Hartwick Pines State Park

Just northeast of Grayling, off I-75, Hartwick Pines is one of the largest state parks in the Lower Peninsula — and its centerpiece is something you can’t see many other places. At its heart stand about 49 acres of old-growth white pine, the largest stand of virgin pine left in the Lower Peninsula. Some of these trees are more than 300 years old and tower over 130 feet, a living glimpse of the forest that covered this region before the loggers came.

That history is the other half of the park. Michigan was the country’s biggest lumber producer in the late 1800s, and the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum — in cabins built by a Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps crew — recreates an old logging camp. A modern visitor center tells the story of Michigan’s forests, past and future. The land was a gift: in 1927, Karen Hartwick bought the property and donated it to the state as a memorial to her husband, a Grayling lumberman who died in World War I.

Beyond the big trees, the park has a campground, four small spring-fed lakes, and 21 miles of trails — including a paved, accessible loop right through the old growth — plus great hiking, biking, fishing, and cross-country skiing. A paved bike path connects it straight to downtown Grayling. It’s the kind of place locals bring every out-of-town visitor.

Plan a visit through the Michigan DNR at michigan.gov/dnr.