Magoon Creek Natural Area, Filer Township, Michigan
South of Manistee, the Magoon Creek Natural Area serves as a relatively undeveloped area along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The natural area features a couple of parking lots, both of which have pathways that lead down to the lakeshore. Wyatt, Henry, Simon, and I walked down to see where many different types of rocks had washed up on the shore.
Some of the rocks were quite colorful, and all of them had spent time moving through the lake, gradually becoming smoother over time. The beach at Magoon Creek was also known for beach glass, as pieces of glass eroded over many years to go from being a broken glass bottle to a piece of interest for beachcombers.
The main rock we were looking for was the Petoskey Stone, ancient coral rocks found in Lake Michigan. The Petoskey stone is the state rock of Michigan, and I had read that it was possible to find them at Magoon Creek.
For us, we did not have any direct luck with finding beach glass or Petoskey stones. We spoke with a beachcomber who showed us some of the beach glass she had seen. However, she said that she had never found any Petoskey stones; she seemed to think that you needed to be further north to have better luck finding them.
Magoon Creek was our last stop on Lake Michigan for this trip, so I am glad that we took more time to hang out on the lake. It was easy to get away from everything at this natural area. We didn’t find any special stones, but it was great to see the boys hanging out together on the lakeshore. As they age and go their own ways in life, these opportunities will become increasingly scarce. Probably the greatest treasure of all was spending a little time with them while they were still young.