Leelanau County

The county in brief

A traveler's read on Leelanau County

Reader's Digest awarded M-22 around the Leelanau Peninsula its 'Most Beautiful Place in America' designation in 2011 — the only US state-numbered highway to ever carry that single-route distinction — a 116-mile loop that hugs Lake Michigan's eastern shore from Manistee County north through the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, around Leelanau's western shore to Northport at the peninsula tip, then back south through the wine country to Traverse City. The Sleeping Bear Dunes themselves rise 450 ft above Lake Michigan and are the largest freshwater coastal dunes in the world per NPS interpretive material; the 'Bear' is a Native Anishinaabe legend (recorded by the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa) referring to a mother bear who swam Lake Michigan after a fire on the Wisconsin shore — her 'cubs' became the offshore North and South Manitou Islands.

Leelanau County covers 348 sq mi of glacial-drumlin peninsula bordered on three sides by Lake Michigan or Grand Traverse Bay's West Arm; the geography drives a maritime microclimate (mean July high 79°F, mean January low 16°F per NWS Gaylord) that supports the Old Mission and Leelanau AVA wine appellations — 25+ bonded wineries between Suttons Bay (the county seat, population 622) and Northport. Cherry orchards across the peninsula supply roughly 75% of US tart-cherry production per Michigan Dept. of Agriculture statistics; the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City (adjacent Grand Traverse County) every July routes 500,000+ visitors through the M-22 corridor. Platte River Campground inside the Lakeshore accepts rigs to 40 ft with electric hookups on reservation through recreation.gov, opening 6 months out and filling within 24 hours for July-August. D.H. Day Campground (no hookups, no reservations, 88 sites first-come) is the alternative interior-NPS option closer to Glen Arbor. Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive ends in the Dune Climb parking lot with a 30-ft rig length limit posted at the gate.