MLive says: “You almost won't believe how crystal clear the waters of Lake Huron are at Hoeft State Park. Also, it seems no one has really caught on to the beauty here, so the beach will be less populated than busy Great Lakes beaches elsewhere. As a contrast to the beach, you find a heavily wooded park with campsites and trails. Make sure to bring your bike and ride the trails.”
September 26, 2020
After a full day on Mackinac Island, our next stop was south on the Lake Huron coast; we found ourselves rolling up to our campsite at Hoeft State Park in the very early afternoon. We had plans to ride our bikes more, as there is an awesome wheelway that connects Hoeft to Rogers City; we decided instead to walk the hiking trails and enjoy the lake instead. After setting up camp, we changed into comfy clothes and set out with a backpack of snacks and cold beer to explore the park. What we found was a plethora of shady trails on the backside of Lake Huron’s most famous dunes; the sand spilled over from the beaches and dunes onto the forest floor, dictating the prevalence of juniper and pine along the shoreline.
The hiking trails terminated at the beach, where we found ourselves sipping beer, rock hunting, and wading into cool waters as the sun started to find the end of its day. Rock hunting on the shores of Lake Huron is one of my very favorite past times; we made a large pile of treasures (that proved slightly problematic to carry back with us) and left behind a million more. We even hunted for rocks as we waded into the lake; the water was clear enough to peer down and find the most intriguing formations.
After our chilly, but refreshing, swim, we hiked back to our campsite to make dinner and warm up. We spent most of the evening by the fire despite a light rain, snacking and drinking and enjoying the company of tall trees and each other. We slept easily in our tent and had an easy clean up the next morning, again opting to skip the bike trails and instead let our sore bums continue healing from the first day of this early fall adventure.