Old-growth red and white pine tower over the campsites at Interlochen State Park, on a neck of land between Duck Lake and Green Lake southwest of Traverse City. This was Michigan's first state park, acquired by the state in 1917 and established in 1919. Its big modern campground on Duck Lake is where a motorhome parks for a week of day drives. On warm summer evenings the outdoor concerts at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, a short path from the north loop, carry back through the trees to the fire ring.
The point of a base like this is setting up once. Level the rig, roll out the awning, give the mornings to the lake, and unplug only for the day drives, coming back to the same pad every night. Traverse City is about 15 miles away, near enough for an afternoon on Grand Traverse Bay and dinner downtown.
The day drive nearly everyone makes is west to Sleeping Bear Dunes, where the sand piles into bluffs high over Lake Michigan and a whole afternoon goes to a single climb before you head back to Duck Lake to sleep. The overnights out that way, Platte River and D.H. Day inside the lakeshore, along with Leelanau State Park, Old Mission, and Traverse City State Park on the bay, are the trips on the Traverse City campervan page.
Settling into Duck Lake campground
Duck Lake's campground runs in a north loop and a south loop through the pines, and it's the side of the park set up for a rig. The DNR lists 392 sites with electric service, some at 50 amps, with pull-throughs available, while Green Lake's 52 rustic sites have no power at all. For a family that wants the air running through a July afternoon, that makes the choice.
The state doesn't publish a length limit for Duck Lake as of October 2026, which is why the booking order matters here. Reviewers who've brought long rigs mention hairpin turns with trees close to the road and sites that slope, and they call the north loop the roomier of the two. Reserve the site first, find it on the DNR's campground map, then choose a motorhome that suits it and pack leveling blocks.
If the site you land is a tight one, or it's just the two of you, a campervan fits the same week at Duck Lake.
National Cherry Festival week in Traverse City
Every July the National Cherry Festival takes over Traverse City's bayfront for the week around the Fourth, and downtown turns into one long crowd between the water and the streets behind it. Families who come for it usually leave the rig at a park south of town and drive in for the day.
Holiday RV Park and Campground on US-31 South has full-service sites with water, sewer, and 30 or 50 amp power, so a festival week there needs no trips to a dump station. It's also where to turn when Duck Lake is full. Down M-37 in Buckley, the Traverse City KOA asks for your rig's length when you book and had its 2027 calendar open as of October 2026.
Festival week is also Fourth of July week, so festival-goers and every holiday family trip in northern Michigan want the same rigs and the same pads, Duck Lake's included. Holiday even pairs the two on a single event page. Book the site first and the motorhome right after, and do both well ahead.