Silver Creek Pathway (Pere Marquette State Forest, MI)

Silver Creek Pathway, Pere Marquette State Forest, June 2022 The 54-mile Pine River, a tributary of the Big Manistee River, undulates gently through the modest hillocks of northwest Michigan, making for a popular floating destination—but also a few decent hikes. The Silver Creek Pathway—a nearly four-mile loop that is a short drive from Cadillac, Michigan—is …

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Empire Bluff Trail (Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, MI)

Empire Bluff Trail, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, June 2022 What happens when a combination of glacial recession, wind, and erosion produces a perched dune atop a glacial moraine atop geological debris from the most recent Ice Age? The result, in Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, is the Empire Bluffs, a 400-foot headland overlooking …

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Dune Climb (Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, MI)

Dune Climb, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, June 2022 Spanning 65 miles of the eastern shoreline of Lake Michigan, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is easily the most interesting National Park Service unit on Michigan’s lower peninsula. Once buried under the Continental Ice Sheet during the most recent Ice Age, the retreating glaciers left behind …

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