Ice Age Trail: Point Beach State Park

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Fall Colors · Lake · River/Creek · Swimming · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

This trail has it all. Thick coniferous forests, fall foliage, open prairies, hills, sand dunes, creeks, wetlands, and Lake Michigan. The amount of variety on this trail makes this a very interesting journey, and is wonderful for hiking. It also provides access points to many other trails within the Point Beach State Park and is near camping and numerous other amenities.

Overall, the trail is not too difficult. There are a lot of areas of singletrack, but there are sections of boardwalks (including a long boardwalk on the northern section), while a section in the middle of the route uses a multi-use, smooth trail that bikers often use. Otherwise, some areas of the trail are just on plain sand and sand dunes, and one short segments does require going along park road, but it hardly detracts from the experience.

The trail is accessible all year, but be aware of the following caveats. Around Thanksgiving every year, deer hunting occurs on the state park, so there are hunters with guns in the area. In spring, the trails, at least in certain areas, can get muddy after snowmelt. In summer, some sections get a bit overgrown, so please use caution in case of ticks and poison ivy.