Green Road Dispersed Camping

We spent three days and two nights at a site here. It feels very remote and peaceful but still has a small sense of community with other campers around. Sites are well cleared and the ground is perfect for pitching a tent. Close to trailheads and Lake Michigan. There were only a few sites available when we arrived in the evening. Better to get there earlier in the day. Altogether, a really enjoyable experience.

We loved spending a day & night camping here. The sites are far enough apart for privacy and it’s quiet. The sites were a decent size on average, and some are larger that could accommodate a few vehicles and/or tents. We had no problem securing a spot Sunday of Labor Day weekend and there were still about 4-5 other sites taken. What a wonderful forest! Beautiful trees and sandy soil. Also, beautiful Lake Michigan is 5 min. drive away. Great find and would like to stay here again if we are in the area!

These spots are easy to get to, far apart, quiet, level, and very clean. The road is sand and dirt and was a little difficult after it rained, but the few vehicles I saw made it through fine. Moderate mosquitos during the day. The woods surrounding are very quiet but the real draw is the close proximity to the Nordhouse Dunes trailhead. Great place to set up base camp, hike all day, and come back for peace and quiet.

Quick overnight on a August Friday night. Pulled in at 5pm and snagged last spot. Several vehicles passed through, but traffic ceased at sunset. Very quiet, Typical MI mosquito population, but not U.P. Horrendous. Road has some wallows filled with water but hard sand bottom. My van did great, saw some ~30’ class A go through,... slowly. Great place, will keep it in my list.

The three of us (partner, me, and our dog) found the perfect spot off of this road. The area was beautiful and the closest person camping near us was about a half a mile away. The land was very clean. We picked up a couple of old beer cans from the party before us but it was nothing crazy.
Highly recommend coming out here. We are coming back here soon with more people!
Thank you to this site for showing us this great gem.

This site it amazing. To get here, you start by going down a dirt road. When we were there, it wasn’t wet at all but I could see that potentially being a problem. Every campsite had a small loop to turn into and position your rig. We made it back here with a 32’ fifth wheel. It’s totally doable. Once we got set up, we took our truck down the road about 2miles or so and then walked in the woods for 1.3 miles. This took us to the dunes and Lake Michigan! It was an absolute blast. This spot can’t be any more recommended. There is tons of shade, lots of trails, and space between sites. Plus it’s free. Can’t beat that. Check out our YouTube channel. Life on 8 Wheels.

Easy to find and access, Green Road is a sandy 2-track on the South end and a graded dirt road on the North end. I took the North exit out after a nights hard rain. The South road might be more difficult after fowl weather. Green Road is NOT plowed in the winter.

There are about 20 pull offs, but many of them can hold multiple RVs. The closest outhouse is a couple miles away in the day use/pay camping area. Some sights are on hills, with others in valleys.

If you camp with a tent, truck camper, or small trailer then you absolutely must go camping here; if you camp with a larger motorhome like we do then you still can enjoy this site but it is a little trickier and your spots are limited.

The campsites here are cut out along the offshore side of green road, both north and south of West Forest Trail. Driving south, Green rd starts off pretty good but then has some steep and sandy bits with low branches in the middle, luckily we found our site about 0.5 mile down the road and before these sections. It looks like the best way to access the larger campsites towards the south of Green Rd is to come down Nurnberg Rd (which is gravel but very wide) and then go north on Green Rd. There are of course no utilities at these sites as they are just clearings in the forest, but there is water at the pay sites and fee areas of the Lake Michigan Recreation Area just another couple of miles down West Forest Trail. The pay sites are I think $21/night and is self register and pay via cash or check in a lock-box - this makes for a nice insurance in case you cannot fit or find a spot on Green Rd. These sites are also non-electric but have nice paved parking pads at each site and typically resident campers that sell ice and firewood.

The real attraction here is of course the dunes on the lake, which were only about a 5-10 minute bike ride down to the fee area (for cars only). There you can walk right out onto the dunes or up about 100 steps to the observation deck. We enjoyed a full day of playing on the beach and a couple sunsets during our stay - there are also a lot of hiking and biking trails through the wilderness area and we saw a few backpackers going out for the weekend.

If you are looking for a quiet site in perfect fern filled forest that's walking distance to a free sand dune beach on the beautiful Lake Michigan then this is your best bet.