McClain State Park, Hancock, Michigan

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
8/18/2026	1.1 miles				240.4

Parking: 

• McClain State Park. There is a park fee. 

Map:

• Pick up map when paying the park fee.

Directions:

• Walk along the dog beach.

Since we weren't able to hike Mount Marquette yesterday, this morning we stopped there on our way out of Marquette. We had a car full of luggage, so I let Glen hike it while Krumm and I waited in the car. From there we drove to Houghton, Michigan. Houghton is a college town. We stopped to charge our car right outside a food coop. Yeah! How convenient. We picked up food for lunch. We dropped off our luggage at the hotel and then headed over to McClain State Park. This park has a dog friendly beach area. The waves were moderately rough, getting rougher near the point. Glen played fetch with him where the waves were calmer. Krumm has gotten so brave! The waves don't phase him, even when they go over his head at the shoreline.  I searched for agates. I didn't find any (that I know of), but I did pick up a handful of cool looking rocks. Rock collecting on the shore is legal in most parts of the UP (not along the national lakeshore though). 

We saw a frog hopping into the surf, as well as this crawfish.
Both were getting beaten up by the waves.

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.