Pilgrim Haven Natural Area

After a few enjoyable hours in South Haven (including a good lunch at Three Blondes Brewing and observing the Army Corps of Engineers' channel-dredging/ beach nourishment project at South Beach) I headed out of town to explore a beach that I had never visited.

Pilgrim Haven is a Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy preserve about 5 miles south of South Haven, near Van Buren State Park.

The parking lot on 18th Avenue is well-marked and has restrooms and signs explaining the history of the preserve.  A sidewalk leads directly to Lake Michigan.  The ramp to the beach is paved and wheelchair accessible.  The beach itself is less wheel friendly, consisting of a mix of sand, pebbles, and rock cobble.

 

While there were a few people sunbathing, most people were beachcombing for interesting rocks.  The Conservancy does allow visitors to collect a small number of rocks for personal use and the preserve frequently appears on lists of places to rock hunt. 

I didn't find much-- just a few colorful granite pebbles-- but I didn't really know what to look for. Michigan Rockhounds report that commonly found treasures at Pilgrim Haven include lightning stone, quartz, unakite, horn coral, crinoid calyx, and chert along with some rare finds that are more common in Northern Michigan.   (Southwestern Michigan Tourist Council has a list of shoreline rocks and fossils  and Owlcation has two articles: identifying rocks of Lake Michigan and beach stone identification. MLive has an article with photos on Collectible rocks of Southwest Lake Michigan beaches.)

Before becoming a preserve, Pilgrim Haven had been a youth camp for decades.  The chimney from the camp's dining hall has been preserved in an open lawn.  (Here's a post from a former camper revisiting Pilgrim Haven.) 

A short system of grassy trails runs through the woods of the 27 acre preserve, with a bridge over Dyckman Creek.

I'd been vaguely aware of Pilgrim Haven as a supporter of the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy, but I didn't realize it so was so close to South Haven.  Now that I'm familiar with it, I expect it will become a regular addition to my Lake Michigan visits.

Pilgrim Haven Natural Area
18th Avenue
South Haven Charter Township, MI 49090

[free admission]

West Side County Park

 

 

Holiday weekends have been really crowded at Lake Michigan.  Last summer, we weren't able to visit our favorite beaches a couple of times since all the parking spots and the overflow parking were full.  On Sunday, of the Fourth of July weekend, we were in Douglas, MI and didn't want to face the congestion at Saugatuck Dunes State Park or Oval Beach, so we drove south to see what we could find.

Driving about 5 miles brought us to West Side County Park, where we easily found a parking space.  The park had a big picnic area with two pavilions and a lot of picnic tables, occupied by several groups.  There was a grassy play area and a fenced playground.

We walked the length of the park to a nice beach overlook, with benches and a small gazebo.  Access to the beach was fenced off and a small sign said to use the north stairs.

We walked the width of the park through the woods and found a steep stairway down to the beach.  A visitor in the parking lot said she had counted 80 steps initially, but only 77 after drinking a few White Claws.

The beach wasn't huge, but it was a nice stretch of sand with a little bit of shade at the edge of the dune.  The sand changed to pebbles at the waterline, making walking less comfortable.  There were plenty of people of all ages using the beach on what I imagine was one of its busiest days of the season.

This was a new beach for me and a nice option when everything else was likely to be full.   It looks like the park had a wheelchair accessible ramp to the beach at one point, but we didn't see any traces of it.  A cooler would be difficult to manage on the current stairs and a wheelchair would be impossible.

 

West Side County Park
2152 Lakeshore Dr,
Fennville, MI 49408

free

Laketown Beach

I can't remember when I last found a "new" beach in Southwest Michigan.  It's been easy to fall back on a favorite park: Saugatuck Dunes, Warren Dunes, or Grand Mere and not explore new places.  A couple of weekends ago I stumbled across Laketown Beach Park, a few miles north of Saugatuck Dunes. 

Laketown Beach is a quirky little park featuring some impressive stairs.  The park starts with a small parking lot where 142nd Avenue dead-ends at the dunes.  A few signs, a porta-potty, and some stairs.  And then some more stairs.  Then a few more. 

From the top, there's a nice view of Lake Michigan and a long flight of stairs leading to the beach and water.  The Awesome Mitten blog claims the round-trip takes nearly 500 steps.

The beach frontage on the Lake is fairly small.  Big signs mark private land on either side of this township park.  There was plenty of room for a picnic in early October, but I imagine it could fill up in mid-summer.

While you can't lay out a blanket on the private beaches, Michigan law allows people to walk along the lakefront, whether the land is privately or publicly owned. So, the private beach signs don't say, "Keep Out," they say, "Keep Walking."

I enjoyed a long walk along the lake, turning back near Saugatuck Dunes State Park. 

I didn't walk north from the park, but Holland's "Big Red" lighthouse was visible in the distance.  It's about 3 miles away, so it could be an ambitious beach walk.

Laketown Beach Park

6710 142nd Ave.

Holland, MI 49423

free

Wildflowers at Warren Dunes

Like most people, I think of Warren Dunes State Park as a summer destination: swimming at the big beaches (with big parking lots), climbing Tower Hill to see Chicago across Lake Michigan, picnicking, or camping.  So it had been a few years since I'd visited during the Spring wildflower season.  On Thursday, I went to three parks in the southwest corner of the state: Grand Mere, Warren Dunes, and Warren Woods.  The three are only a few miles apart and each offered a different glimpse into Michigan's Spring.

Warren Dunes was at peak wildflower time.  I ate lunch in the picnic area, surrounded by hundreds of blooming Trillium.  The trillium continued all along the trail to the campground and on the slopes of the wooded back dunes.  As the trail turned uphill, other wildflowers came into sight: both Dicentra species (Dutchman's Breeches and Squirrel Corn), Rue Anemone, Toothwort, Violets, and a lone Jack-in-the-Pulpit.  Two other plants, with less conspicuous blooms also caught my eye: Blue Cohosh with its tiny green flowers and the hairy, ground-level flowers of Wild Ginger.

Other ephemerals, like Hepatica and Bloodroot, had already bloomed and their leaves were gathering energy before the tree canopy shaded them for the summer.

This beach will be full of people in a couple of months.

Warren Dunes State Park
12032 Red Arrow Hwy 
Lake Charter Township, MI 49125

State park pass or entry fee required.

Muskegon Winter Sports Complex

The Muskegon Winter Sport Complex is in Muskegon State Park, a drive of about an hour and a half from Kalamazoo.  We visited last weekend since their snow conditions report said the ski trails were in great condition.  The Complex offers over 9 miles of groomed trails in its system of five loops.  The trails are groomed for both skate-skiing and classic two-track skiing.  Several of the trails are lit for night skiing.  Most of the trails are very accessible for beginning skiers.

We skied for about an hour on an intermediate length loop.  The melt and freeze cycle had made Kalamazoo un-skiable, but Muskegon's groomed tracks were fine.  The classic tracks were a little icy, since there hadn't been any recent snow, but not too slippery to be enjoyable.  The wide section, groomed for skate-skiing, had a very good surface.

Besides the ski trails, they offer an ice skating trail through the woods and multiple ice rinks.  The skating attractions were very popular on a sunny Sunday.  A lodge offers skate and ski rentals, hot chocolate, cookies and other snacks, and a warming fire.  It's also where you purchase ski and skate passes.

Muskegon's Winter Sports Complex is probably best known for its luge track, one of three places to luge in the United States.  We didn't try the fast little sleds that day, although I did spend an afternoon learning to luge on the beginners track, nearly twenty years ago.

Muskegon Winter Sports Complex
462 Scenic Drive
N. Muskegon, MI  49445

Ski pass $7
Skate pass $5
luge $40 
parking: State Park passport or fee

Duck Lake State Park

Duck Lake State Park is about 2 hours from Kalamazoo, on Lake Michigan north of Muskegon.  The park protects about half of Duck Lake's shoreline and the woods beyond.  Most of the rest of the lake is developed with private homes although Fruitland Township maintains two small parks on Duck Lake.  At around 300 acres, the lake is relatively small; I was able to paddle the circumference in about an hour at a very leisurely pace.

The park offers a canoe and kayak launch, down a short woodchip trail from the main parking, or a concrete boat ramp with its own parking lot.  A separate parking area serves a picnic shelter and a small beach on Duck Lake.  The park doesn't have a campground. 

A low spillover dam separates Duck Lake from its outlet into Lake Michigan.  It's easy enough to lift a kayak over the dam and continue paddling.  The stream gets very shallow as it crosses the beach and it's easier to get out and wade.

The beach on Lake Michigan was the most popular attraction in the park when I visited.  A boardwalk leads from the main parking lot under the Scenic Drive bridge and over the dunes to the beach.

Duck Lake State Park

4650 N Scenic Dr

Fruitland, MI 49461
(address is approximate)

Recreation passport (or daily fee) required.

Great Lakes Vacations

Great Lakes
88 Great Vacations
by
Doris Scharfenberg
1996

This guidebook describes vacation destinations around Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario and on connecting waters, like Lake St Clair or the Niagara River. The book is illustrated with a few sketches and hand-drawn maps. It would make a good resource for anyone planning a Circle Tour around one of the Great Lakes. The vacations listed in this book stretch from Minnesota to New York. Michigan is well-represented, with destinations on 4 of the 5 lakes. I've selected a few destinations close to Kalamazoo.

Great Lakes Vacations in West Michigan

1. Michigan's Wide-Awake Sunset Towns
"By rare geologic luck, Michigan has a long chain of lakes immediately behind its western coast. Lake Macatawa (Holland), Muskegon Lake (Muskegon), Pere Marquette Lake (Ludington), and Manistee Lake are among the many harbors for commerce and plaeaure. Neither the Wisconsin coast nor any Lake Huron shore has this advantage."

Empire
Point Betsie
Frankfort
Manistee
Ludington State Park
Pentwater
White Lake/Whitehall/Montague
Canoe the White River
West Michigan Tourist Association

2. Lakeside Bonanzas in Muskegon
"The largest city of the east coast of Lake Michigan sprawls loosely over a wide area, ties in with a great state park and would like some things in its past to be forgotten. In 1887, forty-seven Muskegon sawmills were consuming forests like locusts on a binge, leaving years of depression when the trees ran out."

Muskegon County Museum
Hackley Public Library
Michigan Adventure
Festivals
Muskegon State Park
Luge
Hoffmaster State Park
Muskegon Visitors Bureau

3. Town of the Dancing Waters: Grand Haven
"Two shouts below Muskegon, a trio of towns shares a watery access to Michigan's southern heartland: Grand Haven, Ferrysburg, and Spring Lake. Grand Haven is largest and the only one with water on three sides, but the three are close enough to share the same big events."

Coast Guard Festival
Boardwalk
Grand Haven State Park
Grand Haven Area Visitors Bureau

4. New Furnishings For Grand Rapids
"Stand at the door of the Oval Office, then fish for salmon in a business suit one block away-- you can do it in Grand Rapids, Michigan's second largest city. Planted as a seedling village on a curve of the Grand River where water bubbled down over a stretch of rocks, the city's fame and fortune came from lumbering, manufacturing, cleansers (Amway Products), publishing, and in some measure from being the boyhood home of President Gerald Ford. The biggest claim to fame, however, has been as a furniture maker without peer."

Gerald R Ford Museum
Van Andel Public Museum
Fish ladder at Sixth Street dam
John Ball Park Zoo
Meijer Gardens
Heritage Hill
Grand Rapids/Kent County Convention & Visitors Bureau

5. Saucy Holland Days
"Minutes away from Lake Michigan, the sweet city of Holland hugs the east end of Lake Macatawa, quiet, scrubbed, and as lively as a tulip in the breeze. Founded by Netherlands' immigrants, its population today is a diverse mix, yet the Dutch heritage remains in charge."

Windmill Island
Veldheers Tulip Farm
Dutch Village
Tulip Festival
Holland State Park
Holland Convention and Visitors Bureau

6. Artful Saugatuck
"Searchers for the perfect bed and breakfast do consider pausing around Saugatuck, sometimes called the Marth's Vineyard of the Midwest. It is a village that manages to be famous, chic, historic, quaint, and unspoiled all at once. An even smaller hamlet, Douglas, shares the same wide spot on the Kalamazoo River (called Lake Kalamazoo) just inside the coast of Lake Michigan and a few miles south of Holland."

Chain ferry
galleries, gift shops, boutiques
SS Keewatin
Star of Saugatuck

7. Michigan's Sunny Southwest Corner
"The number of brochures declaring this of that vacation spot as an "all-season paradise" could fill the hold of a large freighter. However, the southwest corner of Michigan has a hefty list of year-round getaway goals, from scenic to gastronomic, with U-Pick farms, wineries, wonderful beaches, pretty towns, great fishing, winter sports, fall color, and quick access."

National Blueberry Festival South Haven
Liberty Hyde Museum South Haven
Canoe the Black River [pdf map]South Haven
Kalamazoo Nature Center Kalamazoo
Air Zoo Kalamazoo
Wineries
Magic store Colon
Blossomtime Festival St Joseph
Lake Bluff Park St Joseph
Grand Mere State Park
Warren Dunes State Park
Southwestern Michigan Tourist Council

This book seems to be out of print. Booksellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble may have used copies. I found a copy at my library.

Marram Grass

Marram Grass (Ammophila breviligulata), also called American Beachgrass, is a characteristic plant of Michigan's sand dunes. This pioneer species survives on Lake Michigan beaches by outgrowing the blowing sand. Its roots stabilize the sand, forming dunes. Prairie grasses, like Little Bluestem and Switchgrass, can grow on the stabilized sand behind the Marram Grass. Eventually, woody plants and trees grow on the stable dunes, ultimately forming a maple-beech climax community. Observations of these plant communities along Lake Michigan were important for the development of the theory of plant succession.

When the protective beach grasses are disturbed, wind erosion can cause a blow-out where whole dunes move rapidly, burying forests, and creating parabolic dunes.

Marram grass also grows on beaches along the Atlantic coast.

A 1000-Mile Walk on the Beach

A 1000-Mile Walk on the Beach:
One Woman's Trek of the Perimeter of Lake Michigan
Loreen Niewenhuis
2011

This book tells the story of the author's walk around all of Lake Michigan. She started on Chicago's Navy Pier and walked through Indiana (Gary sounds like the worst part of the journey), Michigan (the most beaches), Wisconsin (not much beach), and Illinois back to Navy Pier. It took 64 days (spread across eight months), 3 pairs of boots, and 1,019 miles. She stayed in bed-and-breakfasts or motels (with a few nights of camping) and had help from relatives and friends for transportation and logistics.

The book is an engaging mix of descriptions of the lake, of her experiences walking, of the people she meets, and of the lake's environmental problems.

Some quotes from her west Michigan segments:

"A little more than an hour's hike north of Grand haven, I entered the P.J. Hoffmaster State Park. This park preserves several miles of shoreline and over 1200 acres of dunes and forest. This park came about through the efforts of P.J. Hoffmaster and E. Genevieve Gillette, who were friends. He was the superintendent of state parks in Michigan in the 1920s and 1930s, and then headed up the DNR for the next two decades. Gillette was the first woman to graduate from Michigan State University's landscape architecture class. Hoffmaster charged Gillette with scouting out areas that would make good parks."

"North of Portage Lake, it soon gets rather remote and the shoreline becomes rugged with high, wooded dunes flanking me to my right, with the expanse of calm lake to my left. There are miles without any signs of civilization, and I pass curious tracks along a small stream that look like a bobcat made them."

"The slim St. Joseph River separates the cities of St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, but they might as well be on different planets. St. Joseph on the south side of the river is a primarily white community, a lovely tourist town with shops and restaurants and kid-friendly Silver Beach. Benton Harbor on the north side is a primarily black community, with a gutted economic base, and a huge crime and drug problem."

While I don't plan to walk around Lake Michigan anytime soon, the day I finished the book, I was inspired to drive to the lakeshore and walk for several hours along the beach.

You can read more on her Lake Trek blog (which includes photos, while the book is straight text) or in this Kalamazoo Gazette article.

Available from Amazon, other booksellers and libraries.

Rosy Mound Natural Area

Rosy Mound Natural Area is on Lake Michigan a few miles south of Grand Haven. (It's a little over an hour's drive from Kalamazoo.) It would make a nice stop on the Lakeshore Connector bike trail.

Rosy Mound has more of a back-to-nature feel than nearby Kirk Park since it doesn't offer a playground or large picnic areas. It does offer a well-constructed trail through a mature forest on a backdune, a steep climb up a sturdy sets of stairs, spectacular views from the top of the dune, and a boardwalk through the open dunes to a sandy beach.

The trails are constructed to preserve the dune environment from erosion and blowouts caused by casual trails. This helps protect the endangered Pitchers Thistle.

In mid-December, there were only a few other visitors to the park but the walk was very enjoyable. The forest was a mix of oak, maples, beech, and conifers, with ferns still contributing a splash of green. Nothing was in bloom, of course, but I saw some nice patches of Hepatica suggesting this might be a good spot for Spring wildflowers.

At first, I thought this might be a good cross-country ski destination since the trail starts with a wide, level loop through the woods. The 300+ steps over the hill convinced me to reconsider.

Rosy Mound Natural Area
13819 Lakeshore Drive North
Grand Haven, MI

Parking fee in the summer.
No dogs. No bikes on trail.

Horned Grebe

Horned Grebes (Podiceps auritus) summer in western Canada and winter in the southeastern United States, passing through Michigan during Spring and Fall migration. This one was diving for food on Lake Michigan near the mouth of the St Joseph River, last week.

Grebes were once called Helldivers since they tended to disappear under the water at signs of danger, rather than fly away. While they look like ducks, the two families are not closely related. Grebes have narrow bills and their feet are lobed, rather than webbed.

The grebe pictured here is in its black-and-white winter plumage. The Horned Grebe's breeding colors are strikingly different, chestnut and black with a distinctive yellow tuft behind the eye that makes the "horn".

The Eared Grebe has a similar winter look, although I think they are less common in Michigan.

Horned Grebes are also found in Europe, where they are sometimes known as Slavonian Grebes.

Standing wave

This was just about the strangest water I'd ever seen. These waves developed on a small creek just as it entered Lake Michigan on the beach at Warren Dunes State Park. The water was flowing clear and smoothly until it reached the lake, when these bumps would appear. They didn't flow forward like a regular wave; they just stayed in the same place. It looked like the water was flowing over an invisible log about six or eight inches high. The water would stay that way for a half minute or so, and then either subside back to a smooth flowing stream or collapse backwards with a little whitewater crest.It was fascinating. I couldn't figure it out completely, but it was obvious that the moving stream hitting the lake waves caused some kind of interference that created the phenomenon. Later, I vaguely remembered the term "standing wave" from a physics class. A little internet searching suggests that these are a form of "hydraulic jump" that occurs when a shallow, fast-moving stream moves into deeper, slower water.

I'd been to this creek numerous times in the past & never saw this happen. On Friday, I guess the speed and depth of the creek crossing the beach were just right. I'll certainly look for it in the future.

Here's a short video of the standing waves.

Cowles Bog Trail

The Cowles Bog Trail in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is about a two hour drive from Kalamazoo. I stopped there recently on the way home from a trip to Chicago. The trail is about 4 miles long, with a couple of options. Parking is down a narrow dirt road, on the right, just before the guardhouse for the Dune Acres gated community. (There is another lot close to US 12.) See the National Park Service map (pdf).

The first mile of the trail is very level, lined with Sassafras, Red Maple, and White Birch and includes a short board walk over a wet section (which apparently is not truly a bog.) The next mile is hilly, through wooded dunes which eventually lead to a steep climb down to the beach on Lake Michigan.

I had the beach to myself on a pleasant Sunday, except for the looming steel mills and the loud hissing from industrial smokestacks. With the Chicago skyline barely visible across Lake Michigan, it's clearly not a pristine wilderness experience. The area is important for birds, and I did see a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers flying through the trees. The Park Service has a restoration project to remove invasive species and improve the habitat for native plants and animals.

In some ways it's as interesting to see the resilience of nature amidst heavy industry, as it is to visit a more purely natural setting. It definitely made a nice outing.


Cowles Bog Trail
N. Mineral Springs Road
Chesterton, IN 46304
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Douglas Beach

Douglas Beach is a small public beach just outside of Saugatuck, MI, just over an hour's drive from Kalamazoo. Access is down a steep flight of stairs. The park is in a residential neighborhood perched on the dunes above Lake Michigan and the upper part has parking for about a dozen cars, restrooms, and a couple of picnic tables. The lower part is a nice sandy beach.

While the public beach is relatively small, the Michigan Supreme Court affirmed the public's right to walk along privately-owned beachfront, so it's possible to walk for miles along the water.

It's easy to find the beach by following the signs for the Rosemont Inn.

Douglas Beach
80 Lakeshore Drive
Douglas, MI 49406

free

Beach Freaks' Guide to Michigan's Best Beaches

Beach Freaks' Guide to Michigan's Best Beaches Joan & Bob Elmouchi 1999 This guidebook reviews 20 beaches near Detroit, 57 on Michigan's west Coast, 16 on its East Coast, and 4 in the Upper Peninsula. Each beach's features are described and most are illustrated with black & white photos. Directions (complete with keys for the DeLorme and Universal Michigan County Atlases) are given for each location. Best Beaches near Kalamazoo

1. New Buffalo Beach, New Buffalo
2. Warren Dunes State Park Sawyer
3. Weko Beach Park Bridgman
4. Silver Beach County Park, St Joseph
5. Van Buren State Park, South Haven
6. South Beach, South Haven
7. North Beach, South Haven
8. West Side Park, Allegan County
9. Douglas Beach, Douglas
10. Oval Beach Saugatuck
11. Laketown Township Beach Holland
12. Holland State Park Holland
13. Tunnel Park Holland
14. Kirk Park West Olive
15. Grand Haven State Park, Grand Haven
16. Grand Haven City Beach, Grand Haven
17. North Beach Park, Ferrysburg
18. PJ Hoffmaster State Park Muskegon
19. Bronson Park [Kruse Park], Muskegon
20. Pere Marquette Park, Muskegon
21. Muskegon State Park Muskegon
22. Pioneer Park, Muskegon
23. Duck Lake State Park Muskegon
24. Meinert Park, Muskegon
25. Silver Lake State Park Mears
26. Charles Mears State Park Pentwater

Available from Amazon, other booksellers, and libraries.

Grand Haven State Park

Grand Haven State Park has a great beach and it's very popular on summer weekends. Crowds of visitors stroll the wide walkway along the Grand River between the state park and the downtown restaurants and shops. The beach itself is wide and long with plenty of nets for beach volleyball, an ice cream stand, changing rooms, and lots of smooth sand. The park is right at the edge of town so it doesn't have the wooded dunes that some other Lake Michigan parks offer. It doesn't really have any grass-- just one big beach.

In May, the park hosts the Great Lakes Kite Festival, which I really enjoyed.

The state park campground has a great location but it's basically a parking lot on the beach. The RVs are packed tightly, with just a line painted on asphalt to separate campsites. I wouldn't want to camp there with my tent.


Grand Haven is a little over an hour from Kalamazoo.

Grand Haven State Park
1001 Harbor Avenue
Grand Haven, MI 49417
Phone Number: (616) 847-1309

Kirk Park

Kirk Park, on Lake Michigan between Holland and Grand Haven, is set in the forest. Trees shade the drive to the playground, picnic shelter, and parking. Paved paths lead through the woods to the wide beach. Other trails climb steeply up the wooded dunes to scenic overviews and make several loops through the park. Trails are closed to bikes but they are open for cross-country skiers in the winter.



Kirk Park makes a great stop on the Lakeshore Connector path.

Park map [pdf]


$6 parking fee. Discount for Ottawa County residents.
Annual passes available.
Free admission for pedestrians and bikes

Kirk Park
9771 Lakeshore Ave N,
West Olive, MI
49460

Lakeshore Conector

The Lakeshore Connector is a paved bike path that runs 20 miles along Lakeshore Drive from Holland, Michigan to Grand Haven. The trail itself is pleasant but not particularly scenic since Lake Michigan is hidden behind private homes on wooded dunes and the landscape is more suburban than rural. The trail, however, does connect some great beach parks: Holland State Park in the south, then Tunnel Beach, Kirk Park is near the trail's midpoint, followed by Rosy Mound Natural Area, and then Grand Haven State Park in the north. Any of these parks makes a nice destination.

Another natural area along the trail is the Palomita Reserve, a Great Lakes marsh preserved by the Land Conservancy of West Michigan. There's a marsh overlook on the trail and an option for a woodland walk through the reserve. It's a little north of Kirk Park.

On the north, the path ends at the city limits of Grand Haven but riders can continue on sidewalks or streets. Duncan Park, in Grand Haven, offers a scenic but hilly ride through a mature beech woods on the way to the downtown or waterfront. I never saw any signs to the Lakeshore Connector trail but we found our way easily enough.

Trail maps are available in Ottawa County's "Bike Grand Haven & Holland" brochure [pdf]

Approximate distances (one way)
Holland State Park to Tunnel Beach 2.7 miles
Tunnel Beach to Kirk Park 11 miles
Kirk Park to Grand Haven 9 miles

Free.
Parking fee at parks; no park fee for bikes.

Michigan Sand Dunes

The Complete Guide to Michigan Sand Dunes
by Jim DuFresne
2005

"But what sets us apart from any other state, what has become our natural trademark, are sand dunes, those grassy-covered mounds and hills of drifting sand created by glaciers, carved by the wind. More than 275,000 acres of dune formations have been identified in Michigan, making it the largest collection of freshwater dunes in the world."

This guide, by a prolific Michigan outdoor author, describes 47 dune parks and preserves in Michigan. All but six of them are on Lake Michigan and nearly half are close to Kalamazoo. Each chapter includes a description of the park's features, facilities and activities, along with a park map, often with topographic lines to show the dunes. Directions to each area are included and many parks are illustrated with black & white photos.

Lake Michigan Sand Dunes (Southern half)

1. Warren Dunes State Park
Bridgman
camping

2. Weko Beach
Bridgman
camping

3. Grand Mere State Park
Stevensville

4. Van Buren State Park
South Haven
camping

5. Mount Baldhead & Oval Beach
Saugatuck
chain ferry

6. Saugatuck Dunes State Park
Saugatuck

7. Laketown Beach
Holland

8. Holland State Park
Holland
camping

9. Tunnel County Park
Holland

10. Kirk County Park
Grand Haven

11. Rosy Mound Natural Area
Grand Haven

12. Kitchel-Lindquist Dunes
Ferrysburg

13. PJ Hoffmaster State Park
Muskegon
camping

14. Kruse Park
Muskegon

15. Muskegon State Park
Muskegon
camping

16. Duck Lake State Park
Muskegon

17. Meinert County Park
Montague
camping

18. Silver Lake State Park
Mears
camping
dune rides

19. Charles Mears State Park
Pentwater
camping
kites

There are, of course, many dunes further north along Lake Michigan and this guide describes those as well. Besides the individual park descriptions, the author includes sidebars on related features, such as the Paw Paw, Lakeshore Connector bike trail between Holland & Grand Haven.


Available from Amazon, Google Books, Barnes & Noble and other retailers and libraries.

Long Tailed-Duck

I'd never seen a Long Tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis) until this Friday when I saw a unfamiliar bird swimming in Lake Michigan near the South Haven pier. It eventually swam right up to the edge of the pier, then dove. Later, I found they can dive 200 feet deep.

Long-tailed ducks are an ocean species, spending much of their lives far offshore. They spend summer in the arctic and nest on the tundra. They winter on the Atlantic & Pacific coasts, the Great Lakes, and in European waters. Because they are difficult to observe, scientists don't know much about these birds compared to other ducks. The Sea Duck Joint Venture provides more detailed Long-tailed duck information pdf.

Hunters frequently refer to these as "Oldsquaws."