"Get Ready And Go:" The Campers are Coming

With recreational camping now permitted, this past weekend Lake Leelanau RV Park was one of the first campgrounds on the peninsula to open to overnight campers. The half dozen RVs lined up at the manicured entrance Friday afternoon illustrated a pent-up desire to come North.

Don Wilson has owned Lake Leelanau RV park since 1976, now operating it alongside second- and third-generation family members, including son Tim Wilson. Tim tells the Leelanau Ticker, “everyone I have talked to wanted to get out of the cities and get back some semblance of normal.” All appears a normal summer day on Lake Leelanau, with the exception of the playground taped off with caution tape and campers strolling the grounds in masks.

Don Wilson says, “People making reservations ask on the phone, ‘can I see my neighbor?’ and I say ‘yes,’” but, he explains, the fact that RVs are self-contained rigs, including their own kitchens and bathrooms, makes it easier to adhere to the advice and guidelines in the COVID-19 Campground Toolkit released by the Benzie Leelanau District Health Department last week. 

Of Lake Leelanau RV Park’s 196 sites, 125 are rented by seasonal campers — those who leave their rigs on the property year-round and return each summer — and approximately 70 are for overnight guests. Don Wilson notes that the arrival of each of those guests is vital to the local economic ecosystem, with the campground being centrally located and campers being frequent patrons of peninsula’s restaurants and attractions. “In March, when cancellations started coming in, it caused a lot of concern,” says Wilson, “but as soon as the executive order came that camping was allowed, it instantly filled up again. This weekend we only have 18 empty sites.” Wilson attributes this influx of reservations in part to the fact that “the state parks aren’t open yet, and we are probably picking up campers from them.”

The Duranczyk family of Elmwood Township are among those “pickup campers.” Kelli Duranczyk, who owns KLD Insurance in Traverse City and had planned a summer of working remotely while touring various state parks, says her family’s original plan to kick it all off at Ludington State Park was thwarted when reservations she made back on Christmas Day were cancelled. “We just wanted family time and a change of scenery, so we came here, 20 minutes from home, and it’s beautiful,” she says. “We are trying to find some positive. We are all about enjoying family time together and creating wonderful Michigan memories.”

Just to the south on Lake Leelanau, at Leelanau Pines Campground, owner Carol Nowak is choosing to rebound at her own pace. The “no vacancy” sign at the road is not due to all sites being rented out: “We have welcomed back seasonal campers who live here all summer but have not opened it up for day campers…yet. We will be opening up in phases,” Nowak says.

During the first phase of reopening, which she stresses is tentatively planned for June 15, only full hook-up sites will be available for rent, which better allows for campers to be self-contained at their sites. Nowak operates the business with her brother David Nowak and grew up at Leelanau Pines, which was started by their parents and now in its 51st year. Carol ays “every campground is different, but we have been in business so long we are being overly cautious. We have 181 sites across 70 acres…but still, we will not be filling the whole park, and won’t be at full capacity this summer.”

She adds, “later this summer, if campers with reservations don’t feel comfortable coming, we will refund money, we can do what we can. People call us their paradise, their sanity. So, we are happy to be giving back their sanity place. Everyone is responsible for their own behavior, and it will be a quieter, but definitely still enjoyable summer.”

At the tip of the peninsula, Leelanau State Park lead park ranger Josh Drage is quickly readying the campground after the Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced late last week that camping, overnight lodging facilities, day-use shelters and sanitation stations in state parks and recreation areas are reopening Monday, June 22.

Drage tells the Leelanau Ticker, “We haven’t even turned on the water yet at the park. We just had the summer staff start on June 3, so we did not have full staff as early as we usually do.” That, he says, combined with the required one layoff day per week for State of Michigan employees means, “everything feels rushed and late in the season — it is: ‘get ready and GO’.” As Drage and staff pack a month or more of prep work into the next two weeks, he says, “I feel fortunate that four of the rangers are returning employees. If I had to train everyone on staff, it would be chaos.” Adding to the complexities of opening: “Half of our sites are non-reservable right now due to the high-water levels either bringing water onto the sites or making the road to the campsites impassable. We are evaluating on a weekly basis when we can make them available again to reserve.”

Meanwhile at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, superintendent Scott Tucker says June 23 is the very earliest he believes the park will able to have campgrounds ready. The official park comment is: “Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore hopes to open all park campgrounds as soon as we are able; after June 22, but no later than July 1. If we cannot open by June 23, any existing reservations between June 23 and the day before opening will be cancelled and full refunds provided.”

Tucker explains that most of the spring prep work (removing hazard trees, getting the restrooms/showers functional, ensuring safe water systems, and preparing for COVID-19 protocols) is done by seasonal staff, many of whom are still completing their 14-day quarantine.  

He adds that opening dates and reservations will be posted as soon as camping is available. 

Photo: the entrance to Lake Leelanau RV Park; Campers Rob, James and Kelli Duranczyk of Elmwood Twp.