Legend-ary Travels: Kelley's Island State Park

Kelley's Island State Park Campground

Each summer we go on around 12 camping trips in our travel trailer. Nine or ten trips are 3 night trips to local Ohio State Parks and the others are typically longer trips and are generally out of state. Last year we traveled to Tennessee and New York. This summer we plan to travel to the Allegheny Forest in Pennsylvania and a week long trip to Sherman City Acres in Michigan. This summer I decided to change up our State Park locations a bit and try some Ohio State Parks that we have never been. This summer we will be visiting Alum Creek State Park, East Harbor State Park, Kelly’s Island State Park and Maumee Bay State Park. 

At the time of this posting, it is now June and we have stayed at Alum Creek State Park in May. I can barely count this as a stay as we stayed here for my daughter’s college graduation and were offsite the entire weekend except to sleep. On top of that it rained the entire weekend and we likely would not have explored anyways. East Harbor State Park, we stayed at over Memorial Day Weekend. My mistake. We don’t typically camp on Memorial Day weekend because it is very crowded and much louder than a typical weekend. I read the calendar wrong and thought we were camping the week before the holiday weekend. We really enjoyed the park and were fascinated by its large size. After a full weekend of walks and bike riding, we still never saw the full campground. It was that big. I did enjoy the walking and biking the paved trail to the beach daily.  Full disclosure, we did stay here once in the early 2000s when my husband was ordained as a deacon in the United Methodist Church.  The annual conference and ceremony was held near by in Lakeside, Ohio.  I count it as a new park because it was over 20 years ago and we only at the campground at night to sleep.

This weekend we embarked to the Islands, Kelley’s Island, which is the largest island in Lake Erie. Located in the western basin of Lake Erie, it is about 4 square miles north of Marblehead and twelve miles from the amusement Park, Cedar Point, on the mainland. It was our first time taking the RV and Kenobi on a ferry. We tried prior to understand the ferry system, but were left scratching our heads at what our cost would be. We tried to reach out several times to discuss the process, but never could reach anyone and our email went unanswered. It was about a 2 and a half hour drive from our house to the ferry. We found the ferry port that we were looking for and were surprised that there was not a line on a Friday at 3:30p.m. There was only one car ahead of us. We rolled up to the ticket booth and were asked how many passengers and how long our trailer was. The next words were shocking to my ears. “That will be $175 round trip”. Gulp. We had to pay for each of us, the truck and the Rv (which we could never find the rate for online). I think they charge by the foot. Wow, I knew it would be expensive, but not that expensive. Our ferry ride was almost double the amount of the campground fee for 3 nights. It was a tight squeeze to get the truck and trailer on the ferry. The men working on the ferry were calm and just waved us forward while we literally held our breathe when our side mirror and awning on the trailer were 2 inches from the center structure of the ferry. Kenobi was unsure of what was happening. We thought we would get out and walk upstairs with the other passengers, but there was no room to open either truck door. It was a short 30 minute ride and a bit wavy and very foggy because some weather was moving out. It was not the view I was hoping for. Kenobi was unsure at first laying his head on the edge of the seat staring at us with his big brown eyes as the truck swayed side to side as the ferry went over the waves. By the time we had reached the mainland on the other side of the basin, he had found his footing and was hanging his head out the open window. Just to note: We did bring his head in and put the window up before exiting the ferry. We wanted to avoid him licking another driver’s window. Yep, we were that close.  Again the exit from the ferry was as smooth as the entry.

Kenobi the beginning of the Ferry Ride

Kenobi the end of the Ferry Ride

We drove down the quiet main road to the campground. The park itself was a comfortable size with only a few loops of campsite. We were in a full hook up site, but I was surprised that I chose one that was right by the bathroom. A huge faux pas! I am not certain how it happened. I am wondering (because I don’t remember), if the full hook ups only had a site or two to choose from. The problem with being by a bathroom is that the lights stay on all night. Not an issue in the trailer for sleep, but detract from the vibe when sitting around the campfire. My biggest pet peeve is people cutting through your site to get to the bathroom. I am calling out the young adults in site #32 who would cut through our site #29 and our neighbor’s campsite site #30 instead of using the side walk that was past site #28. At one point we were napping outside in our chairs and opened our eyes to them walking through. Bruce even saw them walk under our neighbor’s canopy to get back to their site. Our neighbors were away from their site at the time. Rude and lacking camper etiquette.  Did we say anything? no. Well at least not to them.  Unfortunately, Kenobi was no help "protecting" our site from intruders.  He would just wag his tail when people called to him and ask to pet him.  Kenobi is a lot of things smart, loyal and  good listener, but a protector when Bruce is around, he is not.  If it's just me it can be a little different story.

We walk a lot while camping. I think that is why Kenobi likes camping so much. On our Saturday morning stroll, we came across a secluded and empty beach area. I thought I was on the eastern shore of the United States. I grew up on Lake Erie’s primarily rocky and dirt type of sand. But the sand on this beach that stretched before us was clean soft sands sprinkled with sea shells. Another rarity at the Lake Erie beaches I have been too. The beach was empty so we let Kenobi off his leash and let him play in the waves and explore the seashore. We did come across 3 dead birds in different times of decomposition. Kenobi listened well and stayed away. It was a lovely way to begin the morning.

In the afternoon, Bruce and I had a new adventure. We rode our bikes around the western part of the island. I was surprised how comfortable I was riding on the road. The main competition for the road was with golf carts. There are cars, but the traffic is slow. In fact I think the golf carts drive faster than the cars. The only are that gave me concern was the “Main Street” area. It was more congested with people, golf carts, boats and cars. We rode about 10 miles and visited the Glacial Grooves Preserve. A National Natural Landmark, the grooves resemble the chutes of a fantastical alpine slide and are the largest easily accessible such features in the world. The Glacial Grooves were carved into limestone bedrock deposited about 400 million years ago during what geologists call the Devonian Period, or “Age of Fishes.”. This large protected area of rock etched and formed by sliding ice sheets was surrounded with a barrier rail and  an easy walking trail to explore the formation.   We did backtrack back to the island's western edge for lunch and a cocktail at a new restaurant, Villas, that was on it’s 2nd day of a soft launch.  I enjoyed the Lake Erie Refresher.  If I can master it, it my become my porch beverage of the summer. Riding our bikes was a great way to get around to see the small island and a fun afternoon. 

On Sunday, we explored the east side of the island.  It amazed me how small the island was, but how different the landscape and homes were.  There were large homes with floor to ceiling windows to view the lake to small one room cottages.  There were yards with manicure lawns, farms, and forest.  Every turn gave us a different perspective.  We stopped at a local winery as is our camping tradition.  We try to support the local economy and small businesses in the area.  We were surprised their were so few wineries on the island, we expected more, but only found one open on our weekend visit.  We had a sampler of the dry wine.  Not what I was hoping for or expected.  The first was a red which is not my favorite, but once in a while it hits the spot.  It was ok.  The 2nd red was not enjoyable at all and I had Bruce finish my sample.  The 3rd was a rose that had no taste until the Lake Erie after taste settled in. Nope.  The next two whites, I really wanted to like, but again they had a strong aftertaste of Lake Erie water and I just couldn't convince myself to by a bottle.  That was a first.  I am sure it is an acquired taste, but not my taste.  This is one reason I am not mentioning the name of the winery.

View of the campground from the pier

As usual, we had a few little things to upkeep on the trailer and adjusted our new bike rack. I tested the projector I had purchased on an amazing amazon sale over the winter with hopes to watch movies outside while camping and at home. The biggest problem is it being dark enough to see the movie. The bathroom lights didn’t help us out any with this experiment.  But we did get it to work and for a time, I even was able to get the Bluetooth audio to run through the exterior speakers of the trailer, but the wind shifted and the distance was to great.

Once we arrived on the island we received a "Welcome to Canada" message from Verizon. Funny, I thought we were in the USA. There was no mobile service at the campground except for under the cell tower near the camp office. I missed having access to information at my finger tips and this included the weather report. On our last full day after our bike ride and exploring, we debated coming home early to avoid rain that discovered would be coming. The rain predicted for the afternoon and early evening held off until the overnight hours.  We had decided to say and enjoy the evening by the campfire.  Before we went in for the evening, we cleaned up outside and packed everything up.  We were thankful we had done so when the heavy rain came at 2 a.m.  We woke up at 8:15 a.m., ate breakfast and were in line at the ferry by 9 a.m. for another viewless ferry ride back to the mainland.  The weekend was in no way a wash out.  The only time we encountered rain was during our set up and departure.  We were surprised we fit on the ferry for the return trip since their were many cars and RVs loading when we arrived.  The ferry men called us forward with confidence having barely glanced at the length of our truck and trailer.  We made it with 8 inches to spare as they pulled up the ramp at the back of the ferry. The black seen at the bottom of the photo are our bikes on the bumper of the trailer.

Our rear camera after we boarded the ferry

Our rear camera after they lifted the ferry ramp with 8 inches to spare

Reflection:  We enjoyed being disconnected for the weekend, though at times not being able to obtain information especially the weather was disheartening.  We loved riding our bikes so freely around the island, it was a big confidence booster.  Though Bruce doesn't feel I am solid enough to ride on the road at home where the speed limit is 45mph.  He is right.  As much as we loved the area, the cost of the ferry was daunting.  Would it be less expensive to rent a cottage?  Doubtful, but possible.  It would be nice if we could rent it for a couple weeks and have family and friends come to stay for a night or two.  Yet I question whether there is enough to do or if we would get bored. Though I am not certain that  $300 to camp for 3 nights is worth it.  Yes still less expensive for a hotel, but it seems like a hefty price to camp.