A group of happy trail riders pictured in front of their Polaris ORVs at Best Bear Lodge and Campground in Irons. Photo by S.A. McFerran.
By Stewart A. McFerran
People can be like the three bears when planning their summer vacations in northwest lower Michigan. Some folks like to stay in campgrounds near the road. Some like to stay close to off-road areas in public lands. And some prefer to stay near trails, where they ride in off-road vehicles — called ORVs — on miles of trails.
Best Bear Lodge and ORV Campground, Irons
Roads and trails lead to Best Bear Lodge and Campground in Irons. Find a place to park, then climb out of your car and into an ORV or “Off Road Vehicle.” From here, aboard the likes of a Razor 1000, the off-road areas are your oyster. With an off-road vehicle, you can go anywhere the ORV trails take you in Lake County, including mapped areas within the Huron-Manistee National Forest.
Carrie Bearup owns Best Bear with her husband Matthew. The Bearups bought the property and campground in 2013, when the only buildings on the grounds were a manager’s house and four-unit lodging suites. They added four RV sites the first year and 14 the following year.
“We totally gutted that lodge,” Bearup said. “We put in Dish satellite, and we put in air conditioning and new furnaces. And then we added a couple brand new cabins that the Amish (in Tustin, by Leroy) built. We rent RVs too. I can fit about 200 (people, in total) in every cabin … and RV.”
The campground currently has 22 sites with 40 more recently developed which include electricity, water and sewer drop. Some of the new sites already have a waiting list of RV campers. (The campground announced June 10 on its Facebook page that the sites are completed.)
“We don’t have any (down) time,” she said, adding that the first two weeks of April and December are their slowest times.
“I have wonderful staff.”
Jason Wilson works at Best Bear. He manages ORV rentals, a total of 15 machines. The Polaris Razor four-seater 1000s have “ride command Global Positioning Systems.” Campers can rent the Polaris Razor for four, six or eight hours.
“We have a mid-week special that is killer and includes free meal tickets to the Speedy Bear Diner, our restaurant, and they get free ice cream also,” Bearup said.
From Best Bear, those renting or bringing ORVs can access 230 miles of Lake County’s ORV trails, plus “a lot of” roads that are now open to off-road vehicles. With a plated ORV, she said a person can go on roads almost “anywhere you want.”
“The Manistee National Forest is beautiful; you feel like you are in a jungle,” she added.
Best Bear programs its ORVs with waypoints, interesting places riders might like to stop or have lunch.
“The Pine River is a good waypoint,” she said. “You cross over this little bridge; it’s brand new, they just rebuilt it.
Though the Bearups have thought about renting snowmobiles in winter, they are still pondering.
“It’s a big gamble on the weather,” she said. “We don’t know if we are going to have the snow.”
Polaris is expected to shoot a commercial in Irons ⸺ complimentary 30-second and 2-minute spots for Best Bear ⸺ because the campground was rated number one in Michigan, with 430 rides in 2020.
“They (Polaris Adventures) want to wait until all the greenery is on the trees, so it’s a beautiful filming,” Bearup said.
Destination Polaris, the company’s website, includes short films produced to highlight areas of the country where off roading takes place.
“It was pretty cool to see Irons on Destination Polaris,” she enthused. (See Episode 9, “Michigan,” which includes Lake County trails and other areas of the state.)
Whiskey Creek ORV Campground, Custer
Michele and Norm Gilliam bought the Whiskey Creek Campground on June 18, 2020. Located near Custer on 226 acres in southern Mason County, the campground has 112 sites, from primitive to those with full hookups. An RV is available to rent as well.
The campground is situated among mature shade trees and includes an elevated view of a pond and a portion of the adjacent ORV trail, which encircles a large, green field. The setting is quite beautiful, and the atmosphere is laid-back and friendly.
They do not rent ORVs, but most campers bring their own and access the Whiskey Creek trails. The trails link to the ORV trail system in the Manistee National Forest, giving riders many options.
The camp store is located at the lodge, where campers check in. The store has pizza, sandwiches, coffee, hand-dipped ice cream, kid’s toys, logowear and camping accessories. The pool is open for campers to enjoy, and there is a pond with a fishing dock. Play areas include a bounce pad, swing sets and slides for kids. A disc golf course is also on site. There are bathrooms with showers and a laundry room.
Almost everyone who comes to camp at Whiskey Creek brings their own “quad,” dirt bike or side-by-side. The Big O trailhead is close, (for highway-legal motorcycles, 40” or smaller).
Live bands perform at the campground once a month in summer and a printed list of camp activities is available at the camp store.
“It’s a fun place; there’s a lot to do here,” Michelle Gilliam said.
“Rangers from the Manistee National Forest stop out occasionally, and they will drop off maps to us that we can pass out to people that have the trail markings and what (trail riders) can and can’t do.”
She said the campground closes to ORV use prior to Thanksgiving, although they allow hunters to camp.
“They are not allowed to hunt on our property,” she said. “But since we have state land right behind us, it’s a big attraction.”
She added: “It’s not as busy as it could be, but it takes word of mouth for people to know that we are open now for next deer hunting season.”
Stewart McFerran likes to write about environmental issues, placing them in historical context. He is Freshwater Reporter’s Ambassador-At-Large.
