D.H. Day Campground

RV camping at Sleeping Bear Dunes is limited to two campgrounds: the Platte River Campground, which offers electric hookups and is booked solid for most of the summer, and the D.H. Day Campground, which offers primitive camping and operates on a first come, first served basis. Facilities are limited to pit toilets, as reflected in the nightly rate of $12. The Park Service states that “the earlier you arrive [at D.H. Day], the better your chances are at obtaining a site,” so we arrived before lunchtime and had good luck. The drill is as follows: Check in with the ranger, then either drive or walk through the campground to choose and pick a first and second choice site from those available. Then go back to the ranger station to secure your site. The initial scouting is important, as many of the 88 sites are suitable for tents or small campers only. If you need to use a generator, it’s permitted on only one loop. This campground is probably not a good choice for larger rigs. Trailers longer than 25’ or motor homes could find the campground challenging as the roads are narrow and lined with trees. You could find a great site with no good back-in approach. All that said, this is a nice quiet campground with friendly hosts, shady sites, and access to a beautiful beach on crystal clear, Caribbean-blue water. Dog owners will appreciate the reasonable pet-friendliness (given that this is a National Lakeshore) and the ability to let their pup enjoy a dip in the lake. If you can spend a few days at Sleeping Bear Dunes, there is plenty to see and do to make you glad you visited this area.

We were a little hesitant to try and stay here, but I'm so glad we did! The check in process is a little wonky as you can't leave anything in a site to indicate that you want it, so pick out a couple before registering with the ranger.

The turns are a little tight, but there were more than a few sites we could fit our 27' Airstream into.

This campground is great as its right in the heart of the park, and the paved pathway runs through it. We rode the bike path down to the dune climb and back. For sure make the shipwreck rescue ranger program at the Maritime Museum as its a lot of fun!

DH Day campground is a nice campground geared toward smaller rigs. As others have mentioned a site or two could handle a big camper, but the rest are best for a tent, truck camper or van.

As of 2017 sites are first come first serve, but in 2018 they are all going on a reservation system.

Campground is relatively quiet with a little separation between sites. Stay out of the single digit campsite numbers if you want to avoid generator noise.

Quick walk from the campsites to the shore of Lake Michigan, the bike path, and the historic town of Glen Haven.

Staff were efficient if a little gruff. Park admission required in addition to $16 per site.

I love this place. Great location. All types of spots from sunny to shaded. You do need reservations. I didn’t have a reservation upon my arrival. I was told to drive around and find a spot I liked. Then despite an office on site you have to call the reservation line then once confirmed, you then check in at the office. A little odd but that’s how they do it. Short walk to a beautiful beach area plus the heritage trail goes right through the campground. Nice paved walkway. 2 miles to the town of Glen Arbor one direction and 2.5 miles in the other direction are the Dunes. So convenient. Facilities are nothing special. Pit toilets with no showers which is no big deal. I don’t see big RVs here and saw some trailers struggle a little to park in the spots. I car camp so had no issue. Nice and quiet. Decent cell service.

Despite the limitation of a maximum of 20 feet length, the ranger was happy to let us drive around and find a site where we would be able to fit our 30 foot fifth wheel. Just drive around with your app set to the dates you already reserved so you can see which sites are available to you. Many long sites were open for our stay of Wednesday and Thursday. (The weekend was fully booked.) There was no problem with low trees on the road. Some sites would be hard to back into because of roadside tree trunks, but there were quite a few sites that were plenty long, which is what we were seeing on the website drawings of each campsite. We ended up switching to site #32, as our original choice was oddly shaped. The ranger was happy to change our booking. Site 32 was set at 18 feet limit, which makes no sense. We had no trouble fitting our RV and truck in that space.

The vault toilets were clean and had hand sanitizer. Water spigots are available or get water at the dump station. The dump station was nice. It's a short path to the beach. Close to the Dune Climb, the scenic drive, Glen Arbor, etc. It was a bit dusty since the roads aren't paved. People drive too fast in the campground also. I couldn't believe how quiet it was, despite having a large group of children camped near us.

If you had booked for a weekend, you would be out of luck for switching campsites. If the rangers decide to follow the 20 foot rule in the future, you would be out of luck. An easy Plan B if you don't find a spot long enough is to camp at Garey Lake Trail Camp, which is not far away. We did not look at it, but the state forest trail camp we looked at today was huge and only one camper in it. You don't have to have a horse to stay here.

Designed for tents more than RVs. $20 a night, but because I had a class C with my jeep, they made me pay an extra $25 entrance fee for the second vehicle. The towable next to me did not get that same charge. I guess having a motor in it makes me special.