Tana on the road, Grand Mere and Warren Dunes State Parks

The rest of our day yesterday was spent checking out two Michigan State Parks, both south of St. Joseph. The first was Grand Mere State Park. The sign states it is a National Natural Landmark. Even after a google search or two, we are uncertain just what that means. There is a trail to hike. Supposedly .5 mile. Hmmmppphhhhh. Sorry to say, likely due to budget cuts in Michigan (ouchie) there were no maps, no brochures, no explanations on the bulletin boards, just a sign stating National Natural Landmark. Man and I decided we would walk the trail and discover the park, au natural, just like some pioneer.

We walked well over .5 of a mile, came to this sand pile in the midst of the trail. Have a feeling that if we had climbed the HUGE sand hill to Man's left we might have found Lake Michigan. But, with no signs and weak knees we opted for the more flat path.




So, we treked on and on and on and on. Mostly what we thought we saw off to our left was a marsh like area. Saw a couple of mushrooms, and a neat tree with a huge woodpecker house/hole. As the path closed/narrowed down, the skeeters closed in on us. We decided, lets see what is around the second bend. For us, it was the end of the trail!




We turned and headed towards the trail head and Big Butt. Have to say the trip out was a LOT faster than the trip in, and it took us a good 20 minutes to depart from the "end of the trail". Our guess is that we went a good mile in and out. Sure got our exercise.

Here is a map of the park, we were somewhere - - - - -

Next stop, Warren Dunes State Park, a lookie see for campsites. Great park, but not for the big rigs like Tana. Beach is fabulous, but the highlight of the park is, of course, the dunes.




Some were brave enough and young enough to get to the top. The old knees duo did not attempt, just watched from below.




What with the walk to no where at Grand Mere and our visit to St. Joseph, we were ready to head back to Tana. Another totally enjoyable day.

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