Blodgett Landing Campground
We took I-196 to Grand Rapids, where we connected to US-131 north, then US-10 east at Reed City, and then south into Evart, where the Blodgett Landing Campground was located.
Blodgett Landing is a city park at the confluence of the Hersey and Muskegon Rivers. The camper sites were along the road that circled the outer perimeter of the park. The park was primarily treeless and flat, and our full hookup site was the same.
We were here to visit with family who lived in the area or were camping there. We spent a lot of our time at the park just sitting and talking with each other, but we did take a couple of excursions.
The park did have a playground and a baseball field, but it was primarily green space, so we could set up and play many different lawn games. My favorite was actually what we called Hillbilly Golf, where my brother set up various “holes” using wood, multiple cans, and plumbing pipes. Unlike miniature golf, we could place these holes 100+ feet apart.
H&D Chuckwagon
We went to breakfast at H&D Chuckwagon near Reed City. It was an old country restaurant primarily known for its baked goods. The donuts were flying off the shelf when we arrived, so we had them send some aside for us to take back before we sat down and had breakfast.
Manistee
On Sunday, we went up to Manistee as a family. The city is a big tourist town, but we discovered everything is closed on Sundays. We could still enjoy walking through town window shopping and then along the channel. The few open restaurants were full around dinner time, so we drove back to Reed City and ate dinner at The Truck Spot, a BBQ restaurant/bar in a converted truck garage. It was small, but the garage door was glass and could be opened to expand the restaurant outside.
Canoeing
One of the most popular activities for people in this area is fishing, tubing, and canoeing. Some of the family and I canoed the Hersey River early in the week, and then the Muskegon River later in the week. The Hersey was small, so there were many tree limbs to work around. The Muskegon is a much larger and more popular river. Many of the houses along the river had interesting things in their yard that entertained you.
Baldwin
On Thursday we decided to just go on a road trip around the area. One of our first stops was the Village of Baldwin.
We first stopped at the 25-foot brown trout sculpture that sits near the center of town, commemorating the unplanned site of the first-ever planting of brown trout in the United States. In 1884. the fry (young trout) was transported in milk cans by rail. But the temperatures began to rise during their journey, threatening the fish’s life, so they were released into the Baldwin River. Now, Baldwin is known as a world-class, blue-ribbon trout fishing destination.
We discovered while we were there that they were setting up for a local festival that weekend called Troutarama. We walked through the festival area, but not much was set up yet.
We then walked downtown and stopped in the variety store Northern Treasures. Finally, we stopped at Jones Homemade Ice Cream, which has been serving ice cream since 1942.
Paris
Located along the Muskegon River, the Paris Fish Hatchery opened in 1881 and was the state’s second fish-rearing agency. The area was selected because of its abundant water sources and excellent railroad connections. The Paris hatchery was a major fish supplier, shipped in milk cans painted a distinctive red throughout the state in railroad baggage cars. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) renovated and expanded the facility in the mid-1930s. It discontinued operations in 1964 and was refurbished as a county park in 1973.
When we visited it was full of trout and half the ponds were filled, so I am guessing that it might be used once again. There were fish food dispensers located around the fishery which allowed us to feed the fish and watch the turbulence it caused as the fish fought for the food.
Reed City Brewing Company
We enjoyed a flight of beers at Reed City Brewing. It is a small family-owned micro-brewery that opened in 2017 in the downtown area. We sat on the picnic tables that they had outside on the street.
Departure
After saying goodbye to family, we left about 10 am on Friday and headed west toward the coast of Lake Michigan.