Ludington State Park

Where: Ludington State Park
Trail: Lost Lake Trail, Island Trail, and Ridge Trail
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Distance: 1.5 miles, 4 miles (both)
Adventure Rating: 2 Stars
Pet: Allowed on leash

Bay City State Recreation Area

Where: Bay City State Recreation Area, Michigan
Trail: Lagoon Trail
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: less than 1 mile loop
Adventure Rating: 1 Star
Pets: Allowed on leash

If you're looking to go for a walk, it's a good place to do it. If you actually want to hike, it's pretty lame. The trail isn't very long and it's pretty uninteresting.

Ludington State Park

Where: Ludington State Park
Trail: Lost Lake Trail, Island Trail, and Ridge Trail
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Distance: 1.5 miles, 4 miles (both)
Adventure Rating: 2 Stars
Pet: Allowed on leash

We started at the parking lot near the beach and the boat launch. We started on the Island Trail, which involves boardwalks that span across the Lost Lake onto several tiny islands. The Lost Lake is peaceful and some day I'm going to go back without my dogs and kayak the lake.

We hiked the entire Lost Lake Trail until it ended at the Ridge Trail. Most of the Ridge Trail is on top of sand dunes which makes the trek a little more difficult. But from up there we saw a raccoon in a tree as well as a group of deer down in one of the valleys. We watched a couple of fawns hopping around playing for about ten minutes.

A flight of wooden stairs brought us down from the Ridge Trail and connected us to the Lost Lake Trail, which took us back to the parking lot. Of the three trails, the Island Trail is the most visually interesting. The Lost Lake trail is the easiest and the Ridge Trail is the more strenuous.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Where: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Trail: Lakeshore-North Country Trail
Difficulty: Strenuous
Distance: 14 miles one-way
Adventure Rating: 4 Stars
Pets: Allowed on some trails, see website

Prior to driving to Michigan's Upper Peninsula for camping and hiking, I made reservations with Alger County Transit to have them pick us up at Little Beaver Campground (where we parked our car) and drop us off at Miner's Castle. This allowed us to hike back to our car (since the trail isn't a loop).

We got to Miner's Castle between 8:30-9 AM. Even though it was August, the morning was quite chilly--good thing we dressed in layers. We hiked to Miner's Beach and spent a lot of time exploring the beach, rocks, and boulders.
The hike along Miner's Beach was a bit rough (hiking in soft sand always is), but we weren't in a hurry. At Mosquito Beach, we took the trail inland to see Chapel Falls, except we took the wrong trail and missed it completely and arrived back on the lake at Chapel Beach. Between the Mosquito Falls trailhead and Chapel Beach, the forest thins out and becomes very sandy--which made hiking a lot tougher, especially this late in the trip.

It was about that time that we realized that we were way behind schedule. It was also about this point that I realized that I may have miscalculated the length of our hike. I still don't know how I did this, but prior to the hike, I thought the trip was 7 miles. If you read the info above, you know the hike was actually 14 miles. This posed a problem for us since we were planning to take a Sunset Cruise. We really started pushing hard at this point, trying to get back to the car in time. The last two miles were exhausting. Every rise/hill we came upon, we were sure the car would be on the other side. The disappointment when we couldn't see it was devastating. 

Eventually, we made it back to the car, completely and utterly exhausted. At the time, it wasn't all that fun, but it has become a funny story... Remember that time we accidentally hiked 14 miles? And my brother refuses to ever go hiking with us again.

Highbanks Trail to Iargo Springs

Where: Huron National Forest, Oscoda, Michigan
Trail: Highbanks Trail (Canoer's Memorial to Iargo Springs)
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 3.5 miles round trip
Adventure Rating: 1 Star
Pets: Allowed on leash

The Highbanks Trail is 7 miles long (one way). Because I was hiking with an 8-year-old and a small dog, I chose not to hike the entire length. Instead, we hiked from the Canoer's Memorial to Iargo Springs, which is about 1.75 miles one way. Iargo Springs was a good place to stop, rest, and have a snack, before hiking back to the car.

The hike is pretty easy, mostly flat dirt paths. We did wander off the path in a few places to check out the sand dunes.

The most strenuous part of the hike was when we took the 294 steps down to the river at Iargo Springs (and then had to climb back up them). After that, we still had to hike almost 2 miles back to the car at Canoer's Memorial.

Pine Haven Recreation Area

Where: Pine Haven Recreation Area, Sanford, Michigan
Trail: Pine Haven Loop, Mud Creek Loop, Riverside Ravine
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Distance: 1.5 miles, 1 mile, .2 miles
Adventure Rating: 1 Star
Pets: Allowed on leash

Pine Haven has over 13 miles of trails in its 325 acres. The main trails are wide enough to hike side-by-side as a group.

Here is the route we took: [see map] Parking lot to marker A to B to C to H to I to J to K to L to M to N to O to P to the parking lot.