Leelanau State Park — Attraction in Leelanau Township

Park overall is in ok shape. Lots of bugs in July 4th weekend beware bring bug spray. No running water or regular bathrooms. Extremely rustic. Campers beware, make sure to book and double check your reservation and if they are getting booked call ahead to make sure they don't bump you out of your site if you chose one to camp at. We had a severe inconvenience starting from the moment we got there. Staff was not so helpful except the supvisor. She was just fine. Our spot was held and when we pulled up to it both left and right neighbors had tents on our site. We didn't have room to set up period. We called the office and that's when I let them know the situation. The guy Richard I beleive was his name young guy, said well we will send someone to take a look and we said, no let's not wake ppl up its past 1am and even though their tents are on "our" site then let's not wake them up and sort it out in the morning. We then asked for the site that was wide open 2 sites down. We got a stiff NO. The guy Richard met us at the site only to say sorry not much I can do. I said yes you can please let us sleep in the spot 2 over and we will move of need be in the morning. He said no someone might come tonight for that spot. I simply said well if they come then we will move or they can take our spot which was proven to the guy Richard that our tent would not fit in the area due to bolders, tenets from neighboring sites and then we needed to park our vehicle as well. We felt like it was an a mature management decision as the guy was young and appeared to have little experience solving an easy yet stressfull puzzle in front of him. The pieces were there and he put them together all wrong. We were told sleep here or leave we will see what happens in the morning. So....we slept in my brand new 2015 Chevrolet Malibu. Wow thanks for being so hospitable and accomodating your campers needs and what they pay for...What a horrible night for sleep! I got no sleep at all. I managed to walk down the dirt trail at 7am and found the site we should have been able to move to wide open amd clean vacant as a foreclosure! I went back and we both went to find staff. We looked like zombies and were running on no sleep. As we arrived at the check in desk, the supervisor Stephanie I believe was her name asked what we needed and we explained. She found notes leading to the mess the famous, "Richard" created and left behind for the am shift to clean up. We explained our story as what was in her notes were doctored up to cover his own tracks and not look silly as I know he knows he made a incorrect a mature decision. The supervisor was pleasant and said go ahead and take the spot you like. So we did and spent another night. All in all staff 2 out of five stars. Sites even though rustic was expected put toilet paper in the bathrooms when it runs out please. Add more signs for ppl to know where things are. Instead of acting like it's a big rush to get me off the reservation line be more pleasant and pay attention to your guests needs. Be proactive. For you campers out the please come fully prepared. Plenty of water bug spray and battery-powered items. Back up cell batteries and basically all essential needs. They do not fur is anything at all. This place will not hold a site past 5pm with a credit card. Reservations line shuts down at 5pm. Reservations does not know much about the actual campground suprising huh....make sure to bring a portable shower unit up there and water tank. If not the front office will tell you to go to Northport or traverse to get a shower. There is a place I think she said in Northport that you pay $2 per shower!!! We asked to get directions by foot to wash in the lake and she said there isn't really a place to do that. Mind you most of the lake is not right in view at your campsite, there is a bird then a swamplike area that has cat tails and carp fish mating and swimming around. You can't walk or swim through this mess to get to the water. Just be very careful. If you need any advice before travelling here feel free...

They do not have a dump area Park employees suggested going to Traverse State park to dump for free with proof of camp reservations or you can dump at the casino for a charge. My suggestion is to dump at the casino (approx $30) bc we waited almost 2 hours to dump at Traverse! There was no line at the casino. …………. We visited May 23-29, 2023. Excellent primitive campground. Lots of beach front. Lots of rock hunting (cannot keep rocks per state laws). We had site #13 which from other reviews we read, we already knew we had to drive into the campground going the wrong direction to get our camper in our site. I talked with the camp host and she agreed, yes we must go the wrong way through the one way. Reasoning is because the one way used to go the other direction and it was changed to go the other direction. Our campsite was good sized. We did have to pick up some fallen trees and brush to get the camper in. Picnic table and fire ring available. As soon as we pulled into our site there was a mamma deer and her baby that stayed close to our area every night. Raccoon visitors digging though the trash every night. We have a solar panel that we used to charge and throughout the day it needed moved to catch the sun. Nonetheless, we were able to fully charge every day. Bathrooms are vaulted. Cleaned daily but not fully cleaned daily. Trash dumped and toilet paper replaced but not mopped or wiped down daily. Paths were paved around toilet areas for ease of use with wheelchairs. Walking all the sites I only noticed one site that was paved for being handicapped accessible which was site 17 that was very close to the water. There may be more that I missed but that was all I saw. They have a few small cabins that looked like fun. They were located close to the bathrooms near the entrance of the campground but none on the water. These were farthest away from the water but walking distance was maybe 5 min or less. The lighthouse was really nice with the different buildings to go inside. These were also within a short walking distance from our campsite. There were a few children riding their bikes. Take caution, people were driving extremely fast through the camping areas. I literally almost got hit walking my dog because the idiot was driving so fast around a corner. Seems like a younger crowd likes to come here to camp because it’s so cheap. Had lots of tent campers and younger people staying 1-3 nights drinking and loud music. We took our paddle boards out on the water. Easy in and out of the water. Water was still a bit cold for this time of year. No one was swimming. Sunsets were beautiful. Poison ivy all around and lots of beautiful forget-me-nots. Brought two dogs with us and that turned out really well. They do have a playground for little kids before going into the...

Beautiful rustic park,. We love tent camping and we sometimes just like to pull up to a place and see if they have openings. That's what we did here. This is my first experience camping here (I've been to the lighthouse quite a few times) and it was quite nice to not have the crowds and the noise that sometimes come with traditional full service campgrounds. The park is quiet and beautiful. The sites are on one side of the trail with lake MI on the other. There are quite a few places that have benches available to sit and watch the waves or the sun set. Its probably the best sleep I've had in a while listening to the waves at night.The outhouse was clean and well maintained, stocked with T.P. and purell and didn't smell at all. There is not a good place to go in and swim at the park (we drove down to Christmas Cove which is about 15 minutes away and I recommend) but if you have a small boat or kayak you could probably launch it from there. It is very close to the Lighthouse which I recommend if you are interested in that kind of thing. It does cost a few $ to go up in it but I personally like doing those kinds of tours and know that the money goes to preserving the lighthouse for future generations. As it is a state park you do need the pass on your licence plate to get in or they will charge you for entrance to the park (its $11 when you renew and it gets you into all the state parks for the whole year. If you live here you should be doing this anyway, after 1-2 park visits it pays for itself). All in all if you like rustic camping its definitely one...