Snug Harbor

Site Notes…

Snug Harbor is located on Muskegon Lake and is a favorite picnic, fishing and boating spot for the residents of Muskegon. There are some great hiking trails here, as well as a protected bayou area teeming with fish. When the lake gets rough, boaters often take refuge here during the storm, thus the name… Snug Harbor.

This box is located in Muskegon State Park. A Michigan State Parks vehicle pass is required for entry and can be purchased at the park. Please check the park web site for dates and hours of operation.

Getting There…

Follow Memorial Drive west toward Muskegon State Park. About a mile before Memorial Drive ends at Lake Michigan, you will come to a large Muskegon State Park sign on the right side of the road. The entrance to Snug Harbor is across from this. Enter the park and go to your right toward the picnic shelter.

Clues…

Locate the trailhead at the far end of the parking area loop. Follow trail A/B to the left. You will pass through a pristine section of woods — the moist air and marshy ground provide the perfect growing conditions for ferns, which are abundant on the bayou side of the trail, looking almost like a tropical paradise (unless you are there in the winter, in which case there is nothing tropical about Michigan). In the early morning, it is eerily still, except for the song of birds punctuating the silence, carrying through the trees in the cool, misty air. You will also notice a scattering of mushrooms in the loamy soil along the trail — don’t pick them as many are poisonous!

At the junction, go the way that conjures images of a horn-headed man eating blackberry pie with a pitchfork. You will soon reach a clearing where the harbor is visible to the left of the trail — watch for heron, loons and ducks in the densely vegetated bog. Continue on the main trail up a hill, part of which has been washed out and is bound by tree roots. Watch your step! Once you have reached the top of the hill, look off to your left and through the trees you will see the rounded area of the bayou referred to as “Devil’s Kitchen.” The name refers to the way in which the early morning mist tends to rise and swirl above the water here, like Satan is stirring his caldron.

When you reach an intersection of trails, continue on the path toward South Camp. A short distance later, the path splits — take either path. 30 paces after the paths meet again, a fallen tree trunk encroaches into the path from your left. Follow the point of its finger into the forest and proceed 45 paces off the right of the trail to a trio of oaks standing within a square yard of one another. Stand in the center of this group of trees and take a bearing of 275 degrees. Walk 60 paces in this direction to a massive beech tree bearing the initials MR and MK (it may be difficult to walk straight there due to the many fallen trees). From this tree, proceed 30 paces at 30 degrees and find the box down low in a hollow tree trunk.