The woods are alive with the sound of chipmunks.

Yes, the woods of the Pentwater Pathways trails are alive with the sounds of chipmunks. And birds. And, unfortunately, mosquitos, but hiking in the woods of northern Michigan is rarely free of those. Despite a bug or a thousand, the pathways are a great place for walk in the woods. With almost eight miles of trails, you can spend some quality time with the wildlife I just mentioned.

First, I used Google Maps and it told me to Ridge Road to North 48th Avenue to Wolf Road, and I was coming from the south. Ignore Google in this instance. I found the best route, coming from either Pentwater or Silver Lake, is to take Jackson Road straight east to the parking area. Simple, and the road was in better condition than the others.

At the parking are Jackson and Railroad Avenue there is a lovely little wooden sign greeting you. You’re view will probably be different because my car will not be there.

Pentwater Pathways sign

What the parking area is lacking is a map. Once on the trail and you reach the first intersection you will see numbered posts with maps so there is no danger of getting lost, but a map at the beginning would have been helpful. (German word of the day: hilfreich – helpful)

My favorite section is the closest to the trailhead, the green loop. The path leads between ferns and groves of young poplars. This section was mosquito-free for me.

Pentwater Pathways

Things got a bit hillier after the mostly-flat green loop. The trails are marked for mountain biking, and the red loop is marked as the most difficult. It will take a little endurance to get up the hills on this loop. I had hoped, since there were some elevation gains, that there would be views of the water, but it was not to be. Again, the bug population here was minimal.

Pentwater Pathways trail

What goes up (and down and up) must come down again. After the hills, the yellow loop was a the lowest of the loops I walked. This section was NOT mosquito-free. Scenic, yes, but be on the lookout for the blood-sucking mini-monsters.

Pentwater Pathways trail

Pentwater Pathways is the best trail near Pentwater. Honestly, you don’t have a lot of choices, but it is a nice trail – I visited twice on our weeklong visit to the area. Definitely worth a trip toe the Pathway if you are hiker.

Pentwater

We all have those spots that are special to us, and Pentwater is one such spots for us. We first started going to the area (as a family) when my daughter was very young. We would rent a cottage south of town in Shelby and make trips into Pentwater and Silver Lake and other great beach towns in the area.

This year, we were coming to Pentwater from our new home in Traverse City, taking a break from our home in a resort town to visit a resort town. We stayed at the Channel Lane Inn, just across the street from the channel that connects Pentwater Lake with Lake Michigan. If you enjoy watching boats, this is a good place to sit and relax. It is also a great place for a stroll or, in my daughter’s case, a smooth ride on a skateboard.

Channel

The big draw of the town is Mears State Park – specifically, the beach. The beach is large and the water is shallow enough to wade quite a ways before being over your head. (I’m 6’2″, and despite being fairly distant from shore, I didn’t go out far enough to be completely submerged.) It’s one of those beautiful beaches that the eastern shore of Lake Michigan is known for, and despite the crowds , there is always a spot of open sand.

If you are not in the mood for the big-crowd scene of the main beach, a narrow strip of sand runs north along the shore. This strip has gotten even narrower in recent years, but there are still plenty of space for a beach blanket and cooler.

Mears State Park

I’ve noticed a trend lately, from time spent at Pentwater, Traverse City, and visiting friends in Port Huron – the boat invasion. As you sit on the beach, enjoying a clear view of the lake and horizon, here come the boats to anchor as close as they possibly can to your spot. Nothing says relaxing day at the beach better than wall-to-wall boats, each with their own playlist. Is there a place online I can purchase torpedoes? Asking for a friend.

Downtown Pentwater is made for shopping. If you’re in the mood for lake-related knick knacks, you are in the right spot. T-shirts and ice cream can be found is large amounts. Which is not to say you can’t buy nice things – there are several shops with high-quality stuff, several of which we visited and to which we made a generous contribution. Also, Cenzo’s, the local market, has ready-made sandwiches to take to the beach if you’d prefer to limit your fried food intake, at least for one meal.

If you’re there early enough, you will not be able to buy much – perhaps coffee – but it is peaceful.

Downtown Pentwater

I want to single out one store, Storybook Village. This children’s book and toy store where 6th Street curves and turns north into Hancock Street, Storybook Village was the favorite place for us to buy books when my daughter (now a teenager) was younger. These are not your normal kids books, but really interesting stories with nice artwork, many of which you will not find in a big chain bookstore. If you have young children in the circle of people you buy for, definitely give SV a visit.

And my personal favorite way to end the day in Pentwater is with a sunset over the lake. Sunset over water just never seem to get old.

Pentwater Sunset

Category: Pentwater

Adventures at Pentwater Pathways

Weekend in Pentwater

Pentwater