Nature Scavenger Hunt

Sometimes we need a project, or a way to spend time together on a camping trip.  We have a camping trip coming up and Husband has to go to a meeting for a while.  I thought that the kids and I could go on a scavenger hunt together and find different things in nature.

A Google search found lists that were too easy or not long enough or not printable.  Here is the list I came up with, click HERE for a printable version.

Holland State Park: Lake Macatawa

Campsite 108

We spent Memorial Weekend at Holland State Park.  Holland is split into two different campgrounds.  We stayed at the Lake Macatawa campground, rather than the Lake Michigan campground.  We have stayed at Lake Macatawa several times before, but it has been a few years.  While the Lake Michigan campground is very close to the beach, it looks to me like a parking lot of campers with a bunch of sand in between them.

Lake Macatawa is about a mile inland from the beach.  The campsites are bigger.  There are trees.  There are two loops to the Lake Macatawa campground.  We stayed on the Pines Loop, which has considerably more trees and shade than the Woodstock Loop.

Since our last trip in 2010, the shower/bathroom building in the Pines Loop is completely new, with individual shower rooms.  The shower/bathroom in the Woodstock Loop is still the old building.  Both loops have a playground.  My kids would tell you that the Pines Loop playground is better, but my adult eye didn't see much difference.

Lake Macatawa from Mt. Pisgah

Ottawa Beach Rd is the way to get to both campgrounds, to get to the swimming beach.  Across the street from the Lake Macatawa campground is a small beach on Lake Macatawa.  It's a nice little beach with calm water.  Lots of kayakers launching from here.  It's a lovely place to watch the sun rise.  You can see all sorts of boats heading out to the channel, past the Big Red Lighthouse, and out onto Lake Michigan.  I think the main people who use this beach are campers because there isn't much parking for others.

On the backside of the campground is a big hill, a sand dune with tons of foliage.  You can climb the dune right near the check-in building.  From there, you're on some great hiking paths.  The paths have check points with maps for easy navigation, several loops to take to lengthen or shorten your way.  The greatest part of these hiking paths is that they lead to Mt. Pisgah.  There is a separate entrance, outside of the campground, to Mt. Pisgah.  The separate entrance involves climbing 239 stairs to the very top of the sand dune, affording you spectacular views of Lake Michigan, Big Red, Lake Macatawa.  If school weren't still in session, I would have loved to watch the sun set from up there.  We loved hiking that area so much, we did so 4 times over the course of the weekend.

Big Red from Mt. Pisgah

Of course, being so close to Lake Michigan, we had to make that part of our trip.  We were right across the channel from Big Red and walked all the way out on the northern barrier making the channel.  Kids stuck their toes in Lake Michigan.

Kids being kids, they wanted to play on the beach and go into the water.  We headed back on Sunday morning.  The kids were in their bathing suits, the adults were in regular clothes.  Winter 2013-2014 was exceptionally hard, exceptionally cold.  The Great Lakes had something like 90% ice coverage.  What I'm saying is that the water was cold.  I saw at the campground that the water temp was 40 degrees.  That's cold.  But the kids were determined.  In they went to play, running back and forth from the sand to the water, having a grand time.  Husband and I were cold sitting on the beach watching them.  They had no complaints... until they were told to rinse the sand off.  Then the water was too cold.  Okie dokie.

We couldn't ask for much better weather than what we had.  We had highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s and 60s.  Sunshine.  When the wind kicked up, it was chilly, but you can't expect it much differently when the lake temp is so cold.

Camping is my happy place.  I love the time spent together as a family.  We played lots of games - ladderball, toss the washer (surely there's a better name for that?), Uno, Clue.  Bike rides.  Walking for ice cream.  S'mores.  Walks.  Popcorn.  Holding hands with my kids.  Uninterrupted time together.