Sleepy Hollow State Park

Site 173

Sleepy Hollow State Park, it's one of the closest state parks to the Lansing area.  We usually have at least 1 trip there a year, this year we had two.

For our first trip to Sleepy Hollow this year, there was a college-aged employee who came around and invited all the families to join him on a walk for Big Foot.  The kids were all about this, it was the first time we'd seen programming like this at Sleepy Hollow.  We joined Ranger Tim (ok, probably not a real ranger, but a fun nickname nonetheless).  He made it fun for the kids as we slogged our way through the mosquito infested woods to a swamp area filled with even more mosquitoes.  Smoky the Bear was spotted on our trek to find Big Foot.  Ranger Tim also had more programming for the kids on Saturday, Youngest Kid really enjoyed the Weasel Games with Dad while I stayed back at the campsite with Oldest Kid, who wanted to craft.  I appreciate that Sleepy Hollow has added programming for the kids and a bit disappointed that he'd gone back to college for our return trip.

If the weather works, we like to spend some time at the Lake Ovid beach.  On one of our first trips to Sleepy Hollow, I'd guess that oldest kid was a toddler, we saw the signs pointing toward the beach at a footpath in the campground.  We had no idea how far away the beach actually was and Husband went back to get the truck for our return trip.  While my kids are older now and could handle the trek, we usually drive the beach now instead.

There is a nice fishing pier along a walking path not far from the campground.  The kids are always excited to catch Blue Gill and Sunfish.  We saw a very large Great Northern Pike swim by as we were packing up the fishing gear on this last trip.

All of the footpaths and nature trails made a great opportunity to go on our Nature Scavenger Hunt, and the kids enjoyed finding the different items.  Well, they enjoyed it until they got too annoyed at the mosquitoes.

Have I mentioned that there are mosquitoes?  Always included on my packing list for Sleepy Hollow is the most powerful bug spray I can find, calamine and what I call the Itch Stick, Sting Eze Insect Bite Relief.

If you decide to make a trip, pay very close attention to the website's information on how much power cord you need.  Our first trip there, probably the same one where we walked to the beach, Husband had to make a run to Walmart in St. Johns to get us more power cord.  The people next to us on our most recent trip had to do the same thing.

You're probably not going to head to Sleepy Hollow and see the sights in the area, since Ovid is just a small town, but it makes for great weekend camping.