Lake Michigan State Parks

This directory lists 32 state parks and recreation areas on or beside the U.S. shore of Lake Michigan in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. Together they cover about 54,577 acres where an area is recorded. County, city and national parks are not counted here.

Wilderness State Park, at 12,800 acres (20 sq mi). Next come Ludington State Park (4,800 acres) and Illinois Beach State Park (4,160 acres). Areas are as the park's record gives them; some include inland tracts well back from the water.

By the year each park's record gives as its founding: Peninsula State Park (1910), Grand Haven State Park (1920), Mears State Park (1920). Some parks grew out of older federal or city land, so "established" means the year it became a park, not the year the land was first protected.

Every vehicle entering a Michigan state park needs a Recreation Passport, bought with your license plate registration or at the park. Wisconsin state parks and forests require a vehicle admission sticker, annual or daily. Illinois does not charge an entry fee at its state parks. Camping is paid. Indiana state parks charge a gate fee per vehicle; an annual entrance pass covers it. A few parks are run by towns, counties or commissions and set their own rules; each park page says so.