Idema Explorers Camp

The Idema Explorers Camp, which opened in May 2025, offers overnight accommodations in Michigan’s Ottawa Sands County Park, complete with nature-inspired lodging and a wealth of amenities. Here you’ll find three treehouses and five yurts, each outfitted with beds, a kitchenette, electricity, Wi-Fi, heating and even air conditioning (for summer visitors), that are open year-round. 

Although one treehouse and one yurt have bathrooms, the campground has a building that offers restroom, shower and laundry facilities. The park also has 10 tent sites for those looking for a more budget-friendly stay or just want to rough it. (Of the county’s 42 parks, Ottawa Sands is one of two that allows camping.) The camp also has grills and fire pits, a small camp store, a lending library and even fishing poles to borrow. 

Formerly a sand mine, Ottawa Sands County Park was created in 2019. The treehouses and yurts were a far-off dream of the Ottawa County parks department and was seen as a goal that was still years in the future. But then the Grand River-based Bill and Bea Idema Foundation saw the plans and donated the $3.4 million needed to fast-track the plan.

The Idema camp is in a small section of this 345-acre park that is nestled among the trees, dunes, and wetlands along the Grand River, which spills into Lake Michigan. The camp is on the Sag, a small bay with minimal current, maximum beauty and resident swans. Bald eagles nest in trees along the river, and the water is popular not only for fishing but also canoeing and kayaking. The camp even has a universally accessible kayak launch. A 1.6-mile paved trail that is considered good for kids loops around an 80-acre manmade lake within the park and is open year-round. 18280 North Shore Dr., Spring Lake, Michigan 49456, 616/738-4810, miottawa.org/parks/IEC