Ski Eliason Nature Reserve

When I visited Eliason Nature Reserve, one of Kalamazoo's newest parks, in the fall , it seemed like it would make a nice place for a short cross-country ski outing.  I took the opportunity of this afternoon's cold weather to try skiing the park.

The park doesn't offer an extensive system of trails.  I finished the only trail in less than an hour and I was moving fairly slowly.  The terrain is pretty mild, with a few gentle slopes.  The snow was pretty hard-packed this afternoon, which made the short downhill sections a bit more challenging.  With fresh snow,  it would be very accessible for beginners.

Despite being closed to motor vehicles, the reserve had been used extensively by snowmobiles.  They had packed the main trail pretty solidly and they had gone off-trail frequently.

 

If Eliason's one trail isn't enough, it's a short walk to Bishop's Bog.  I did that and extended my outing by another hour.  West Lake would be another option, with just a bit longer of a connecting walk.


Eliason Nature Reserve
9202 Portage Industrial Drive
Portage, MI 49024
[address is approximate]

Ski Pigeon Creek

I first read about Pigeon Creek Park in the guidebook Michigan Winter Trails but I didn't have a chance to ski it until yesterday.  Pigeon Creek is an Ottawa County park between Holland, MI and Grand Haven, about an hour's drive northwest of Kalamazoo.  The park offers over 10 miles of ski trails.  All the trails are groomed for traditional, diagonal-stride skiing and some trails are also groomed for skate-skiing.  About three miles of trail are lit for night skiing.  The park features a separate snowshoe trail and a lighted sled hill near the lodge.

Pigeon Creek is close enough to Lake Michigan to get lake effect snow, much like Love Creek County Park to the south, so it's worth checking when Kalamazoo's snow is insufficient.  The county regularly updates trail conditions on their Winter Sports Hot Line: (616) 738-9531.  Yesterday, their snow seemed just as deep as Kalamazoo's.

The trails are well-marked and there are many inter-connections making it easy to create loops of varying distances.  I skied for about an hour which certainly didn't exhaust all of the options.  The loops I took were very beginner friendly, with no steep hills or difficult sections.  There are steeper, more challenging, sections and these are well-marked.  Easier alternative routes are always available.
The county provides an online trail map (pdf).  Physical maps were posted at most interesections, making orientation simple.

The park's lodge is open weekday evenings and all day on weekends.  They have ski rentals available during those times and a concession sells snacks, like hot dogs, chili, and hot chocolate.  I didn't have a chance to try it since I visited in the morning.

There were only a handful of people in the park on a snowy Tuesday.  I imagine it's more popular on weekends and evenings.

Pigeon Creek is named for the now extinct Passenger Pigeon that used to flock to the area.  The trails pass through mature maple-beech forest, hemlocks, and planted pines.

directions: From US 31, north of Holland, take Stanton Road east three miles to the park entrance.

Pigeon Creek Park 
12524 Stanton Street
West Olive, MI 49460

Free

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

Top Five Beginner Ski Trails near Kalamazoo

My wife and daughter have just started cross-country skiing, so I've been considering the best local destinations for them.  Steep hills are really hard for someone just learning to ski and overly long trails can make the sport seem exhausting rather than fun, so I was looking for areas that offered relatively level trails and relatively modest distances.

Kalamazoo's best places for beginners to cross-country ski

1. Alamo Township Park
Alamo Township Park is far and away the best local option for beginner cross-country skiers.  Three loops wind through a mix of hardwood and conifer forests with a bridge over an attractive creek.  The trails are groomed and never crowded.  This park offers all the beauty of the winter woods without any steep hills and it's close to town.  These trails are nice enough to satisfy more experienced skiers looking for a short outing.

2. West Lake Nature Preserve
West Lake Nature Preserve in Portage offers a nice short loop through the woods very close to town.  It's very accessible for beginners, with no hills.  It's probably too short to attract advanced skiers.  This park attracts lots of foot traffic, so the snow is often packed down and I've never seen good ski tracks established, so it's probably best to visit when there is fresh snow.

3. Milham Park Golf Course
Milham Park Golf Course does have more hills than the other areas on this list.  The hills are steep enough to be fun and they are wide open, without trees or obstacles, so even if a beginner veers off-course they should be okay.  The trails are groomed, when there's enough snow, for both skate skiing and classic skiing.  The golf course doesn't offer the same natural beauty as the other areas and if it's windy it feels colder.  It's right in town, so travel time is minimal.  

4. Schrier Park
Schrier Park offers a decent length trail system that can connect to West Lake Nature Preserve through Bishops Bog.  The orchard area near the Osterhout Road entrance is a big open area good for practicing.  The trails have some modest slope, but no demanding hills.  Snow is the big drawback at Schrier Park.  Since its main trails are paved, it takes fairly deep snow to make them skiable.

5. Russ Forest
Russ Forest in Cass County is another good destination for cross-country beginners.  If it was closer to Kalamazoo, I would put it higher on this list.  The trails go through mature forests with some really nice views of Dowagiac Creek.  None of the loops have challenging hills.  The trail system is longer than the others listed here making it worth the drive.

None of these areas charge admission and none offer ski rental.  Lee's Adventure Sports in Kalamazoo does rent skis.  They also have occasional demo days where you can try skis and other equipment.  Two cross-country ski areas that offer on-site rental are within reach for a day trip: Love Creek County Park and Muskegon Winter Sports Complex. Update: Pigeon Creek Park also has ski rentals and its trails are beginner friendly.

Ski Woodland Park

Last winter, I'd hoped to ski at Battle Creek's Woodland Park but there was no snow when I visited.  A few days ago, I returned and, while the conditions were not perfect, I did enjoy skiing the park's trails.  The snow was just deep enough to ski with the occasional rock or root breaking the snow surface. 

Like some of my usual Kalamazoo ski destinations, Woodland Park seemed popular with hikers and dogwalkers and most of the trails were packed hard and somewhat slippery.  One loop did have a nice set of tracks set by previous skiers with only a few footprints marring the track.  That trail section offered the best skiing.

The trails were mostly flat with a few rolling hills.  There was one very short but relatively steep slope.  A new bridge over the park's creek opened a loop that would have been inaccessible on skis.  (Last winter I crossed the water on a fallen log, but I couldn't have done that on skis.)  The outer loop was about 2.5 miles long.  With good snow conditions, this park would be good for beginning skiers.

If I lived in Battle Creek, I'm sure this would become a regular winter destination for me.

Woodland Park and Nature Preserve
14201 Helmer Road
Battle Creek, MI
[address is approximate]

Pentwater Pathways

Pentwater Pathways offers some nice skiing just outside the village of Pentwater (about a two hour drive northwest of Kalamazoo.)  Four loops, ranging from two to five miles long, pass through a rolling mix of pine and hardwood forest.  The Pathways are in the Pere Marquette State Forest and are maintained by the Oceana Cross Country Ski Association. (The same group maintains the Crystal Valley trails). 

We enjoyed a nice run on the trails last Sunday.  The trails were well marked and maps were posted at each intersection of the various loops.  The snow was reasonably deep and a good set of tracks had been set.  It seemed to be a popular spot, with several groups of skiers on the trails, although it certainly wasn't crowded that morning.  We avoided what Howard Meyerson described as "the hill that rhymes with 'oh spit' " by skipping the fourth loop.

The Get Off The Couch website has detailed descriptions of each segment of the trail, a trail map and driving directions.  The Oceana ski association had xeroxed trail maps available at the trailhead and  printable trail maps [pdf] on their website.

Pentwater Pathways

[directions from the Oceana Cross Country Ski Association]

Cross Long Bridge from Pentwater Bus 31. 

Turn left on Wayne Road. 

In 1.5 miles there is an unpaved road to the right. There is a sign for Pentwater Pathway. Take this. 

In about 0.3 miles the road widens to a parking area at the entrance to the trail. 

Plowed by the county.

 

free

 

Ski Asylum Lake

When it starts to snow in Kalamazoo, Asylum Lake Preserve is my first thought for cross-country skiing.  With nearly 300 acres of land, it's easy to ski for an hour or more through a mix of oak woods, restored prairies, shoreline, and rolling meadows.  Since fresh snow means slick roads,  I like to minimize travel during snowstorms.  Since Asylum Lake is right in town, it works.   Parking is convenient; street parking on Winchell Avenue is always clear and the parking lots on Drake and Parkview are usually plowed by mid-morning.

Asylum Lake's convenience makes it a popular destination for dog walkers, hikers, and ice fishermen, which means it almost never develops a good set of ski tracks.  Last summer's trail work seems to have increased the gravel compared to the old paths and I put some new scratches on my skis on Tuesday.  (This would be less of a problem with deeper snow and will likely improve by next season.)

The preserve is owned and managed by Western Michigan University

Asylum Lake Preserve
immediately north of WMU's engineering campus
Kalamazoo, MI 49008

main parking lot off Drake Road between Stadium Dr and Parkview Ave
a small lot is off Parkview Avenue west of Tamsin Ave
street parking is available on Winchell Avenue west of Shelter Point Dr.  

free

Ski Al Sabo

Al Sabo Land Preserve is one of my favorite places to cross-country ski in Kalamazoo. It offers over 8 miles of trails through pine plantations, open fields, and hardwood forest. The trails offer enough variety,including some hills, to keep up interest. The preserve surrounds Portage Creek and the Atwater Millpond. Like the Fred McLinden Nature Trails, Al Sabo protects part of Kalamazoo's water supply, so a handful of industrial-sized pumps are found among the trees.

My most recent visit to Al Sabo was Sunday morning (before the warm weather made the snow too sticky.) By Sunday, Friday's snow had been pretty trampled by runners, snowshoers, dog-walkers, and even a snow bike. There had been plenty of skiers as well, but it was rare to ski in existing tracks.


There's no sign for the parking lot (which can be fairly rutted) but it is immediately next to the entrance for the Rota-Kiwan Scout Camp, which is marked.


Al Sabo Nature Preserve
6276 Texas Drive
Kalamazoo, MI 49009-9702

See:
black & white trail map or color trail map provided by Texas Township Parks

Ski Yankee Springs

Yankee Springs Recreation Area offers a wide range of outdoor activities; I've gone camping, hiking, mountain biking, and canoeing there but somehow I'd never skied Yankee Springs. I took advantage of the late February snow to try it on Saturday.

The cross-country ski trails are in the center of the park. A series of signs led to the "Winter Sports area" which was a small parking area off Gun Lake Road where the ski trails, and a separate snowmobile trail, begin. A nearby small lot, on the road to the Long Lake Outdoor Center, also offered trail access.

The ski trails are laid across several hiking and mountain bike trails which made for a somewhat confusing system. There are plenty of signs and trail markers (labeled alphabetically) but the trail maps [pdf] don't offer the same level of detail. I came across a handful of other skiers and half of them asked if I knew where we were. No one was really lost, since the trails are easy to follow, but no one was well-oriented. I'm sure after a few visits, it seems obvious.

The trails run through an attractive mix of hardwood and pine forests. There are a good number of hills that, while not technically demanding, would be hard for a beginner. The park has over 5000 acres so there are miles of skiable trails. I skied for two hours without coming close to finishing the entire trail system.

Yankee Springs State Recreation area is about 35 miles north of Kalamazoo. (North on US 131 to exit 61. Then east on M-179 to the park entrance.)

Yankee Springs State Recreation Area
2104 S. Briggs Road
Middleville, MI 49333
Phone Number: (269) 795-9081

Ski Fort Custer

It's been a few years since I'd skied at Fort Custer, partially because parks to the west of Kalamazoo often have more snow. This season the Lake effect snow has been minimal, so this morning we decided to try Fort Custer State Recreation Area. The snow was barely deep enough to ski, with the occasional root or branch sticking through the surface, but much better than the 1 inch depth reported near Lake Michigan.

Fort Custer has something like 25 miles of trails of differing levels of difficulty. In the summer, they're used by mountain bikers and horseback riders. In winter, skiers and dogsleds. Hikers all year round.

This morning, We skied around Whitford Lake which took just over an hour. The trail was clearly marked and easy to follow through the woods. There were a few hills, including a couple we decided to walk. Overall it's fairly accessible for beginners.

We saw a few Blue Jays, Chickadees, and swans, but the most impressive sight was a pair of noisy Sandhill Cranes flying overhead. It seems a little early for Spring migration but there was no mistaking these big birds.

Fort Custer Recreation Area
just east of Augusta on M-96
about 16 miles from Kalamazoo

Ski Russ Forest

Russ Forest is one of my favorite spots for spring wildflowers but I hadn't visited it in the winter. Last weekend, before the snow melted, we skied its trails.

This park makes an ideal outing for the beginning cross-country skier. It offers a substantial outing (over 4 miles of trails) without any difficult terrain. The trails are wide, well-marked, and easy to follow. I'm not sure why loop 3 was designated "intermediate" on their maps, since it seemed perfectly level and easily negotiable. The biggest "hill" was the gentle slope to the bridge over Dowagiac Creek.

Russ Forest is less than an hour's drive from Kalamazoo. Only a few visitors had made the trip since the last snowfall, so over half of the distance we were able to ski unbroken snow. While no wildflowers are visible in January, the big tulip poplars are still there, as are the large beech trees marred by pocketknives.



Fred Russ Forest County Park
Marcellus Highway, eight miles east of Dowagiac
(269) 445-8611 Office

Fred Russ Research Forest (MSU)
20673 Marcellus Highway
Decatur, MI 49045
269-731-4597

Directions to Fred Russ Forest

From US-131 -- Just north of Three Rivers turn west on M-216 (Marcellus highway). Proceed 18 miles, traveling through Marcellus, to the research station office located on the left side. Travel another 1/4 mile to the roadside park entrance.

From I-94 -- Take the Paw Paw M-40 exit (exit 60). Travel south on M-40 through Lawton to Marcellus Highway. Turn west and travel approximately 5 miles to the research station office on the left side. Travel another 1/4 mile to the roadside park entrance.

Ski West Lake

Kalamazoo's inconsistent winter means cross-country skiers need to take advantage of the snow when it does arrive. That often means fitting skiing into a work day, so it's nice to find spots for a short jaunt in town. West Lake Nature Preserve in Portage isn't a big ski destination, but it does have a nice loop path through the woods. It's a good place for beginners since it's a short trail with no hills, only a few gentle grades.

For skiers looking for a longer outing, West Lake park is just across Westnedge Avenue from Bishops Bog which connects to Schrier Park. These parks combine to form the South Central Portage Greenway and offer about 5 miles of trails.

West Lake's trails get a lot of use from non-skiers, so it's best to go shortly after a winter storm while the snow is fresh. If the snow is deep enough, you can ski the boardwalk to the preserve's bog and the overlook of West Lake.


West Lake Nature Preserve
9001 S. Westnedge
Portage, Michigan

parking is off South Shore Drive.

River Oaks County Park (Winter)

When I went skiing at Prairie View Park I bought a season pass good at all Kalamazoo County Parks. Their website said nearby River Oaks County Park had 4 miles of groomed cross-country ski trails, so I decided to visit. (I went on a really cold afternoon before last week's thaw.)

At River Oaks, I didn't see any evidence of a groomed trail. I didn't even see tracks from previous skiers. I don't know if there had been a policy change, restrictions because of the oil spill, equipment problems, budget cuts, or some other issue. Except for the plowed driveway and parking lot, it was hard to see evidence of any park use.

The snow did show tracks of squirrels, wild turkey, deer, and other wildlife and the views of frozen Morrow Lake were memorable. The unbroken snow was decent for skiing. At the western end of the park, past all the soccer fields, I did find traces of another skier and following those tracks through the woods was much faster than breaking trail. The trail I was on followed the edge of the park property, passing behind Bell's Comstock brewery.

While it wasn't what I'd expected, it still made a nice winter outing.


River Oaks County Park
9202 East Michigan Avenue (M-96)
Galesburg, MI 49053

Prairie View County Park (Winter)

The dog park seemed to be the most popular attraction at Prairie View Park last weekend. A few people were on the sled hill and there were people ice fishing on Hogset and Gourdneck Lakes, but the majority of park visitors were playing with their pets in the fenced dog area. (Dog park pdf)

I went for the cross-country skiing and was the only one on the trail. The park offers a 2-mile-long groomed loop. Near the park entrance, the trail is level, passing open fields and playgrounds. The back section, closer to the lakes, is more rolling with some woods and short hills. A couple of laps made a nice outing.


Prairie View Park is only a couple of miles south of Portage's Schrier Park, but it feels removed from suburbia because of the neighboring farms and game area. See the park map (pdf) for directions.

It looks very different in the summer; see my previous post.

Prairie View County Park
899 East "U" Avenue
Vicksburg, MI

Admission $5 or
Annual pass $25

Michigan Trail Atlas

Michigan Trail Atlas : the Guide to Cross Country Skiing and Hiking Trails
by Dennis R. Hansen with Danforth Holley.
1988

This ambitious guidebook attempts a comprehensive list of trails in Michigan and succeeds in finding several hundred of them. The state is divided into four regions: Southern Lower Peninsula, Northern Lower Peninsula, Eastern Upper Peninsula, and Western Upper Peninsula. The book lists 106 trails in the Southern Lower Peninsula alone. Directions, a sketch map, and a brief description are provided for each trail. The book concludes with a section on cross-country ski technique, reflecting its origins as a ski guide.

Trails near Kalamazoo

1. Kal-Haven Trail
2. Prairie View Park
3. Coldbrook County Park
4. Fort Custer Recreation Area
5. Kellogg Forest
6. Allegan State Game Area
7. Yankee Spring Recreation Area

Trails in Southwest Michigan

1. Russ Forest Park
2. Dr. T.K. Lawless Park
3. Madeline Bertrand County Park
4. St Patrick's County Park (IN)
5. Love Creek County Park and Nature Center
6. Grand Mere State Park
7. Tabor Hill Vineyard
8. Warren Woods State Park
9. Warren Dunes State Park

My library had this older version of the guide. A 2002 edition added mountain biking to the title and covers more trails. I couldn't find it from the major online retailers but it may be available directly from the author.

Milham Park Cross-Country Skiing

I'm not sure how I missed Kalamazoo's Milham Park as a ski area. For several years, the Kalamazoo Nordic Skiers club has groomed a trail on the Milham Park golf course, with both traditional x-country tracks and a skate lane. Trail conditions, of course, vary with snowfall and temperature. See the club's Trail Conditions Report for the latest information.

I'd been watching the trail condition reports since December but there never seemed to be enough snow or else I had other commitments. This Thursday, after work, I made my first visit to the course.

I expected the groomed tracks to give Milham Park a big advantage over my usual cross-county ski trails in Kalamazoo, but the real advantage is that the tracks aren't erased by trail-runners, snow-shoers, and dog-walkers. Milham Park's trails are mostly level with a couple of easy hills to add interest. As you'd expect from a golf course, it isn't in a forest. At times, the trail skirts backyards but overall it's nicely landscaped. It took me about an hour to complete two circuits. (The skate-skiers were moving much faster than that.)

The trail is right in town, nicely groomed, and free. I certainly plan to return.

Directions: From I-94 take exit 78, Portage Rd/Kilgore Road. Go west on Kilgore to Lovers Lane, then north. The parking lot for the ski trail is on Lovers Lane, just north of Portage Creek.

Milham Park
4200 Lovers Lane
Kalamazoo, MI

Milham Park History
Milham Park Golf Course

Skiing at the Kalamazoo Nature Center

A guidebook I read last year, Winter Trails Michigan, had selected the Kalamazoo Nature Center as one of the best ski trails in the state. This confused me. While I visit the Nature Center dozens of times a year, I never considered it a good place for cross-country skiing. The trails near the visitor center are narrow and, in places, steep: great walking but not so great on skis. The arboretum section is wide open and easy to ski but not that scenic.

Eventually it dawned on me that I had been missing the obvious. The trails around the Nature Center's Delano Homestead would be perfect for skiing. Wide trails along fields and through woods with modest slopes to add interest.

A quick visit confirmed this. The Delano trails make a very nice ski outing.


Delano Homestead
Kalamazoo Nature Center
555 West E Ave
Kalamazoo, MI

Ski Alamo Township Park

I hadn't heard about cross-country skiing at Alamo Township Park until I happened to pick up a xeroxed flyer at a Kalamazoo sports store. Alamo is a small town on the Kal-Haven trail about 5 miles northwest of Kalamazoo. (Fricano's Pizza is probably the best known landmark in Alamo.)

The township park has three short trails, totaling about 2 miles. Parking is at the baseball diamonds and the trails loop through the woods west of the ball fields. A nice bridge across Sand Creek conects them.

The trails are groomed and fairly level, making for easy skiiing. The West Trail loop (across unplowed 5th St) intersects the Kal-Haven trail, so a longer extension would be possible. (Although the Kal-Haven trail was pretty gritty from snowmobile use when I visited.)



Alamo Township Park
DE Avenue, just west of 6th Street
Alamo, MI


The township plans a Winter festival Saturday Feb 12, 2011 at the park.

Ski Warren Woods

This Tuesday, I was supposed to be on jury duty but my group was excused. I'd already cleared the day, so I had it free for skiing. Kalamazoo's snow was still a little sparse, so I headed for Love Creek County Park. After a couple of nice loops I decided to try another spot in Berrien County.

A guidebook suggested Warren Woods State Park and it was decidedly different from Love Creek: no grooming, no degree-of-difficulty ratings, no visitor center, no off-street parking, and no other people. It did share a substantial amount of lake effect snow.

Warren Woods has over 300 acres of hardwood forest. About half of it is old-growth maples & beech (with a bad beech vandalism problem.) The path is fairly level except for steep sections on the banks of the Galien River, where I took off my skis and walked. The trail runs nearly a mile from Warren Woods Rd to Elm Valley Rd, a fairly straight line through the center of the park. I'd forgotten how much work it is to break trail in deep snow. The return trip was easier since I could ski in my own tracks.

A few miles further west on Warren Woods Rd, I drove past the Chikaming Township Park and Preserve (pdf) which had some nice looking trails, but I didn't have time or energy to try them.



Warren Woods State Park
Elm Valley Road or Warren Woods Road
about 3 miles north of Three Oaks Michigan
(pdf map)

Love Creek ski trails

Kalamazoo's first snow was December 1st. Every day since then, I'd been tempted to get out my skis, even though I knew the snow wasn't deep enough for cross-country yet. Then I remembered that Outside Magazine's guidebook, Urban Adventure Chicago, recommended Love Creek County Park for its early lake effect snow. Love Creek is outside Berrien Springs, just over an hour southwest of Kalamazoo. On Friday, I decided to try it.

As the book promised, Love Creek had substantially deeper snow than Kalamazoo. The trails pass through a mix of woods and open prairie with some rolling hills. In many sections, they are groomed with both traditional double tracks and a wide flat section for skate skiing. I started with the 2.5 mile yellow loop with the intention of trying one of the three other loops afterward.

It had been overcast when I left Kalamazoo but, by the time I started skiing, the sun broke through the clouds making a glorious clear day. The trail was great until that bright sun softened the snow enough to make it sticky. Towards the end of the loop, I was stopping to scrape snow off the bottom of my skis every few minutes. Rather than slog through a second lap, I declared it a successful inaugural run and changed into boots and walked their winter hiking trail.

Ski rentals are available in the park visitor center. Current trail conditions are updated daily on the Berrien County Parks homepage. More information is available in the Berrien County Parks Cross Country Skiing brochure (pdf).


Love Creek County Park
9292 Huckleberry Road
Berrien Center, MI
(269) 471-2617

Directions: Take I-94 to exit 30. Follow Napier Avenue east to US 31 South. Take US 31 south to exit 15 onto M-139 (Old 31) southeast to Berrien Springs. Cross the river & turn left to Deans Hill Road, then immediately right onto Pokagon Rd. Follow signs to the park.

Entry fee. Trail fee. Season passes available.