Anyone Near Port Clintion / Put in Bay Ohio? Tips from the locals?

Hello GRM Hive,

I have a trip planned in a week up and back from here to the north of Detroit to pick up Slant 6 parts.. yes that's a thing for me, sorry if it seems weird.

Well, I booked a night of tent camping at East Harbor State Park, I forgot about the mayflies.

It seems totally gross to do camping in a tent with those buggers all over everywhere.

What's the report so far?  Would I be safe to make it there with minimal buggage in 8 days from now?

I can easily reroute on the return trip further south for a campsite away from the lakeside, it just seemed like a nice state park to try out.

Go to cedar point.  That is all.

Paging John Welsh to the courtesy phone....

It all depends on the lake temperature. I forget what that temp is but when it hits it all hell breaks loose.

Frot what I read the bottom temp needs to be 68°F then it happens.

You will be cutting it close in the western end of the lake(west of the islands), so yea, Port Clinton area. I would try to get out to the islands if you have the time but Cedar Point is THE place if you like coasters.

Beyond that... maybe check out the Cheese Haven?

slantsix said:

Hello GRM Hive,

 

I have a trip planned in a week up and back from here to the north of Detroit to pick up Slant 6 parts.. yes that's a thing for me, sorry if it seems weird.

Well, I booked a night of tent camping at East Harbor State Park, I forgot about the mayflies.

It seems totally gross to do camping in a tent with those buggers all over everywhere.

What's the report so far?  Would I be safe to make it there with minimal buggage in 8 days from now?

 

I can easily reroute on the return trip further south for a campsite away from the lakeside, it just seemed like a nice state park to try out.

 

I live in Sandusky.  I took my daughter to East Harbor State Park this past Sunday to swim.  We go often.  Its 15-ish minutes from home.  We have some other beaches closer but East Harbor is pretty nice.  

So far, no mayflies!  We have had another annual bug know as midges but they are past now.  I hear that the mayfly hatch requires the lake water to be above 68 degrees.  As of today, the water off of Marblehead station is 62 degrees in the night time.  It is warmer than 68 during the daytime but the nightime temp is the key.  For the next week, daytime air temps are to be 77 degrees to as low as 62 degree peak day temps  Evening lows will be 65-56 degrees.  Ergo, I suspect that you will miss the mayflies.  After June 14th, all daytime highs will be 82 degrees + and night time lows above 70 degrees.  I expect the mayflies will  arrive about then.  

You don't have to go too far away from the shore to get away from the mayflies.  But since the whole Port Clinton area is a peninsula.  You are rarely ever 5 miles North, South, East or West from water.

You'll be arriving just as tourist raping season kicks into high gear.  All lodging will be insanely expensive.  Here's a tip to something you would never find on your own

Our County Park System (Erie County) has one park called, The Coupling.  That name is in reference to joining railroad cars.  The park has like 3 genuine Cabooses that they rent out as bunk house.  Super primitive so I only recommend this because you mentioned camping.  This is not much more than a "wooden tent."  

Ive never stayed there and online I'm not finding much info.  What I am finding shows the facility is currently available/vacant from May 29- June 5th.  The website is not very detailed other than it says they can hold up to 26 people and says $100-$150 per night.  My guess is $150 gets you the whole facility and room for 26 people.  Seems there should be a way to reserve just one Caboose.  I don't know and the website mainly says to call.  
Please Call Us To
Make A Reservation
(419) 625-7783

This is not immediately on the lake so it's not cool that way...but its near...and my understanding is it's cheap (and available)

How far north of Detroit?  There is some amazing camping to be had this time of year in Michigan too.  

In reply to John Welsh :

Thanks for all of the insight John,

I already have booked the east harbor Campsite, so even if I change my mind and try to cancel I loose the fee.  It seems that Ohio State parks did not rape me on price for the 1 night of tent/electric.

Thank you for your insight and prediction of the bottom water temps. I know all about the terrific camping opportunities in MI, I have family up there.  But this will be a ~ 6-hour trip to the Orion Lake area north of FCA headquarters, then turn it around and travel 1/2 way back to your region, then finish up the trip home the next day or with a stop at Cedar Point or Norwalk for drag racing or something else possibly. I purposely do not have the last day planned out so that we can do what we feel like on a whim.

Funny, I was gonna recommend checking into what's going on at Norwalk Dragway while youre around (aka Summit Motorsports Park).  It's an amazing world class venue of drag racing.  

I just arrived in Mansfield, OH for a day of work but my travels took me right past the Dragway.  The "big rig" toter homes are loading in for the Memorial Day race weekend

Schedule

6/6/24:

Well, We made it back and got the slanted goods unloaded.
The trip this time was from Irwin to the Lake Orion, Michigan area, with an overnight stop at the East harbor State park Campground on the way back.

The trip went fine except for an encounter on a Michigan State forest road where they might have been spraying salt water??!!?!?  on the dirt road and also the wagon's smog pump started making some unsavory noises (solved by pulling the belt off for now - A replacement is secured).

We started out Early, about Midnight: (the night driving affords the easiest traffic, less stop and go, and the opportunity to get through the I75 corridor in Detroit before 6AM).

We made it to the Lake Orion area about 5:30 Thursday Morning and while fueling up and waiting for a restaurant to open, we got to watch the sunrise.

After our breakfast we were early for our meetup who was ~3 miles away.
We found an nice little area - Bald Mountain State Recreation Area nearby, where we rode the bikes, checked out the lake in the morning, and just hung out for a while.




The lake even had what seems to be a stat owned water park?  Very cool, but we could not stay for that.

We had more important things scheduled for this trip:
2 Alloy Slant 6 blocks to be had -

The deal was completed and we loaded them up to head back down I75 towards Port Clinton, Ohio / East Harbor State park for our Lakeside camping session.

Fortunately we beat the mayflies this summer due to the cooler lake temperatures during  the week of our travel. Maybe by now they are out and on land? who knows.
We got camp setup and had a blast fishing, riding bikes and just enjoying the scenery along the lakeside.

The next morning we had pancakes and some more beach time.

After we made it home, we got unloaded and documented some of the finds.

It was another fantastic Disco Wagon on Vacation! trip.

Thanks to Charrlie S for posting the AL block information, and to John Welsh and other Port Clinton local types for Mayfly guidance!

Yep, We beat the little buggers by about two weeks this time.

https://www.waff.com/2024/06/12/millions-mayflies-swarm-businesses-lake-erie-shoreline/

In reply to slantsix :

I was in Port Clinton last Weds afternoon, June 12 and they had hit the night before.  Earlier in this thread I predicted June 14. 

I hope your trip through was enjoyable!  

It was! Thank you!