Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness - October 2021
Summary
The Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness area is a popular destination in the Lower Peninsula in Michigan. It’s no surprise once you're there why this area is so popular. You hike close to Lake Michigan in this wilderness area and the hiking is challenging, while offering many different routes and lengths, which make this area great for all different kinds of trips.
We ended up hiking an extension of the loop linked above. Our mileage totaled almost exactly 10 miles for the day. We hiked into the Lake Michigan Recreation Area at the north end of this loop to add on some additional miles. There are many small deviations to this loop that you could do, but we felt going north would be most interesting as that area was new to us as well.
Where
The Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness area is about 10 miles north of Ludington, Michigan. It is along the coast of Lake Michigan and off main roads.
Logistics
Getting to the various parking locations for the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness area requires some dirt road driving, at least in our case. We parked in the southern parking lot, and had to drive about 6 miles on dirt roads. The area is very well maintained and offers lots of overflow parking options. This area is very popular, and even hiking on a wet October weekend, the parking lot was overflowing with people interested in accessing this area. There are a lot of options for backpacking here, so both day hikers and backpackers share this parking lot. You will need to pay a $5 day use fee if you are hiking for the day. There is self-registration available at both parking areas.
Hiking
This trip was a first for me as I decided to take my chocolate lab Kona along for the adventure. She is very active and runs or walks with me daily. I don’t have a lot of experience hiking with dogs, but I had a feeling the cooler temperatures, access to water, and the ability to design my own hike if she got tired made this a perfect introduction hike for her.
We chose to start hiking the Nordhouse loop counterclockwise. After less than a mile of hiking, this loop runs into Nordhouse lake. This was great, as Kona loves swimming in the water and we had a chance to check that off her bucket list right away! After she enjoyed the water, we kept on hiking north. Once we reached the peak of the loop, after about 2.5 miles, we decided to continue hiking north into Lake Michigan Recreation Area.
The hiking in Lake Michigan Recreation Area was rather flat, but offered some nice views of a nearby creek that led to Lake Michigan. In addition to this, the forestry changed a bit and opened up to many pine trees. Kona found interest in the many squirrels and chipmunks in this area, and I think my arm is still sore from holding her back from trying to “play” with them. We kept exploring and hiking in this recreation area until we ran back into Lake Michigan on the other side of this creek and decided it was probably time to turn around.
Once we hopped on the west side of our initial loop, we found ourselves in the best part of this trail. This section was challenging, but also offered nice views and hiking on the ridge. It was great to be close enough to see and hear Lake Michigan, but tucked enough back to feel like we were in the middle of the forest. In addition to this, we even ran into some mushroom hunters that were nice enough to teach us a little bit about mushroom identification and the diversity of mushrooms present this time of year.
Finally, we made our way to the base of the loop and ran into some pretty impressive sand dunes. It was very cool to finish up our day walking along the edge of the forest and seeing the massive sand dunes on our side. This area is a great balance of sand and forest as I dislike excessive sand hiking, but thankfully this trail did a great job of keeping most of the hiking on dirt. As we finished our day, we saw many people gearing up for an overnight trip. The parking lot was crowded and many happy hikers filled the area. It was very clear, especially after finishing our day hike, why this area is so popular.
It was awesome that my first hike with Kona went so well. Hiking 10 miles seemed very manageable for her. We took a few stops when we saw water and she had no issues with the mileage, terrain, or temperatures. She was just as excited at the end of the trail as she was at the beginning, and that was rewarding for me to see. It was a unique experience spending the day with her in the wilderness area, and one I won’t soon forget. I’m very happy knowing she can join me on future adventures!
Photos
All photos were taken with my current phone at the time, which was the iPhone 12 Pro.
