Torch Bay Nature reserve, Benny the Beardfisher, and Au Train Beach, Michigan

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
8/17/2026					239.3

Parking: 

• n/a

Map:

• n/a

Directions:

• n/a

We had a busy day, traveling from Traverse City to Marquette. Our first stop was at Torch Bay Nature Preserve. We had heard from two friends that this was a good place to look for Petoskey stones. It's a very small beach, and there were only a handful of other people there. I searched for stones while Glen played with Krumm. I didn't find any. Glen had found one last year at a different beach. We saw a couple of people also searching amongst the rocks.

Our second stop was in Germfask, Michigan in the UP to see Benny the Beardfisher. I'm in love with Dambo trolls, and this one was right on our route. Benny is located in a campground. It costs $10 per carload of people to visit Benny. He's a popular guy. I sat down and sketched him, while he had a regular stream of people visiting him. 

Our third stop was at the Au Train Beach for another swim. We fell in love with this beach last year and visited it multiple times while staying in Marquette. It's a sandy beach and doesn't have a lot of people even in the summer.

We had hoped to hike Mount Marquette in the evening but ran out of time. We stopped at the food coop in Marquette for dinner.

Signs in the campground lead you to Benny

Good Harbor Beach 651, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
8/16/2026	1.1 miles	35 minutes	16'	1.8 mph	239.3

Parking: 

• Good Harbor Beach, Take Route 651 which turns into Good Harbor Trail and ends at the lake.

Map:

• Good Harbor Beach 651 (U.S. National Park Service)

Directions:

• Take the path from the parking lot to the beach. Turn right and hike to the park boundary (visible on Gaia app). Return the same way.

After our hike with Krumm, we drove 10 minutes to a dog friendly beach in the park. There are signs that say the beach to the left doesn't allow dogs, and the beach to the right does allow dogs. During the winter months, dogs aren't allowed anywhere on the beach. There were lots of people at the beach right where the beach access is from the parking lot. They are all concentrated in that area - once we started walking along the beach, there was practically no one. Just another couple of dog walkers. We let Krumm off leash after we were away from people. Unfortunately, the waves were bigger here than yesterday, so we let him run on the beach and wade in the water, but we didn't encourage him to swim. He still had the time of his life. We walked 1/2 a mile until we reached the park boundary (we didn't see a sign, but Gaia shows it) and then turned around and hiked back. 

Good Harbor Bay Trail, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
8/16/2026	2.6 miles	57 minutes	21'	2.7 mph	238.2

Parking: 

• Good Harbor Bay Trailhead, roadside parking on a dirt road

Map:

• Good Harbor Bay Trail and Picnic Area (U.S. National Park Service)

Directions:

• Take the trail from the trailhead in a clockwise loop.

Before leaving Muskegon in the morning, we stopped in Whitehall to have breakfast with MJ, a good urban sketching friend. Then we headed north. I have wanted to go to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Many friends have recommended it. Dogs are not allowed at much of the park, so we had to look up where dogs are allowed. This loop is listed at 2.8 miles. It doesn't go along the beach. We left our hotel in Traverse City, where it was 88 degrees, and when we got to the trailhead, the temperature dropped to 72 degrees. The hike is completely shaded in the woods. It's an extremely easy hike with no elevation gain. We both really enjoyed it. Why? Although there were no views and no swimming, it just had a simple beauty. Plus, we had a breeze which helped with the humidity, it wasn't too hot, and there were fewer bugs. All of those things helped a lot after several hot, humid, buggy hikes. We saw no people on the trail either. Most people were at the beach. There are a couple of spur trails off this hike that lead to the beach, but since dogs aren't allowed on this section of the beach, we didn't take them. I like the northern part of the lower peninsula.

P.J. Hoffmaster State Park, Muskegon, Michigan

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
8/15/2026	2.4 miles	2 hours 27 minutes	141'	3.1 mph	235.6

Parking: 

• Gillette Visitor Center. There is a parking fee.

Map:

• Hoffmaster State Parks southern trails map

Directions:

• Take the trail on the left side of the visitor. Follow a sign to two dune overlooks. Return and head to the lake. Turn left and follow the beach. Turn left at sign number 7 (Homestead Trail). Turn left at sign 6 and make your way following various signs to the visitor center. 
• We roughly followed this, but our distance ended up much shorter. Hoffmaster State Park - Homestead Loop (3.5 miles; d=4.20) - dwhike

We spent the morning in Lansing, Michigan, where Glen went to college. Today we are staying in Muskegon, Michigan. We found this hike on a hiking blog I follow sometimes. We tried to navigate using a photo of the person's path. I should have looked up a park map. The one I attached would have been very helpful. We used Gaia too. But Gaia showed more trails than there actually are (e.g. trails extending beyond the boardwalk overlooks). Anyways, we were really looking forward to this hike. Why? Because it goes to a BIG lake (Lake Michigan). Dogs are not allowed in designated swimming areas, and this hike avoids them. Dogs are allowed on the beach elsewhere. Officially, dog swimming is not allowed, but we saw several dogs enjoying the water. Krumm has not swum with waves very often. His first couple of times he was afraid of them. Last year he did pretty good. This year, he did even better. This is a nice sandy beach. The water was very shallow near the shore as well, so we could walk out 20 feet and still only have water up to our knees. I persuaded Glen to take off his shoes, and we wandered out into the lake too. We went out far enough that we could throw sticks for Krumm where he would get a chance to swim, not just bounce along the sand in the shallow water. He did encounter waves, and they didn't phase him. He wanted to swim forever. We sat in the sand to let him take a break from swimming. Black flies swarmed us. We buried our legs in the sand to protect them. Krumm was having a dozen flies land on his back too. After a long swimming stop, we hiked along the beach, letting him run along the shore, occasionally tossing a stick in the water for him. The non-beach part of this hike is mostly in the woods. Best day ever he says!

hahahahaha - that face

Our hike was basically: 9-8-7-6-9.