Picnic area · Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
A shady picnic stop with river access and a one-hour float option.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Sleeping Bear Dunes Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this place
Platte River Picnic Area: Lunch beside the River“Up ahead is Platte River Picnic Area, with grassy grounds among the pines, shelters and charcoal grills. This is a good place to eat your own lunch, then follow the river walk to benches beside the water.”
Plays as you drive up to Platte River Picnic Area in the Parkwolf Sleeping Bear Dunes Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Platte River Picnic Area is a broad, grassy picnic ground among pines beside the river, with shelters, tables and raised charcoal grills. It's a good place for a proper break that can turn into a river walk, fishing from the decks or a float. The river is the reason to choose it.
A hardened-surface river walk leads to the water, where there are benches, fishing decks and a carry-in launch. Accessible parking is available, but wheelchairs and walkers may need help on the ramps down to the walk and river edge. Restrooms and the fish-cleaning station at the west end are seasonal. A Sleeping Bear Dunes entrance pass is required.
The shorter outing takes about an hour: float to just above Loon Lake, then carry your tube for a ten-minute walk back to the car. The full trip from here takes at least two and a half hours to Lake Michigan. It crosses Loon Lake, passes the state fish weir and El Dorado, then runs through the dunes to the river mouth. It's one way, so leave a car at Platte Point before putting in. The river is shallow and clear, with a steady flow and no rapids, but you'll still need to paddle across Loon Lake. Look along the banks for birds and wildflowers.
Wildlife
27 sightingsPiping PloverMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
70 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
56 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
68 sightingsSandhill CraneMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
58 sightingsPorcupineMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
31 sightingsLoonMost seen around 5 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Sleeping Bear Dunes. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ModerateLasso Loop Trail7.6 mi · 4 hr · 0.6 mi awaySoft sand, old dune ridges and a bay view toward the islands.
EasyBass Lake Loop3.5 mi · 2 hr · 3.1 mi awayAn easy 3.5-mile circuit through forest, lake, and wetland
EasyOld Indian Green Arrow Loop2.3 mi · 1.3 hr · 3.3 mi awayGentle woodland dune loop, with an optional Lake Michigan beach spur.
ModerateOld Indian Black Arrow Loop2.5 mi · 1.5 hr · 3.3 mi awayA shady loop over old dunes, steeper and twistier than Green Arrow.
EasyOtter Creek Loop4.6 mi · 2.3 hr · 4.1 mi awayA flat forest loop meets Otter Creek and old Aral's dock pilings.
Campground · 0.3 mi awayPlatte River CampgroundA wooded basecamp for the Platte River and Lake Michigan.
Sight · 0.5 mi awayLoon Lake AccessA slow-water launch with a fishing dock and picnic area.
Beach · 1.3 mi awayTiesma Road BeachA quiet Lake Michigan shore reached by a soft-sand dune climb.
Beach · 1.5 mi awayPeterson BeachA quiet Lake Michigan shore with bluffs on the horizon.
Sight · 1.6 mi awayEl Dorado Platte River AccessA compact put-in for an easy one-mile float to Lake Michigan.
Sight · 1.9 mi awayBoekeloo LodgeA cabin and hand-dug pond where a cranberry bog never took hold.
Beach · 2.2 mi awayPlatte River Point BeachWade the river, then step into Lake Michigan.
Campground · 2.5 mi awayWhite Pine Backcountry CampgroundCarry your tent two miles to a six-site woods camp.Parkwolf’s Sleeping Bear Dunes ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
