Clinton County, Michigan: Sleepy Hollow State Park, Looking Glass Brewing Company

 October 2020, 3-nights, weekday-weekend

Autumn colors were beautiful when we entered Sleepy Hollow State Park. 

Sleepy Hollow State Park reservations and arrival

We had originally planned to stay in this campground in the spring, before it closed due to the pandemic. At that time, state park trails were open for no charge, although all of the campgrounds were closed. Since my husband's employer was also closed, we visited the park in April to do some hiking. We enjoyed the recreation in the park, so we made a new camping reservation for October. 

The office was not staffed when we arrived on Thursday evening, and we checked in via the yellow phone. A bottle of sanitizer and wipes were available next to the phone. 😊 Park staff left a vehicle sticker at our campsite on Saturday morning when we were out hiking.

One of the few photos I got of campsite 114. 
There are better photos on the DNR reservation site.

Campsite 114 and more

Campsite 114 is mostly open with trees around the perimeter. It has an asphalt pad, as do most of the campsites in this park. It is mostly grass, except for the mud/dirt around the fire pit. The electrical box was closer to site 116, almost 50' away, as listed in the description on the website.

View from campsite 114 at Sleep Hollow State Park. Looking at campsite 113
where the campers were [illegally] sawing branches off trees next to their site.

There are many great campsites in this park. The north section of the campground was closed for renovations in 2020. We walked through that area, and observed fabulous campsites with several new additions. At least three or four new pull though sites were being added with concrete pads (odd numbered sites on the north around sites currently numbered 1 through 11). The pull through sites were not labeled yet, so I am not sure if the current site numbers will change on any of the sites. We took a few photos of some of the sites we liked with the current site numbers.

Campsite 20 at Sleepy Hollow State Park

If you refer privacy, here are some of the site numbers worth checking out in the north and south sections: 18, 20, 22, 25, 126, 136, 142, 145, 178. As I mentioned, most of the sites in this campground are great. This list is just a few of the ones that happened to stand out to us as we walked through. We also thought our campsite, #114, was a good site.

Picnic-beach area on Lake Ovid at Sleepy Hollow State Park.
Photo taken from pavilion near restrooms.

Recreation: beach, boating, fishing, hiking

A large picnic area with two pavilions and a swimming beach is located on Lake Ovid within walking distance of the campgrounds. A fishing pier and disc golf course are located next to the picnic area and large parking lot. The hiking trail from the campgrounds is easy to navigate. Another picnic area with a pavilion is located next to the group site campground.

View of Lake Ovid from one of our hikes in Sleepy Hollow State Park.

The boat launch is on the other side of Lake Ovid; accessible via the entrance just west of the lake and campground entrance from Price Road. The 410 acre lake is no wake. We observed people fishing from the dock near the picnic area and in small boats. We also heard gun shots early each morning, which I assume were from duck hunters.

Bridge out to the island on Lake Ovid.

The park brochure says there are 13 miles of hiking trails in the park, and it seems like there are more than that to me. That is a good thing--I am not complaining! We have hiked three different routes, and still have not hiked on all of the trails yet. This trip, we hiked almost 10 miles the first day, and we hiked only 5 miles the second day. We got caught in the rain and wind near the end of our hike the first day. After hiking up and down hills at a fast pace that day, we decided to take it easy the next day!

View from the bridge out to the island on Lake Ovid.

View from the island on Lake Ovid.

There are a few places with benches and tables along the trails. We stopped at the picnic table facing the island on the west side of Lake Ovid. There is only one picnic table on the island, and it is at the start of the hike, if you turn right to go around the island after crossing the bridge. We had hoped for another table or bench after by-passing that one. The trail around the island is about ¾ of a mile.

Little Maple River in Sleepy Hollow State Park.

After crossing Price Road, we stopped on the bridge when we crossed Little Maple River. A few minutes after we had stopped at this location, we noticed the black sky in the distance. We soon realized that rain was going to be arriving over an hour earlier than predicted. The hike from this bridge to the road on the east side (marker 12) is hilly. I do not recall any tables or benches along the entire trail on the south side of Price Road.

One of the hills someplace between markers 2 and 8.

Most of the trails in the northeast section across the road from the campground (markers 2 - 8) are hilly, as well. I did not observe any seats along these trails. We did not really need to stop, since this hike seemed quite mild after the previous day.

Flooded trail at Sleepy Hollow State Park in April.

In April, our hike around Lake Ovid from the parking lot was over six miles. We did not get to hike some trails that trip because the ground was very wet. In fact, a section of the trail between Price Road and the boat launch was flooded. Fortunately, there had been another way around.

Overall, misc., area info

Overall, we love this park. We like to hike, and want to spend more time hiking again next time. We also want to bring our small inflatable boat or kayaks to take out on the lake. It was a bit cool in October for our small boats, although the fall colors were amazing in the middle of October.

Another beautiful color photo on the hiking trails!

There are only two lanes at the sanitation station, which does not seem like enough for a campground with almost 200 campsites. Since the north campground was closed, and we left early in the morning, we did not have any trouble when we left. We had to wait a few minutes, as both sides were full. No one else got in line behind us before it was our turn. I imagine one needs to be prepared to wait when the entire campground is open and the campsites are full.

Looking Glass Brewing Company 

We had not planned to leave the park after arriving; however, since Looking Glass Brewing Company was in our HopPassport, and not too far away, we decided to check it out. We were glad we did, and will visit again next time we are in the area. We enjoyed the beer, the food, the service, and the atmosphere. Our favorite beer was an IPA; Screaming For Vengeance. We shared the Cauliflower Buffalo Dip, which was delicious.

Let me know if you have any questions, and feel free to share this post!