Sandy Seasons: Summer

Site Notes…

Lake Harbor Park is located south of Muskegon where the Mona Lake Channel flows into Lake Michigan. There is a network of hiking trails through several acres of wooded land and a boardwalk that runs along the dunes at Lake Michigan. During the summer, the beach is a favorite spot to enjoy Lake Michigan; in the winter, the large sand dunes provide excellent sledding hills.

Series Notes…

This box is the third in the 4-box Sandy Seasons series. The boxes in this series are linear (more or less), and are intended to be found in succession, as the clues are given from one box to the next. The entire loop is about 2.5 miles and makes for a wonderful afternoon hike. There is a large sand hill at the beginning and several moderate, steep hills en route. If you are coming during the summer, wear your swimsuit under your clothes and enjoy a swim in Lake Michigan when you are through with the boxes.

Other boxes in this series:

Sandy Seasons: Winter (1)
Sandy Seasons: Spring (2)
Sandy Seasons: Autumn (4)

Clues…

From the “Spring” box: Continue along the ridge trail toward the lake. You will come to a place where many trails to and from the beach meet and intersect with each other. Locate the twisted oak at 325 degrees. 30 degrees from the oak, find a small trail and follow its root steps down to a place where a sandy trail crosses perpendicularly from the beach. Stay your course straight ahead into the trees and up a small incline.

At the top of the hill, again there is a meeting of trails. Proceed straight ahead, following the gully down to a place where a tree first lies overhead and then lies underfoot. Thirty paces further down the hill, a split-trunk beech on your left marks the entrance to a bowl-shaped area containing many fallen trees.

Walk through this area, following the base of the hill along your right. When you are near to reaching the open end of the bowl-shaped area, you will come to a 6 ft. trunk, hollowed by fire. Four paces from here, rests the root end of a massive tree. Walk along the tree to the place where it Y’s, and then to the place where the arms of the Y each Y. Nestled snuggly under one of these splits is the treasure you seek.