Grand Mere State Park

Saturday, November 16

Stevensville, Mich.

Forty-six hikers, including some new members, turned out for this November event at one of Michigan’s more diverse state parks. The park’s 1,100 acres offer two embayments, small lakes left behind by glaciers. A third, North Lake, is part of a township park and is used for recreational boating and, in season, duck hunting. The weather started out sunny, then turned cloudy, but temperatures remained comfortable. Hike leader and Hikers President Pat Fisher said there were originally five embayments, but two have dried up–and eventually the others will, too. Some unusual properties of the sand at Grand Mere make it ideal for casting car parts, and Michigan’s automotive industry fought for and briefly won rights to mine this resource. Grand Mere was designated a Natural Landmark by the National Park Service in 1968, and has many natural features not found in the rest of the state.