Best Tent Camping near Sleeping Bear Dunes

We stayed at this campground very last minute.  We decided the day before to go up to sleeping bear dunes for the weekend, and all the reservations across western Michigan were full, so we picked this one to try first come first served, and got lucky!  Only 45-60 min from Sleeping Bear Dunes.  Perfect for people coming from Southern Michigan wanting to beat traffic at the end of the weekend!

This campground is huge! 300+ sites, pet friendly, sites for all shapes and sizes. Open year round, with heated cabins. It's a great location, just across from Traverse Bay with just across the road. With that being said, one downside is that road, a VERY busy main drag through Traverse City. Very loud. There is s bridge walk over said busy road to beach access. The campground was very busy and bustling with families. Only 30 minutes from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

This is a great rustic state forest campground. It seems to be easier to get a site here when the neighboring sleeping bear dunes campgrounds are full.

It is first come first serve but we went on a beautiful summer weekend and could still get a site. We brought our kayaks and would recommend bringing two vehicles so you can put in higher up the river, if you try to kayak up the river from this campground to float back down you will feel like you are in an infinity pool, the flow is very strong in this part of the platte river.

If you stay it’s worth the drive 30 minutes north to visit Glen Arbor for the day!

pros

less crowded, sites have large spacing inbetween, great platte river viewing, feels like you are deep in the outdoors camping, $15 site fee is a great price, clean water pumps and vault toilets, 30 minutes from sleeping bear dunes and 15 minutes from the shores of Lake Michigan.

considerations

This campground is for tents and small trailers, it’s rustic so no electric hook up, no hand sanitizer in bathrooms,

Quiet campground with sites quite close to one another. This campground butts up to the heritage trail, which is 20 miles of hiking, biking, walking, or skiing fun. A short walk will get you to Lake Michigan and it’s sandy beach. Each site has a nice picnic table, a designated tent pad (if it’s a tent site) and a fire ring with a grill top. Firewood is available on site for $5/bundle, vault toilets are also available. No shower facilities. Lots and lots of poison ivy! Stay on the paths!! And tIcks! Stay in trails and out of tall grass or weeds. The tent pad is very compacted ground, definitely need a hammer or decent sized rock to pound in the tent stakes, and also definitely bring a sleeping pad or air mat. Tent sites are only $20/night, but you also need a National Park Pass, which is $20/1 week or $40/ 1 year, so be aware of that! Stayed at site 88, seemed to be a slightly more “roomy” site than others, as there were no neighbors behind us. PLUS thIs Is located very near to thw sleepIng bear dunes and natIonal lake shore!

This campground, first and foremost, requires a National Park Pass, which is $20/week or $40/year, for 1 year from purchase date. Tent camping was $20/night. This campground was in a great location, lots of signage helps you find it and navigate the roads without use of GPS. Seriously, you don’t need one. At least from Empire, anyway. One thing to be cautious of is the poison ivy. It is everywhere. Two other notes on the side of caution, when my mom and I were hiking in the area we did see two ticks, and secondly, the campground is an active black bear area, so keep food and scents in your car. You will be located near Glen Arbor, Glen Haven, and Empire, and quite close to the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive as well as the Sleeping Bear Dunes. The campground backs right up to the Heritage Trail, which is 20 paved miles to hike, bike, walk, ski, or whatever. Th campground, while quite packed, was still so so quiet at night, which was really nice. The tent pad is nice and level which really matters when it rains, like it did while we stayed. Firewood is available out of a mobile vending machine, and takes $5 bills. WiFi is available at the ranger station, I believe.

Campground Review:

Nestled in a private spot on the Leelanau Peninsula on the 45th north parallel and just a couple miles from Lake Leelanau (west) and Suttons Bay (east) beach, marina, and village is this quiet RV and tent campground.

While trees line the perimeter and are speckled throughout the campground, all of the RV sites are completely open to the sun, making it an RV parking lot with grass. Each RV site comes with water and electrical hook-ups and many with sewer hook-ups as well. While most RV campgrounds have centralized bathrooms with flush toilets, sinks, and showers, this one is lacking those amenities.

The tent camping area has 10 sites, is nestled in the trees, with a picnic table and fire ring at each site. In addition, there are 2 rustic cabins and 1 yurt nestled among the tent sites for those who aren’t interested in roughing it as much. There is a one pit toilet, a unique “tent shower,” and a central fresh water spigot for campers and those staying in the cabins.

There are 2 man-made ponds in the middle of the RV section of the campground, which sadly act more as mosquito breeding grounds than they do for water activities as they are quite small. There is also a new driving range above the campground for the golfers in the group.

The best part of this campground is its location. It is just a couple miles from either Suttons Bay and Lake Leelanau, and within walking/biking distance of 2 local wineries (Forty-Five North and Aurora), nice restaurants, and great backroads that are off the beaten path and away from nearly all traffic. The Forty-Five North Vineyard and Winery has a great walking/mountain biking trail in addition to a nice selection of very accessible wines, a great atmosphere, and super friendly staff! Hang out on their porch or play cornhole and bocce ball while you enjoy a glass of wine and a cheese plate.

Product Review: As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I was able to test the Rapid & Backwoods sunglasses by Optic Nerve. After a day of cycling and wine tasting, we took our sea kayaks out to Suttons Bay and spent the day kayaking around the bay.

What I like most about these glasses:

· Lightweight (poly carbonate materials) but seem very durable.

· Great price for high quality glasses. I usually buy cheap glasses because I tend to lose them or break them, but these are well-worth the extra $10-15 for quality glasses.

· Polarized lenses with 100% UVA/UVB protection. Perfect for water sports such as sea kayaking, sailing, etc.

· Different shapes/lines work well for various sports or simply for everyday. I chose the Rapid sunglasses for use on the water and the Backwoods style for cycling/running.

· Lifetime warranty!

Some of the things I wish these glasses had:

· It would be great if these came with a protective case with the Optic Nerve logo.

Product Link:

https://www.opticnerve.com/collections/mens/products/rapid

https://www.opticnerve.com/collections/mens/products/backwoods

Product Video:

https://youtu.be/2FKJU4reiXs

Camped here in late October. Small rustic campground right on shores of Lake Michigan in Sleeping Bear Dunes. So beautiful-quick walk to the most beautiful beach. Expected to see sunsets but surprised with awesome sunrises! Fall colors the best. Pit toilets but does have water filling station and dumping station! Most sites suitable for tents and small campers but there are a couple of sites where larger RVs can fit. Nearby Glen Arbor so quaint. Can see why Sleeping Bear Dunes voted most beautiful beach in America. Loved that they had separate sites for those using generators (I personally find the noise of those sooooo irritating!). Even in fall campground was mostly filled on weekend but very quiet.

They have a really nice area whether it’s fishing or swimming, playground or just plain camping, etc. the only negative thing is the tent camping spots DO NOT have PLUGS which was really irritating because tent camping you’re definitely gonna need an outlet.

Loop 4 is no electric but modern bathrooms- keeps out most motor homes, mostly tents in this part. sleeping Bear Dunes lakeshore with tubing, kayaking on Olatte ending in lake MI

This is a quiet campground near Traverse City and Sleeping Bear Dunes with amazing views of Lake Michigan. We stayed at site 42 right across the dirt camp road from the lake. Not many RVs so the nights were quiet. Vault toilets needed to be pumped empty when we visited near the end of the season in August but they were cleaned everyday. Great location for our family to visit Suttons Bay and Sleeping Bear Dunes with plenty of bike trails and beaches in the area. Closest town is Northport with a full grocery store. Campground has firewood and ice on site plus some basic supplies at the gift shop.

One of the best campgrounds in Sleeping Bear Dunes area.

We camped at the rustic sites, and they were absolutely wonderful. Sleeping Bear Dunes would be rivaling Wilderness State Park and/or Hiawatha NF on the Lake Michigan coast in the UP as my favorite, #1 spot I’ve ever camped/visited. Most of the state parks in Michigan along the Lake Michigan coast have cool sand dunes, and they’re all relatively similar in their spectacular beauty and overall area they cover. Sleeping Bear Dunes is on a completely different level. I’d say it’s area is about 10 times the square mileage as most other parks along the coast. It is massive, provides the ultimate dune hikers dream hike, and everyone loves the sand dune climb. We only spent 3 days there on our summer expedition, and I left feeling like I missed so much…this is a place where I’d want to go back and post up for a 1-2 week deal, and just be there. Sleeping Bear Dunes is truly a magical place, and it’s obvious now after visiting why it’s renowned in countless blogs, magazines, reviews, etc. as one of the most beautiful places on Earth, not just America. I absolutely cannot wait to go back. I think I might actually go up there this winter for an adventure and see what the winter life is all about up there. Also, the whole Leelanau area is rich in Native American history, which I would encourage anyone visiting the area to brush up on and research a little bit about for an optimal spiritual experience.

The first time I camped here was in the 1970's. It is beautiful, peaceful campground on Lake Leelanau which is located on the Leelanau peninsula in between West Traverse Bay and Lake Michigan in close proximity to the little town of Lake Leelanau, Suttons Bay, Leland and many Michigan wineries. Also not far from Glen Arbor and Sleeping Bear Dunes.

This is one of my favorite campgrounds in Michigan.

This is hands down my absolute favorite spot in Michigan (so far). They have primitive campsites too, if you choose to go that route like we do. Right on Lake Michigan, and you can even see the sleeping bear dunes about 10 miles north of the beach. If you go at the right tone in the fall, you will even see salmon jumping out of Platte River which is really cool!

Had a great stay at Platte River Campground. Sites are spacious and wooded. 30 and 50 amp service, but no water. Hiking to Lake Michigan, bike trails, Sleeping Bear Dunes just a short drive away. For those with dogs, Esch Beach, at the end of Esch Road, is about 10 minutes by car and dog friendly. The beach where the Platte River met Lake Michigan was a favorite of our kids.

We arrived at this campground at about 5 pm on a Friday afternoon in August.  There were several of the 25 or so sites still available.  A quiet place to spend the weekend and great access to the middle stretch of Platte River.

This is NOT the NPS campground associated with Sleeping Bear Dunes NP, but rather a State Forest Campground operated by the Michigan DNR.

Very nice campground on southern end of Sleeping Bear Dunes. Sites very large and spaced so there is privacy. Wooded with trees so beautiful in fall. Very nice bathrooms and private showers with hot water year round! Great hiking trails. Near Lake Michigan-approx 1.2 mile walk to huge beach. Very quiet although could hear some road noise from loop 1. Fire pits have cooking rack. Highly recommend!!

Great access to dunes, beautiful state and national park. Sites are leveled, cleared and overall very well kept. I liked the tent sites best. Wooded in between most sites.

We stayed here in June of 2020 and it was definitely my favorite campground, we will be returning in 2021. We tent camped and loved how our site was surrounded by trees. The owners were wonderful as well!

This is a good campground. To me, it didn’t stand out that much from others I have been to, but they have a bathhouse with showers and toilets, which is nice. It’s also right next to a nice lake with sand volleyball pits. Good area for hammocking and tent camping.

I'll be honest that I only scratched the surface of Sleeping Bear Dunes.

I had planned on doing much more paddling and hiking there, but had a tent shock cord blowout the morning before heading there.

So I spent that morning tracking down a repair kit and then 3 hours repairing my tent once I arrived.

Still the beach that was a 1.1 mile walk from the Campground was beautiful and practically empty.

I also check out Esch Beach on my way, which was also gorgeous.

Only rule I thought was interesting was not being allowed to was dishes at your site.

But they did provide a camp sink by the restrooms for communal use!

One of my Favorite places in Michigan to camp. Out of the way without being out of the way. The walk in sites are a very short walk and well away from the other sites. The drive in sites are the same. Very nice maintained sites throughout the park. Showers and running toilets when you need to feel civilized again. Nice hike Lake Michigan. Short distance and great paddle down platte river. Lot's of stuff to do in the area including Sleeping Bear Dunes, Glenn Arbor, and my favorite, the Cherry Bowl Drive In. Perfect for the Novice Camper to the most experienced bushcraft camper.