Sleepy Hollow State Park Camping Trip Overview
Recently, we took the little bug boy on his first ever camping trip. Fall camping in Michigan can be a bit of a mixed bag as far as weather goes. And, that’s exactly what we got. It was a quick weekend camping sesh in our Coleman tent that’s 7+ years old. When we arrived on Friday it was overcast and 73°F and it was about 40°F when we woke up Saturday morning.
Going to bed sweaty and waking up freezing was a new experience for the toddler. As was being unconfined sleeping with others nearby. I’m sorry to any of our camping neighbors out there for the 5:30am wake-up call. I was really trying to get him to lay back down and whisper, I swear. By the second night he got the hang of things, he even ASKED to go to bed which was a first. Yet, he refused to sleep on his own mat in the “mommy bag” dad got out for him. So in the big bag with mama he slept.
This page contains affiliate and non-affiliate links for your convenience. Please read my full disclosure here. All thoughts and opinions are my own and do not take them as any sort of medical or legal advice.
If you’ve never been to Sleepy Hollow State Park it has a lot of recreation and accommodation options to offer! The park is just over 2,600 acres. It includes the little maple river, which was dammed off to make Lake Ovid. The park is open year round. There are 16 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails. The park offers a large disc golf course, 6.5 miles of horseback trails, that can be used for dog sledding in the winter. There are even a few hunting blinds. Lake Ovid at 410 acres is nestled in the middle of the park offering water based activities. You can enjoy fishing, kayaking, and no wake boating. There is also a sandy beach for play, and even a metal detector area. If you visit in the winter, snowshoeing, cross country skiing and ice fishing.
 |
| One of the views of Lake Ovid on the trail. |
We opted to stay in the modern campground, which has 181 sites, and use our tent. But, there are “walk in” camp sites, group campsites, and both modern and rustic cabins as well. I liked the set up of the modern campground. Many of the State Parks in Michigan have vary open sites. Meaning you could be spending your time looking at your neighbors. This tends to be nice if you are reserving a few for a large group, like we did when I was a kid. (Check out the post Why are you like This? if you’re curious about my experience camping in the Michigan State Park system.) At Sleepy Hollow there is quite a bit of vegetation separating each site, for more privacy. Everything was well maintained. No matter where you are in the campground the bathhouse or a spigot isn’t too far away. My son loved the playground, and made me go down the slides a time or two with him.
 |
| My son enjoying the playground at Sleepy Hollow State Park. |
If I were to do it all over again, with only our family, site 16 in the north campground seems the most private. The site backs up to the woods and doesn’t have immediate neighbors. Our friends who live in Lansing came to stay at the site next to us, one night. So, I can say with confidence the campsites are great for car campers and roving toddlers. There was a stump between our sites and the little boys had a blast playing king of the hill on it. We enjoyed some poor man’s stew for dinner together by the fire. ( If you’re interested in the recipe check out my blog post about it here.) My parents even happened to be in the area and dropped by our site for a while to say hello, and bring us some much needed firewood. Which was greatly appreciated, as the station was closed when we needed some.
 |
| My boys setting up our trusty Coleman tent. |
The walk in sites are something I haven’t seen before at a Michigan State Park. I’m familiar with rustic camping where you can drive in to a site with no electricity, or running water. This concept is a little different, you hike into the sites with your gear like one would in the backcountry. These campsites are located on the north east corner of Lake Ovid. I actually kind of stumbled into them thinking I was hitting the hiking trails. The sites have great views of the lake, have posts for hammocks, a fire pit and picnic table. I will definitely be convincing my husband to stay in the hike in campsites on a repeat visit.
 |
| Picture I snapped of the walk-in campsite rules. |
As I made my way to the actual hiking trail I noticed the row of cabins between the beach area and the walk in sites. Very cute well maintained cabins are spaced well for pricacy. I noticed a manure compost station, and a horse pen nestled behind them. I respected the privacy of those staying in the cabins, but wanted to peek in the windows and get a feel for the space. The Michigan DNR just changed the reservation timeframes for all of the cabin accommodations across the state. That may be worth looking into as you no longer need to make your reservation a year in advance.
 |
| My son enjoying the stump he and his buddy were playing king of the hill on. |
I did about 4.5 miles of the hiking trails with my son in our trusty Osprey Poco Plus carrier. Meanwhile my husband started the fire at camp and was able to have some quiet rest to himself. (Check out my previous post for tips on hiking alone with your toddler here.) I’m pretty sure little man was snoring before I even made it to the trail head. Everyone won. I got to go for a quiet hike, and work out my my core carrying the sleepy dude, hubby got some outside alone time. Most importantly, my tiny man napped for two hours, or so, in the fresh air.
 |
| One of the many trails that run all over Sleepy Hollow State Park. |
There are trails that go all the way around Lake Ovid, but I opted to take a route to the northeastern corner of the park. The trails in the park move through prairies, a hardwood forest, and pines. There are many different views of Lake Ovid along the way. The crisp air and the beautiful fall foliage was wonderful. Not a ton of elevation gain on the route I selected but there we’re definitely a few good sized hills. I saw some hikers on my way, and revived the normal comments on the “intensity” of my pack set up from one group. The hiking trails cross paths with the mountain bike trails, and the horse trails. I did see a few horses out there but no bikers. Both individual trail systems, and the combined paths looked very well maintained. Perfect trails for your outdoor recreation of choice.
 |
| We had brats the first night. My son was checking out the trail map while dad cooked on our Coleman camp stove. |
All in all I recommend a trip to Sleepy Hollow State Park. There are plenty of outdoor recreation options for all seasons and individual levels of comfort.There is something to do for the outsidey RV camper snd the rugged outdoors person alike. It’s a great spot for a quiet day trip or a longer camping excursion.
My family will be back!
 |
| The boys starting a fire together. |
All detailed information including size of the park, recreation, and accommodation options was sourced from the amazing info provided on:
Comments
Post a Comment