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.