Hiking the South Trail at Saugatuck Dunes State Park – April 27, 2014
Saugatuck Dunes State Park is a relatively undeveloped State Park that is about a 4.5 mile drive north of downtown Saugatuck. The park has a gravel parking loop with a picnic shelter and pit toilets nearby. The main reason to visit Saugatuck Dunes is the 13 miles of hiking trails that lead you into 1000 acres of rolling wooded dunes that reach up to 200 feet tall. Saugatuck Dunes State Park also protects 2.5 miles of secluded Lake Michigan Beach which is something that is hard to find in this part of the State. The beach is a minimum of a 0.6 mile hike from the parking area.
The trails in Saugatuck Dunes are all wide and well marked. However, sand and steep dunes make for moderately difficult hiking. The photos below are from a spring hike on the South Loop. The best way to access this trail is from the big gravel parking lot in Shore Acres Township Park which is adjacent to Saugatuck Dunes. Starting here makes this about a 4.5 mile hike. If you start at the State Park the connector trail adds about another mile to the hike. The southern part of the State Park is 300 acres of designated natural area and is separated from the north by about 60 acres of private property. The South Trail is the only way to access this part of the park and since it is also the longest loop it seems to be less busy than the others.
For a trail map and driving directions see the bottom of this page.
The parking area at Shore Acres Township Park is right behind the Historic Felt Mansion. This 1200 square foot mansion was built by Dorr Felt and completed in 1928. The home stayed in the Felt family until 1949. Since that time it was used as Seminary and then a State Police post and prison. Today the estate is being restored by volunteers from Laketown Township.
For on the Felt Mansion visit: www.feltmansion.org
The access to the South Trail is off the southwest corner of the Shore Acres parking lot. Skip the first trail which is part of a short bike trail and then take a right on the wide trail heading straight west.
You will see the sign shown above right as you enter the woods from the parking area. This is a cut over trail that can also be used to access the South Trail. By taking this it will shorten the hike by about 3/8 of a mile each way. I am not sure if “This path is not a marked tail” means that they do not want you to take it. I have used it before, but this time I stayed on the marked trail.
If you do not take the cut over you will want to stay to the left at the next two intersections to access the South Trail. The intersection above is the second left at the junction with the Livingston Trail.
The South Trail could be described as an elongated lollipop loop with a bent stick. The first mile is the 2-way stick portion of the hike. After this you cross the 2-track road above and enter the Saugatuck Dunes Natural Area and the loop section of the hike. The trail naturally flows into the loop in the clockwise direction.
Along the South Trail you will see that there are sections that have been clear cut. Most of this was done around 2012 to remove invasive Austrian Pines that were planted by a previous owner of the property to control erosion.
The first half of the loop stays down in between the larger dunes. At about 2 miles into the hike you climb over a dune and then start heading west to Lake Michigan.
Breaking out of the woods and into the open dune area. It is hard to see in the photo above, but this is where you get the first view of Lake Michigan.
The spur trail the goes out to the beach. This would be a good place for a break and maybe a swim when the weather is warm.
Looking south along the beach to the channel markers at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River. It was a cold spring and there was still ice on the shore in late April of 2014.
From here the sandy trail turns north and follows along the back side of the foredunes for about 0.15 miles.
After paralleling the foredunes the trail swings right and you begin to climb on soft sand through one of the clear cut areas.
Looking back towards the view of Lake Michigan near the top of the open area.
As near the woods you can see some of the charred remains of a controlled burn that nearly got out of hand in March of 2012.
Here is link to the story in the Holland Sentinel >>
Back into the woods the trail follows an old logging road for a short distance and then connects back to the 2-track road that you crossed at the beginning of the loop. Follow the road back to the right and you soon will see the trail that took you out to the loop on the left. From here it is about 1 mile back to the parking area and the end of this hike.
Above is a time lapse video from my GoPro Hero of the entire hike. Images were taken every 30 seconds. Sorry, some of the early photos were a little blurry at the beginning of the hike when the light was still low.
The hike track in Google maps. My GPS tracked the distance at 4.3 miles, but it skipped a small section so it is probably closer to 4.5 miles total. The hike took just over 1.5 hours to complete moving at a fairly good pace.
View Saugatuck Dunes South Trail in a larger map
If the Saugatuck Dunes State Park trail map does not show above click here >>
For more on this hike see: Explorer’s Guide 50 Hikes in Michigan: Sixty Walks, Day Trips, and Backpacks in the Lower Peninsula
Directions to the trailhead >>
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Backpacking in Michigan has always been one of my favorite Michigan guidebooks. It highlights 50 trails that range from an easy overnight at the hike-in sites at Ludington State Park to a week long adventure on Isle Royale. I have read it cover to cover at least a couple times and have found that it is also a good resource for planning shorter day hikes on portions of the the trails.
Like all of the books written by Mr. DuFresne, there are well written trail descriptions and nice maps of each outing. This book also includes 65 photos.
Find Backpacking in Michigan on Amazon >>
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