around with a few other things on the motor home.

We took one last walk around the other side of the channel and past the boat landing, out onto the causeway that leads down to another recreational area site. I think number 38? From over there we can get a nice view back to the little peninsula that our campsite is situated on. 

I think this almost looks like 

a magazine shot of

"Go RVing"  LOL! 

The wind started kicking up as we were hooking up the motor home and the Saturn behind. We feel a storm kind of blowing in so it's probably good to get a move on. They did say scattered thunderstorms this afternoon.

We carefully went through our hook up procedure with the Saturn and got the Even Brake situated and tested. Everything is good to go. You can read my last blog to see what we did about swapping over our toad vehicle behind the motor home from the Tracker to the Saturn.

So now as I write this we are heading home and should be home and unloaded ahead of any storms.

Needless to say, I think this is my 2nd most favorite campsite all around, 

1st Favorite is Rattlesnake Point 

in Elephant Butte State Park 

in New Mexico. 

This We Energies site is my number 2.

and a close 3rd is 

Burnet Island state park

 in central Wisconsin.

We swung by the city dump station in Oconto near the Holtwood Campground, paid our $2 fee and dumped our tanks.  Parked the rig back in the yard and we are home again before the heat and humidity and weekend warriors descend on the woods!