#BOONDOCKING MICHIGAN FULL#

Do not put your camping equipment outside, do not roll out your awning, and try to look like someone who is too tired to do much of anything. If you plan to stay overnight at a Michigan rest area, then you should instead limit your activities to inside your vehicle. As long as you don’t extend your camping activities through the night and into the following morning, it’s unlikely you’ll be approached by law enforcement. Such facilities include picnic tables, children’s play areas, pet areas, scenic walkways, and viewing areas. But because the State has not adopted any statewide policy on rest area camping, you should approach this on a case-by-case basis.ĭespite the above, many of the State’s rest areas include recreational facilities that would be consistent with camping. A handful of their rest areas do have signs posted prohibiting camping. However, the Michigan Department of Transportation has not adopted any official rules against camping at a rest area.

Is Camping Allowed at a Michigan Rest Area?Ĭamping is generally frowned upon at Michigan rest areas. If you don’t see such a sign posted, you can assume you can sleep in your vehicle overnight. These signs are posted very clearly in front of the restroom facility. Note: Some rest areas in Michigan have signs posted prohibiting overnight parking and camping. And because there is no maximum time limit, that would also include overnight sleeping. There are no rules or laws against sleeping in your vehicle while at a Michigan rest area. Can You Sleep Overnight at a Michigan Rest Area? With no specified maximum time limit, overnight parking is effectively permitted. Because Michigan rest areas are open 24 hours a day, you can arrive at a rest area during night time hours and park overnight for an indefinite period of time. Is Overnight Parking Permitted at Michigan Rest Areas? If you remain long enough, a law enforcement officer may eventually check on you. That’s not to say that you can stay there for 24 hours or more. Michigan has no official time limits for staying at one of their rest areas or welcome centers. How Long Can You Stay at a Michigan Rest Area? Tent-camping is not allowed at roadside parks. They’re better suited for vandwellers and car-campers. Roadside parks are small enough that they’re not suitable for medium to large sized RVs. All roadside parks in Michigan are seasonal, opening on May 15 and closing in late October. These are small rest areas with picnic tables. MDOT operates 85 roadside parks throughout the Upper and Lower Peninsulas. We believe the four hour time limit is simply just hearsay, and was copied by other websites without doing any kind of verification. We poured through numerous reviews and photos posted by travelers on other camping websites and on Google Maps, and found no such rule. The MDOT has not published any such rules on its website. However, we checked through the State’s laws and administrative rules to validate this, and found nothing. Note: A few other privately run websites claim that Michigan has a four hour time limit on rest areas. But in most other rest areas, they’ve not posted such signs. In some cases, they’ve posted signs prohibiting overnight parking and camping.

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), however, has posted signs in some rest areas with limited rules. The State of Michigan has not adopted any laws specifically concerning the use of its highway rest areas and roadside parks.

#BOONDOCKING MICHIGAN FULL#

Is overnight parking allowed at Michigan rest areas? How long can you stay at a Michigan rest area? Is camping permitted at Michigan rest areas? What are the full Michigan rest area rules? Rest area in Michigan Michigan Rest Area Rules

Boondocking michigan