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HANCOCK TOWNSHIP - Gas costing $4.15 a gallon didn't make Connie Hendrickson stop and think too long before making her annual 400-mile pilgrimage from Dassell, Minn. to McLain State Park.

"No, not enough to make me stay home," Hendrickson said.

Friday afternoon, she was getting toward the end of week-long trip she has made the fourth week of June for the last several years. Her sister, Karen Skoog, makes a trip of nearly identical distance, though she travels more directly eastward from Menahga, Minn.

"It's at least the 10th time that we've been here," Hendrickson said.

Each year they reserve the same two campsites. Between her children, Skoog's children, and their nieces and nephews who come a long plus local family who come out to visit, the two sites get quite crowded.

Hendrickson was sitting under an umbrella at site No. 22, Friday, while a pack of children was watching a game of ladder ball and rain was starting to fall from a gray sky. Site No. 21, on the other side of the road, was empty Friday afternoon, as were several others in the park.

Weather such as Friday's is one of the reasons Michigan Department of Natural Resources Upper Peninsula Spokesperson Ann Wilson gave to explain why state parks in the Western Upper Peninsula drew fewer early-season campers compared with last year.

"It's not just gas prices, it was a cold start to the season, too," Wilson said. "We had significantly chillier weather than we are accustomed to in June and I think that kept a lot of campers home."

McLain State Park Supervisor Mike Halt said a slow start has been the story at his park, though he won't have concrete numbers for comparison until the end of summer.

"It is down from last year, there's no question about it," Halt said.

Rich Pirhonen, lead park ranger at Twin Lakes State Park, said the number of campers from June 15 to June 21 was about the same as last year at his park.

"We were a little slow before then," Pirhonen said.

At Fort Wilkins State Park north of Copper Harbor, Park Supervisor Leland VerBerkmoes said "camping has decreased so far but it does appear to be picking up. We anticipate to be full over Fourth of July weekend."

Halt and Pirhonen both expect the campgrounds at their parks to be full for the Fourth, as well.

"Right now we're full for the Fourth, on the reservation sites, which is pretty much standard over the last 35, 40 years," Halt said.

The Fourth of July Weekend Occupancy Report published online Friday by the DNR has Baraga State Park's reservable sites 32 percent booked, Fort Wilkins Historic State Park 96 percent booked, McLain State Park 98 percent booked, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park 79 percent booked and Twin Lakes State Park 81 percent booked for the night of July 3.

Halt expects the campsite to remain busy after the weekend of the Fourth.

"That's when our season really starts," he said. "May and June, the weather can be so iffy and school's still getting out, so we don't get a lot of out-of-towners."