Overview

South Higgins Lake State Park, as the name suggests, is located on the south side of Higgins Lake. This lake is one of the largest in Michigan at around 9900 acres and is quite the attraction during the summer. South Higgins alone has almost 400 camp sites and there is a North Higgins Lake State Park on the opposite shore, not to mention numerous private camps. We avoided all of this, by going in the off-season. In fact, the camp itself was basically closed.

One of the great joys I have each year is doing one-on-one trips with each of my boys. My oldest was born in July so I started the tradition of taking him camping around the time of his birthday. I went to continue this with my middle son, but he was born in March, which is more than a little unpredictable in terms of weather in Michigan. Two years running we’ve solved this problem by booking mini cabins rather than tent camping.

Last year we stayed at Muskegon State Park on Lake Michigan, which I wrote about here. This year we went north. South Higgins Lake has only one mini cabin and the rest of the campsites are closed in March. This meant that although the park was open, we were literally the only two people staying the night.

Day 1

We had planned to leave on Friday after the boys got off school, but as luck would have it, it turned out to be a snow day. This was good for getting ready and leaving earlier. However, it was a snow day for a reason and the road conditions were not ideal. We didn’t exactly rush out the door, and it was afternoon before we were on the road. By this point the main roads were pretty well clear.

From our neck of the woods, Higgins Lake means taking the I-75 route and getting off at Roscommon. From here it’s a quick jaunt slightly west of the highway to get to the campground. We actually stopped for a quick bite to eat in town, where there are several options. However, it turns out there are also a few options right by the park that I might try on a return trip.

Coming into the park it was a little surreal being at a campground this size and essentially being the only ones there. Despite this I was pleasantly surprised to find the full campground loop plowed including the parking area in front of the cabin. Granted there are ice fishing reasons for plowing the road, but having the area in front of the cabin plowed specifically for our stay at a closed campground was impressive.

It was typical of the standard mini-cabin design I’ve seen at Michigan parks, with two bunks, a microwave, fridge, a few stools and a bench like table. This one was a little different than our last stay in that it had a larger bottom bunk on one of the two sets of bunk beds. This full mattress gave me plenty of room to sprawl out.

This also means that this would be comfortable sleeping for five, so we could have brought the whole family. I didn’t honestly know the “mini” cabins came in this size. With this knowledge Zane and I planned a family trip for the following month to a mini cabin at Tawas Point that I’ll be writing about in April. This future planning is one of a few things I did differently on this trip than others, as I’ll mention as I go along.

The building had obviously been renovated recently as evident by the digital touch screen on the heater. One note about the bunks, the only way up is climbing the cross pieces at the end. This was fine for myself and my son, but anyone smaller would likely have had some trouble getting up to the top. That said, you might not want a child that small staying on the top to begin with. The sides had railings, naturally, but it was open at the end.

Even with the earlier start to the day, the light was still starting to fade as we finished settling in. We decided that the evening’s activity would be limited to snacks and a board game before settling in for the night. This was another new tact for me. I’d generally have avoided using time on a camping trip for indoor activities, but playing Ticket to Ride on the floor of a cabin with my son was a pretty great memory to come away with.  

I did need to place my snow pants along the bottom of the door to block a draft from what looked to be missing/damaged weather stripping. Either way the heater kicked out plenty of warmth. Besides, with sleeping bags designed for tent camping, I actually turned it down fairly low for the night anyway.

Day 2

Being two weeks from the start of spring, but in Michigan, of course it was 14° F when we woke up. That said, the sun was shining through the trees at dawn, which gave great promise for the day. We were both eager to get out and explore.

After an oatmeal breakfast we made the short drive across to the other side of Higgins Lake Drive to a parking lot on Marl Lake. This is a smaller lake that I’ve heard is a good fishing spot during the summer. This time of year it was frozen over and no ice fishing to be seen, at least when we got there.

Our reason for coming over was for access to the trailhead. Three interconnected, multi-use loops travel from the west side of the lake around to the northeast. The loops measure 2.0, 3.5, and 5.5 miles. We chose the middle of the three. Normally I’m always for taking the longest trail if possible, but with an 8-year old in wintery conditions I thought a little shorter might be a good choice.

It turned out the weather was beautiful, as was the trail. I’m sure it has its natural beauty in the summer as well, but the freshly fallen snow and sun paired with the solitude of being the only hikers on the trail made for a magical experience.

The park brochure stated: “All trails are rated as more difficult.” This might possibly be with cross country skiing in mind, because, even in the snow, the trail was fairly smooth going. In fact, the biggest issue I ended up having was getting too warm by the end. I was sweating a bit since I geared up when the temp was in the teens. Also, from the look of the tracks in the snow, someone had taken a wide tire bike the longest loop through the snow. In any case, I’d call what we did moderate at most. Granted my son might be more accustomed to hiking than many his age, but he made the trip easily, despite making some poor attire choices. Yes, he had boots and snow pants. No, he didn’t “need to wear them.”

The next order of business was to head back toward camp and check out the big lake. I tend to be very cautious when it comes to ice, especially approaching springtime. However, multiple shanties, snowmobiles and four wheelers out on the lake gave me plenty of confidence in the thickness.

In my memory I believe this is the largest body of water I’ve ventured out on, and I know it was definitely a new experience for Zane. With the flat expanse of fresh snow, he said it looked like walking out on the moon. Reviewing the images it definitely looked other-worldly, or at least like being much further north than we were. I had the momentary thought that hiking across the lake would be a very neat excursion, but not this trip.

Take-away

I wasn’t quite prepared for the weather being what it was, but the trip still turned out to be one of my favorite weekend excursions. I couldn’t tell you exactly why, but it was. It was definitely the best I’ve had yet with Zane.

One big thing I took away from it was going with the flow and allowing things to happen. I’ve never really been big on cold weather trips, especially with kids because… I mean… what do you do? On this trip though, after the hike on the trails and hanging out on the ice, he was perfectly happy to build a snow fort next to the cabin and spend time playing games inside for the evening.

Board games and art projects might not be the first thing that comes to mind when I think camping, but why not? Sure “we could just do that at home”, but do you? Even if you do, it’s still not quite the same. I certainly will plan to pack more for overly rainy or cold days for our trips from now on.

Overall, I definitely would recommend the experience of staying here or at a similar site in the off-season. This was far from truly isolated, but it had enough of that feel to make for an experience. The only facility I noticed the absence of was water. Since these are all modern sites during the summer, there’s no reason for the to be a hand pump or equivalent. This means that with the modern bathrooms closed, there’s no access to running water in the campground.

The camp store wasn’t open, but there was a party store a very short drive from the cabin. This is where I ended up buying a few gallons of water for cooking and drinking. I knew this was going to be the case, so it is very much on me for not bringing our own water in the first place.

Beyond the gap at the bottom of the door, which I’m sure will be fixed in short order with bug season coming, the facilities were wonderfully cozy. We only touched the surface of what we could do there, even in the winter. With skis, snowshoes, ice fishing gear, etc, we could definitely make a return trip with a full new set of experiences.