Sleeping Bear Dunes Walk In Campsites?
 

Hi there -
Has anyone camped at the walk-in sites in the Sleeping Bear Dunes, Platte River campground? And how was your experience there?
Thanks!

Platte River campground is supposed to be a nice one, but I don't know anything about walk in camping. There looks to be some info about it at the website for the park below. You could also call the visitors center and ask.

http://www.nps.gov/slbe/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm

never done the walk in campsites, but the Platte River Campground is wonderful and so is the beach/park area there where the mouth of the Platte flows into Lk. Michigan. Do a tube trip down the river if you can, we had a great time.

Nice campgrounds at the Platte, don't recall any walk in sites, but then again we were not looking for one... If time allows take in the UP and stay in one of the Campgrounds in Pictured Rock National Lakeshore. They are a little difficult to get to but some are on the bluffs overlooking the lake.

The Platte River campground in the SBNL is one of the best campgrounds I have every stayed at. They have a large area for car/trailer camping and then they have two sections for walk in camping. The first is the largest and is basically a area where you park your cars in the parking area( a ring of parking) which is near the bath and shower facilities( very modern). You walk all your gear into your campsite.The sites are anywhere from 20 to several 100 yards from your car. There is also a have a "White Pine" area of 6- 8 sites. This section is a good hike( maybe a mile away from where you park your car. It is a wonderful primitive camp section near the beach. It is a good hike, some through soft sand. Yo would need to backpack your gear into this area. Also consider backpacking to Manitou Island out of Leland to either North or South Manitou Island.

Thanks for the responses everybody...I'd kind of given up on getting an answer. I've reserved one of the walk-in sites for this July & I'll report back after our trip!
And RedRock, I've stayed at Pictured Rock a couple of times & completely agree...difficult to get to, but well worth the effort. We're not going that far north this time...just doing a quick 5-day trip from Chicago, which is already a 6-hour drive. We've been to Sleeping Bear many times in the past, but never really fully explored it, so that's what we're planning on doing this time.

Just a little trip report for anyone who might be interested - we stayed in the walk in sites at Platte River last week & had a wonderful time. They are definitely a walk in (ours was one of the furthest from the lot & I'd put the round trip to the bathroom at about a 1/4 mile) but well worth the effort. The sites are beautiful, large & quiet. There are hot showers (2 3-minute tokens for a dollar at the ranger's station) & there is .8 mile hike to the beach from the path that leads to the sites. The weather was hot, so we did more lying on the beach/swimming & less hiking than we had planned, but I'm not complaining.

nicoleevon,
How much did you pay per night for the campsite? DH and I are always on the look-out for interesting place.
Also, how long in advance did you reserve your space?
ST

Hi Suzie

We paid $15 a night because we reserved in advance. I believe that they are only $12 a night if you don't reserve. You also need to buy a park pass that's either $10 for a week or $20 annually. We reserved the site back in February when they first became available; we were travelling with another couple & had a specific week we wanted so we didn't want to chance missing out. It's probably not necessary to book THAT far in advance, but from what I understand from talking to people while we were there, the walk-in sites are really popular, so it wouldn't hurt to book in advance. There are also some sites that you can't reserve so if you arrived early the day of, you could probably grab one. Definitely do it if you get the chance. I've camped all my life & this was one of the best trips I've had.

Thanks nicoleevon. I will keep this info for next summer's camping.

Hi Nicoleevon,
Do you remember what walk-in circle you were in by chance? A, B, C, or D. I was only able to reserve a walk-in site in circle A, but it is marked differently that the other 3 circles so trying to figure out what the difference is, and if there are some restrictions that apply or something like that. On the map it looks like the difference is that it is not reserve-able, but I was able to reserve on the website.. Any insight you have would be appreciated but if you don't remember or aren't sure then no worries! It is hard to get a hold of any of the staff at this place!
Thanks,
Pat

This thread is 12 years old. I hope these folks are still around.

haha ok yeah, did not notice that. Thanks!