Another Northern Michigan secret is out: USA Today just named our beloved Platte River Campground, part of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Benzie County, as one of its top campgrounds in the United States for 2021. Derived from a poll of both experts and USA Today readers, the newspaper’s “10 Best Campgrounds in the Country 2021” ranked only three campgrounds before pretty Platte (pictured above) — the Sunbury/Columbus North KOA in Ohio, Imagination Mountain Camp Resort in Tennessee, and the Campground at James Island County Park in Charleston, South Carolina. 

Of note: that at its No. 4 spot, the Platte River Campground beat out campgrounds in Vermont, California, Colorado, (Bar Harbor!) Maine, and (Big Bend National Park!) in Texas. 

The story notes that “Platte River Campground is located within walking distance of both the river and beaches of Lake Michigan, within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on the lower peninsula of Michigan. For more primitive campers, the White Pine ‘backcountry’ campground is available on a nearby trail.” Though any Michigander worth their Morton salt knows there’s no reason to put “backcountry” in quotes — White Pine camp is, after all, located in legit backcountry — we’re happy to see this mosquito-bitten neck of the woods getting the respect it deserves. Now hurry up and make your reservation for the fall before the rest of America does.