Weather Station Campground — South Manitou Island

Weather Station is a backcountry campground on the south side of South Manitou Island, about a mile beyond the lighthouse. It has 20 individual sites and three group sites on sandy ground among young forest. The sites are fairly secluded, with openings toward Manitou Passage and Sleeping Bear Dunes across the water. Come for a quiet island base, not a quick car-access stop.

The island's tilted limestone ridge is buried under glacial debris, and the campground sits on sandy soil among younger forest. Trees screen the sites from one another, then open toward the passage and mainland dunes. It is a self-sufficient camp: pack for a real walk and plan your water before leaving the village.

Island routes continue from the campground toward the Francisco Morazan shipwreck and an old-growth cedar grove. The freighter ran aground on the south shore after snow squalls and strong northwest winds on November 28, 1960; its crew survived, but the ship and its cargo were lost. A fallen cedar at the grove was counted at 528 growth rings, a striking measure of the island’s old forest.