Grand Mere State Park

I miss the lake. I'm on one of my longest breaks from the lake trek, and I was going a little nuts without the waves by my side. So, I headed west with my son, Lucas, and my brother, Phil, to Grand Mere State Park. This park is just south of the town of Stevensville along Segment 2 of my trek.

When I walked this segment with my son, Ben, we were diverted inland by a nuclear power plant south of Stevensville. We had to cross over I-94, and by the time there was another overpass to take us back to the lake, we were just two miles from our hotel. We would have had to backtrack south in order to walk through Grand Mere State Park. After hiking many miles that cold day, we weren't up to the extra miles.

I regretted missing this park because it was one of the few along the west side of Michigan that I have not been to. This is a unique park in that the parking lot is away from the shore and you have to hike over dunes to get to the lake. We had a lovely 2-mile hike over the dunes and along the shore. These 2 miles bring the total miles in the trek to 820 miles.

After our hike, we drove in to South Haven and stopped in at Black River Books. We had a lovely visit with owners Pam and Dick Haferman and their smiling employee, Lynn. Booker and Dewey, their labradoodles, were also there. I always find a book (often several) there that I MUST have.