Great beach, and not very crowded at all! Clean with very soft sand! We came here to do some rock…read morehunting and had a great day.

This rustic state park is one of our favorites. The scenery is gorgeous, with miles of sandy and…read morerocky beachfront, walking trails, 5-mile road for biking and spacious wooded lots and a prized few water front lots. There is firewood and ice at the check-in station which is very convenient. T h e grounds are well maintained and the vault toilet stalls are mostly clean (though can become odiferous when the park is full). It is usually the case that visitors to the rustic parks are more respectful of the quiet. We are bird watchers and always love spying the eagles and variety of other birds in the area. Close to the town of Charlevoix, there are plenty of options for sight seeing, eating and finding supplies. Beautiful area of our state.

This is a terrific free public park in Charlevoix, Michigan separated by Round Lake and the City of…read moreCharlevoix, Michigan. It is dog friendly, has public restrooms that are as clean as hotel restrooms, plenty of shops across the street and nice bars and pubs. The marina is beautiful and on one end and there is a huge open space for picnics and concerts.

Such a beautiful state park, whether you are looking for a perfect beach, clean campgrounds or just…read morea place to relax during a hike, this park is perfect. The beach has a concession stand with basic snacks, flush toilets, shower house and kayak rental. The campground is your typical Michigan State Park design - just double check your RV length. Would highly recommend stopping here any time of the year. Great place to spend a day at the beach.

When you first enter, they check if you have a recreational passport. If you do, it is free. When…read moreyou drive in there's a turn for the canpground. We went straight to the beach. They had a volleyball tournament. It was still a little cold so we had jackets and pants on the kids. It was their first time at a beach playing in the sand. The water was freezing and my kids wanted to put their feet in. The beach was nice and empty. We have been coming here for years. We love rock picking here.

This is a very lovely public beach. There's a light house and plenty of sand. There's swings and a…read moreslide and other fun things to do. The water is beautiful and the sand is, well sand. There's a public bathroom that was pretty clean. I could spend hours here. & there were plenty of spaces to park and sit and relax

Two parks for the price of nothing! The north entrance leads to a very nice beach with great views…read more Their are some great rocks for people into rock collecting. Their are places to park and trails to hike. At the south entrance you park then there are trails to hike. 1 leads back to the north park. The other one leads to about a 5 minute hike to a stream view area. You'll see the stream almost right away, but in the distance and between foliage. It's a very nice stream, though nothing epic. There is then a 3 minute hike to the beach where the stream meets Lake Michigan. Again here the views are spectacular. Thetrails could be better marked and better upkept to get rid of low branches. The trail connecting the two parks is about 0.8 miles. Overall a 5 star review.

Well, this was a delight of a park - though the hike didn't work out too well. We came here for the…read moretrail/hike, but the trail was mostly washed out from rain and it became impassable the further in we went. This is actually right along a gorgeous little stretch of beach though, a nice spot for looking for charlevoix and petoskey stones. Gorgeous shore, plenty of distance to walk, dog-friendly - what could be better? Lots of fairly rocky shoreline, but some areas that were pretty sandy as well, for folks wanting a place to lie down. I will say the main area right near the parking lot was very crowded, but the further down you walked you could get to some pretty quiet areas. You can also go partly down the trail and connect to another stretch of beach that is very quiet.

I came here for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and will be returning in September. This is…read morean absolutely beautiful dark sky park with spectacular views. The park offers various educational programs and experiences throughout the months, has a unique gift shop (the staff was great as well), and has several walking trails to enjoy. I love that you can learn on your walk by reading the various signs posted. It would be fun if they did an educational scavenger hunt on their educational trail, as that would be a fun way to learn. I look forward to visiting again in another month!

It's just a short drive from Mackinaw City and this place has been on our bucket list for a few…read moreyears. The place is nice but it is not exactly what we were expecting. The path is well marked with red lights (no white lights allowed). They do have bathrooms there too. It just felt a little underwhelming and over populated (and we went on a cold fall night). Some people were packing in wagons and had flashlights which was annoying since the white light ruins your eyes when they are adjusted to the dark.

I'm not much of a nature walking person, but it's been a very long time since I've been up to this…read morepart of Michigan. We discovered this place while on our way to the tunnel of trees, and I said "hey, let's stop here and check it out!" So we did. Pulling in, the parking and area isn't all that huge, but it's cute none the less. It's kind of an off shoot of the Tunnel of Trees, and we also wanted to catch a glimpse of the water if possible. There was a nice gentleman who greeted us and told us about the paths. He said to stay on the trails, check out the water and it's about a mile and a quarter of a walk. So, off we went. There's a nature center at the front with bathrooms and some educational stuff, but we skipped it and went right to the trails. They have a little map area at the front, but basically this place is one big circle and a designated path so you can't really get lost here. While it is cool to look at, it's also a lot of dead and down trees. They have signage throughout about what you're looking at, and tells you a little bit about it. Things like flowers, trees, bugs and birds. It was pretty busy even for a cooler September day, which was impressive. The coolest part of the walk was getting to see Lake Michigan. It was really super cool and you walk right onto the beach. It's not a huge area at all, literally enough to have one person at a time. There's some great photo opportunities along with a view of the lake and boats, which was fabulous to see. Overall, the place is a good stop to get some exercise at if you've been cooped up in the car and start getting antsy like me. LOL. There is a bathroom along the trail, but it's not a flushing toilet one of those holes in the ground with very little privacy. No doors just walls. Kind of weird because I was afraid someone was going to walk in. Anyway, go check it out, you can do this in less then an hours time!

Beautiful well keep preserve. Worth the visit however It's so unfortunate that this organization…read morerestricts visitors from exploring the beautiful Lake Michigan Lakeshore. This lakeshore belongs to all Michiganders and restricting access is a sign of elitism!

This is the best beach in Northern Michigan to watch the sunsets. We enjoy watching the boats in…read moreand out of the harbor, too.

The water is so shallow you can walk super far out! Not crowded! Peaceful! & Clear water! Be kind…read moreto the locals!

This is a fun walking/biking path near downtown Petoskey that makes you feel as if you have left…read morethe city for the woods also instantly. There is a creek/river running through the middle of the trail so you can walk in either side and get plenty of nature experience. The trail is quite lengthy so choosing how long to go is the only tough choice as each bend in the trail provides a new vista. I loved how the rushing water masked any city noises, and it did feel as if you were out in deep woods. It was nicely shaded and yet the sunlight streamed through for a gorgeous view. We have been here several times and highly recommend a visit for a short or long walk!

Husband loved fishing here. He waded into the shallower part of the stream but loved fishing off…read morethe rocks near the deeper faster rapids! I sat with a book and enjoyed the atmosphere. Feels like you're in a forest, the river and trees drown out any traffic noise! We'll definitely come again on our next visit up here.