Agency-listedMichigan DNRFee
Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground
Drive-up · Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources · MI · 44.02846, -85.33336
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Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
$20, first-come, rustic. Recreation Passport required for vehicle entry. Pay at the kiosk.
What the record says about the site — Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground · Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources · MI
- Rustic campground
- First come, first served
- Hunting access
- Fishing here
- Paddling here
From the the public land record listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Weather outlook — at Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Fire & smoke — around Sunrise Lake State Forest CampgroundNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Everything you need — measured from Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground · Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources · MI
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- HHardware6 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- ShShower6 mi
- WWater8 mi
- +Urgent care9 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- DDump10 mi
- EVEV fast charger14 mi
- LLaundry14 mi
- OOutfitter27 mi
- AAir-up42 mi
- PPropane50 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 6 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground
Land
Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources
Nearest highway
~7.9 mi · US Hwy 131
Coordinates
44.02846, -85.33336
Nearby & resupply — around Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground · Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources · MI (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSunrise Lake · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townLe Roy · ~6.0 mi
- Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
- Nearest highway~7.9 mi · US Hwy 131
- Drinking waterWater · ~8.3 mi
- FuelCitgo · ~5.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~9.8 mi
- GroceriesLeRoy Village Market · ~5.6 mi
- PharmacyEvart Pharmacy · ~9.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicSpectrum Health Evart Clinic · ~9.2 mi
- HardwareLeroy Hardware · ~6.0 mi
EV charging — from Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground · Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources · MI — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger13.6 mi straight-line SW — Wesco Reed City MI (at a public site) · RED_E · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach6 within 25 mi · 40 within 50 · 194 within 100 · 433 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)14.3 mi — Wevo Energy - Reed City Ace Hardware, Reed City
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO15.5 mi — JH FAMILY STORE J&H MOBIL#152 B, Cadillac
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.1 mi — COYNE ENERGY EVART OFFICE · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 467639 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground · Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources · MI — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
Coming out here — Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground · Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources · MI
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Sunrise Lake as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 2.9% — flat. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) — abandoned, lifted and out-of-service track excluded, so a rail-trail does not count as one.
- US Hwy 131 is mapped ~7.9 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
Who holds the land at Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Cadillac State Forest Area, manager on record: MIDNR Forest Resources Division (state). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground
Stay limit
15 nights (15-day maximum)
Permit
Please note, vehicle entry into all state parks, recreation areas and state forest campgrounds require a Recreation Passport.
Area rules
There is one camping unit and six people allowed per site. A responsible adult (18 years or older) must register and sleep at the campsite each night. Campsites are for overnight stays. If a campsite is left empty for more than 24 hours, it's considered abandoned. The use of fuel-powered generators is not allowed during established quiet hours (10 p.m. to 8 a.m.).
Source
public land records
Confidence
Agency-confirmed — The managing agency's own record names this as a campsite and puts it at these coordinates. About as good as it gets short of standing here.
How it was placed
MICHIGAN STATE FOREST CAMPGROUND. Michigan DNR, https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/things-to-do/camping-and-lodging/state-forest-campgrounds read 2026-08-17: 'If you're looking for a more rustic camping experience, check out our 140-plus state forest campgrounds located throughout Michigan's Upper and northern Lower Peninsulas. Each campground is located on a river or lake... Most state forest campgrounds are first-come, first-served. A select few can be reserved ahead of time at MiDNRReservations.com. Please note, vehicle entry into all state parks, recreation areas and state forest campgrounds require a Recreation Passport.' The same page lists what every one of these campgrounds has -- vault toilets, a hand-pump well, parking for two vehicles per site, a picnic table and a fire pit -- and what none of them has: 'Electric hookups: There are no electrical units in campsites or common electrical sources' and no wi-fi. THIS CAMPGROUND, per the DNR amenity table https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/things-to-do/camping-and-lodging/state-forest-campgrounds/amenity-table read 2026-08-17: listed as 'Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground' in Osceola County. Type: rustic. Nightly fee: $20. Campsites: 17. Managed by: Wilson SP (989-386-4067). Seasonal closure: the table records 'open all year' -- but read that as the DNR not closing the gate, not as a promise the access road is plowed. Reservations: not reservable -- first-come, first-served. DNR DESCRIPTION (from the agency's own recreation-search record): This secluded, rustic campground sits atop a forested bluff overlooking Sunrise Lake. It is located in Osceola County, 6 miles east of LeRoy. This campground is managed by Wilson State Park . DNR LONGER DESCRIPTION: This secluded, rustic campground is nestled on a forested bluff overlooking Sunrise Lake. The campground includes 17 wooded sites perfect for tents and small trailers. A boat launch, across 17 Mile Road from the campground provides easy access for paddling and fishing. Sunrise Lake is known to provide excellent fishing opportunities. The campground is in Osceola County, 6 miles east of LeRoy via Sunrise Lake Road and 15 Mile Road. Camping is limited to a 15-day maximum stay. Amenities include vault toilets and potable water from a hand-pump well. Sites are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. No reservations. View Campground closing and opening dates . NEAREST TOWN: LeRoy, about 6.0 miles, per the DNR description quoted above. STAY LIMIT AND HOUSE RULES, Michigan DNR FAQ 'Camping in a state forest', https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/faqs/state-parks-and-camping/camping-in-a-state-forest read 2026-08-17: 'There is one camping unit and six people allowed per site. A responsible adult (18 years or older) must register and sleep at the campsite each night. Campsites are for overnight stays. If a campsite is left empty for more than 24 hours, it's considered abandoned. To give everyone a chance to enjoy state forest campgrounds during peak season (May 15-Sept. 15), the maximum stay is 15 nights. Once you hit that limit, you'll need to take a 5-night break before returning to the same park.' Check-in is 3 p.m., checkout 1 p.m. 'Camping fees and registration procedures are posted at the information kiosk at each campground.' Quiet hours 10 p.m.-8 a.m., and fuel-powered generators are not allowed during them. 'Paying and holding' a site before you arrive is prohibited. COORDINATE PROVENANCE: Michigan DNR's own ArcGIS feature service https://services3.arcgis.com/Jdnp1TjADvSDxMAX/ArcGIS/rest/services/State_Forest_Campground_Recreation_Search_Points/FeatureServer/0 (layer RecSearchPts_Join_SFCG, 143 points), pulled 2026-08-17. This is an agency coordinate, not OpenStreetMap and not a field visit. Attributes (fee, season, manager, campsite count) come from the DNR amenity table https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/things-to-do/camping-and-lodging/state-forest-campgrounds/amenity-table read the same day. The two datasets were joined on county + name + campsite count; see the header of _mi_f920_insert.py for the method and its failure modes. NOT CHECKED: I did not verify any site-specific fire restriction or burn ban for this campground. Michigan issues burn permits and restrictions seasonally through a separate DNR system (Michigan.gov 'Permission to burn'); check it before publishing any fire-related claim about this site. | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.
Site details
The public land listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground
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