To celebrate Labor Day, I took a hike I’ve been meaning to take all summer. I grew up going to the beach at Saugatuck Dunes State Park, but I had never really hiked there. My trusty Best Easy Day Hikes: Grand Rapids, MI told me that there is good hiking, too. So this morning I packed a lunch and set out. I took the South Trail, which the book says is 4.8 miles and the state park map lists as 5.5 miles.
The trail on the way to Lake Michigan was mostly through deciduous forests on a sandy, but firm, trail.
Shortly before Lake Michigan, the trail passed through the foredunes.
Almost to the beach!
On the beach, looking north. You can’t make it out in the picture, but I could see Big Red (the Holland lighthouse) in the distance. After snacking on the beach, I started out on the return trail, which travels through the foredunes and then zig zags up through blown out dunes. This part of the trail was harder than the first part! But looking back at the lake, the views were beautiful.
This is now one of my favorite dune hikes in Michigan! It has a more natural and remote feel than a lot of the parks (no stairs, for instance) and the dunes are extensive. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who wants to explore the dunes and is ready to climb through a lot of sand.
