Sleeping Bear Dunes Adds Digital Passes

Visitors to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore have a brand-new way of securing entry into the national park.

The park announced on Monday that it would be adding a new digital pass option for visitors. Effective today (Wednesday, December 13), anyone planning a visit to the National Lakeshore can purchase digital seven-day entrance passes online. Passes can be purchased through Recreation.gov/pass, a government site used by “other public land sites” to sell digital passes.

“Once purchased, passes are emailed and can be used immediately,” Sleeping Bear explains in a press release. “The digital pass can be purchased up to six months ahead of arrival. Visitors should print the pass prior to their arrival. People can place the printout on their vehicle dashboard at unstaffed locations like trailheads and beach accesses. Digital pass instructions will be posted at all entrance stations and on the fees and passes page of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore website.”

In the past, park passes for Sleeping Bear Dunes could only be purchased at a limited number of physical locations, including “at the entrance stations, campgrounds, or visitor center.” While physical passes will still be available at those spots, the digital passes are intended to create “an additional option for those who do not plan to visit a staffed location” or who want to be able “to easily obtain their park admission when fee staff are not present.”

Digital passes and physical passes will always have the same prices. Current rates for seven-day passes at Sleeping Bear are $25 for private vehicles, $20 for motorcycles, and $15 for those entering the park on foot, bicycle, “or as part of an organized group not involved in a commercial tour.”