Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore · Michigan
Overview White Pine Backcountry Campground is a primitive camp located in the southern district of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, on the lower peninsula of Michigan. It is located approximately two miles from the Trail's End Road trailhead on the Platte Plains hiking trail south of Empire just off of M-22. This year-round campground has six campsites, two shared fire rings, pit toilet, and two shared animal resistant food storage lockers.
Sites at White Pine Backcountry Campground Permits are reserved through Recreation.gov. Sites here can be reserved in advance through the official system, and they are claimed fast — cancellations then trickle back all season, unannounced, at any hour of the day or night.
| Total sites | 7 |
|---|---|
| Site types | Walk-to / hike-to |
| Location | Empire, MI |
| Book through | Recreation.gov |
| Official listing | Recreation.gov |
Because sites are booked months ahead, a steady share of reservations get cancelled as trips fall through. Each cancellation instantly returns that site and those nights to the official calendar — first-come, first-served, no waitlist, no announcement. Refreshing the booking page yourself, every few minutes for weeks, works in theory. In practice, the people who get these sites are the ones who hear about the opening first.
ItOpened scans the Recreation.gov calendar for White Pine Backcountry Campground Permits around the clock. When a site matching your dates and your vehicle opens, you get a text with a direct link to it. You book it yourself, in your own account, at the normal price. We never book, hold, or resell — your fee pays for monitoring, and openings are first-come, so speed is the whole game.
| Platte River Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
|---|---|
| D.H. Day Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| South Manitou Group Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| D.H. Day Group Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
Page data refreshed 2026-10-29. Site facts come from the official directory listing for White Pine Backcountry Campground Permits; cancellation statistics come from our own scanning logs.