Saugatuck Dunes State Park, Michigan   Ernie Ostuno   Jul 23, 2004 23:13 PDT  Saugatuck Dunes State Park is located in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The park is a few miles north of the town of Saugatuck, MI, a quaint little tourist mecca on the Lake Michigan shore between Muskegon and St. Joseph. Once at the park, follow the trail from the parking lot into the woods and bear left when the trail splits. You pass by a row of large spruce, and then the trail goes through second growth hardwoods for nearly a mile until you reach the forested dunes. Here the trail passes through several acres of mature/old growth maple-beech and hemlock, as well as birch and oak. The trees are not very large, with dbh generally in the 2 foot range, but a few of the largest beech trees exceed 3 ft dbh are close to 100 feet in height. I estimated total acreage of the mature/old growth forest that was visible from the trail at about 40 acres, but it appears this type of forest continued on past the visible horizon. Hemlock become more dominant as you get within a couple hundred yards of the beach. http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/ParksandTrailsInfo.asp?id=491     Home